


The Fire Down Below

by eric_idle_rules, The_Concierge_Of_Crime



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Victorian, M/M, Teacher-Student Relationship, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-10-30 21:24:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 65
Words: 481,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10885215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eric_idle_rules/pseuds/eric_idle_rules, https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Concierge_Of_Crime/pseuds/The_Concierge_Of_Crime
Summary: Set in a boarding school in the Victorian Era, lots of shenanigans happen behind closed doors.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was all written in good fun. Real names are used, as there are father/son dynamics in this, and when it was written, having a child named Husky Harris just didn't fit. I'm sure there are loads of historical inaccuracies but, as I said, this was all just written as something fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can resist everything except temptation - Oscar Wilde

“And that is the end of today’s general announcements.”  
The deep, baritone voice sounded easily throughout the chapel hall where the morning assemblies were conducted, because none of the assembled 12-18 year olds dared so much as breathe out of turn whilst the Head Boy, Randal Keith Orton, was talking. The charismatic 17-year-old flashed a rather arrogant half-smile to the eager and attentive teenage boys and there was a collective shuffling from 2/3 of the assembled boys as trousers suddenly became a little tight and serious adjustment was needed.

“Now, John Cena has the sporting announcements.”  
Once again a collective rustling broke out as the assembled uniformed boys shuffled as a second boy joined their Head Boy on the announce platform. This 18-year-old was called John Felix Anthony Cena, and he was the Academy’s resident Sports Captain. There was a badge adorning his broad chest on his pristine uniform —well, pristine for the assembly anyway— the baby-blue eyed, dimple-sporting sports-hero took his place besides the Head Boy. No one noticed the slightly smouldering look that was passed between the two males, Randy standing just-slightly-too-close to John to be construed correct.

“The cricket team did spectacularly the other day—“ John was born to give speeches; he had an inherent ability to make even the most boring and mundane of speeches sound as enticing and as compelling as the latest Charles Dickens novel. The thing was though, nine times out of ten, many of them didn’t listen to what John said—they just listened to how he said it. The boys in the hall were not the only ones who were paying attention to John though, Randy was too.

Now, the Head Boy had very good reason to be paying attention to John. Or, more specifically, he was watching John’s mouth. That mouth possessed more than just a talent for talking… a talent that Randy had intimate and frequent experience of. Actually, he’d experienced it just that morning when he had had John come to his private room before breakfast. Watching John talk was almost like a type of foreplay in itself… and Randy wanted him to get finished with the God-awful announcements so that they could nip off for something much more appealing.  
“And so we’ll be holding tryouts for a replacement for the Rugby team on Thursday; anyone who wants to try out should write their name on the sign-up sheet that will be posted outside of the gym after this assembly.” John folded the paper that he had been reading from back into his suit-jacket pocket and then flashed another smile to the assembled boys, “Dismissed!”

Immediately the assembled staff teachers began to direct the rows out one by one, the youngest being released through to the eldest. In the midst of the year section of 15 and 16 year olds were two young men who seemed to stand out amongst the masses even though they were dressed exactly the same as everyone else—the only variety of the uniforms was the colour of the silken cravats around their necks, which changed according to which year you were in, or if you had a special commendation. Like the Head Boy and Sports Captain for example whose ties were a luxurious sapphire colour. But, anyway, the two young men who seemed to stand out: one had raven coloured hair and cobalt coloured eyes, and his companion had tawny-coloured hair and bright cornflower-blue eyes and about two inches on him in height.

“Are you going to try out for the team then Ted?” 15-year-old (though he looked older) Cody Garrett Runnels arched a fine brow at his best-friend, sending him a dazzlingly white smile and displaying the small gap between his front teeth. 16-year-old Theodore Marvin DiBiase chuckled slightly and wrinkled his nose before sighing softly, “I’m already on the cricket team Codes, I don’t want to be overdoing it now, do I?” Ted dropped a hand onto Cody’s shoulder, steering the young man –and his best friend since childhood- through the throng of people. It was a gesture that could be construed as merely protective… of possessive, depending on how you looked at it. There was an unspoken warning that all who knew the two boys heeded:

If you messed with Runnels, you dealt with DiBiase. 

John and Randy waited until everyone had left, their Headmaster standing off to the side to assure that everyone left in two lines, with not one person out of place. “Thank you boys for taking care of the announcements,” Headmaster Wade Barrett said to them. “You two are free to leave,” he finally dismissed them. 

Once out of earshot of Barrett, Randy said, “I feel like I’m giving the same announcements every day. Please walk to your classes in a respectful and dignified manner. Remember, you are all representatives to our fine academy, and we expect you to act as such,” he went on. After weeks and months of doing announcements, he had it memorized. 

“That’s because you are, Randy,” John told him, chuckling. He leaned in close to Randy’s ear, a sly grin on his face as he whispered, “Now how’d you like to go do some things that aren’t very respectful nor are they at all dignified.”

~~~

On his walk back to his study Wade nodded and cordially greeted the students who all made sure to go out of their way to acknowledge him and to back off of the hallway somewhat to give him more room to walk if they happened upon him; no-one messed with the Headmaster if they knew what was good for them, for his caning-arm was the stuff of legend. Anyone who had been unlucky enough to ensure they received that maximum ire would always look back on it with grimaces and winces, hands covering their buttocks in tribute to that unpleasant affair. Upon entering his oak-furnished study Wade was surprised to see that there was someone already seated in the visitor’s chair before his desk, “Justin?” he closed the door, “Is something amiss?”

Glancing up as the Headmaster came into his office, Justin remained seated in his chair as he replied, “Oh, no. Nothing’s wrong, Sir.”

“Then may I ask the reason behind this surprise visit?” Justin didn’t usually come and see him during the weekdays in his personal office, since he didn’t know his schedule and he was often with other staff members or parents.

The young man shrugged and sank back into the chair. “I don’t know, Sir. I just wanted to come and see you.”

“You know that you’re not supposed to just come and see me,” Wade said harshly. “Not without some sort of appointment first.” 

Justin cringed at the harshness in Wade’s tone and Wade watched as the long-lashed, exotically dark eyes of Justin’s seemed to glimmer with unshed tears at the thought of any sort of rebuttal from the Headmaster. Wade was literally all that Justin had in the world and he positively detested the thought of the other having any sort of negative feeling in conjunction with himself. It made his chest ache.

“Sir, please—“ Justin swallowed hard as Wade moved to stand beside his chair, feeling even smaller with the man so close. “Justin, you know full well that you could be punished for disobeying the etiquette of the school.” Wade chastised and Justin nodded meekly, biting his lip.

A knock came upon Wade’s door before he could even reply. The door opened, the head of his secretary poking in. “Can I help you?”

“Your appointment is here to see you.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Wilson, tell them that I will be able to see them soon,” Wade said, dismissing her. She was one of the very few women that worked on campus, but he found that she was very good at her job, and always helped to keep him organized and on time. When the door closed behind her, Wade looked back down to Justin and said, “And this is the reason that I can’t meet you during the day. There’s never a free moment for me.” This time, though, he didn’t sound as chastising, his voice softer than it had been.

Still, Justin’s head hung low. He wished that he could see Wade more often during the day.

Justin got up from his chair, body visibly exuding rejection and Wade turned to his desk for a moment before calling Justin to halt him as the young man reached the door. Turning, Justin winced as he waited to be told his punishment.

However, a slap or the cane never came—instead a small, neatly written appointment card was handed to him, the ink still so wet it was shining and just short of running and spoiling. “Come and see me later,” Justin’s eyes widened a little as he saw the card was just before curfew, “If any of the Prefects happen to try and waylay you then show them this.” Justin nodded.

“Good boy—cut along now.” Just as he managed to get the door partially opened Wade’s hand settled on his backside for mere moments, but it was enough to have Justin’s heart pounding and his dark-skinned cheeks flushing as he made his way to the breakfast hall; appointment card tucked safely into his breast pocket.

~~~

On the walk back to their dorms, Ted and Cody chatted the whole time about this and that, a few of their friends joining in on their conversation during the walk. “How come you don’t try out for one of the sports teams?” Ted asked. He knew that Cody would do amazingly well on the cricket team. 

“Teddy, you know that I’m part of the drama club. That takes up enough of my time. Between that and my studies, I would have no time to be on a sports team,” Cody reasoned. Drama had been his passion for several years, and he enjoyed nothing more than learning some Shakespearean play and reciting it back as his fellow students watched on. 

“Well, I, for one, am going to try out for the rugby team,” Joe Hennig told him as he caught up to walk alongside them.

“You’d be great on the team. How about you Windham?” Ted asked.

“What? You assume that just because I’m slightly husky I’m planning on trying out for the rugby team?” their good friend Windham Rotunda asked, looking slightly offended. 

“Well, no, I—” Ted stuttered, trying to backtrack; one did not want to get on his bad side.

Windham’s mood suddenly lightened and a smile came to his face. “Of course I’m trying out for the team! Look at me!” he added with a laugh and a pat on Ted’s back. 

Cheeks flushing dully with embarrassment at the way he had been caught out Ted mumbled something about, “evil so-called friends” and the group laughed. Cody’s eyes caught the older teen’s and the smile that he was given sent almost every boy in the school into swooning fits when he was performing onstage—especially if he was in a dress.

It was a carefully shielded whisper that Runnels had possibly the finest posterior in the school, but anyone who happened to voice this thought aloud would find themselves with a most unusual string on bad luck; like the time the third year did so and ended up with some of the rowing equipment falling on him in the storeroom, before he ended up with a broken nose during football practice. Unlucky, unfortunate, totally normal.

“I’ll be there to provide you all with support, of course,” Cody said graciously and Joe grinned, “Jolly good; anyone else will be so busy looking at you that we’ll wipe the grass with them!” Of course, it should be noted that those of the select inner-circle of Runnels and DiBiase could get away with such comments as they were made in jest, and neither had ever commented on Cody’s attractive assets in any serious way. Windham and Hennig moved on ahead from them after mentioning something about visiting the tuck-shop for a snack and Cody moved just that small step closer to Ted as he murmured, “I must insist on being the first to see you dressed in your rugby uniform when you make the team.” 

Flushing slightly, Ted muttered back, “Codes, I thought we established I wasn’t going to try out for the team…”

“Teddy, rugby and cricket run at different seasons. I’m not a sports player and even I know that. Besides, I think you would be brilliant on the rugby team. Plus, won’t it help to keep you in shape for when you take up cricket come spring?” Cody asked. 

Ted shrugged. It wouldn’t hurt if he tried out for the rugby team, too. It would look great to put on an application to any University if he did make the team. He’d played it enough times for fun, but their school’s team was one of the best in the country. “I suppose that I can give it a shot. And if I make the team, I promise you that you will be the first one to see me in the uniform,” he added in a low whisper.

Cody beamed at his friend again. “Good. Glad to know that I can persuade you so easily. How much longer do you have until tryouts?”

“I do believe John said the sign-up sheet would be by the gymnasium around-about-now, and after they collaborate all the names and the teams for trials and such…” Ted’s brow furrowed in thought, and Cody thought he looked so handsome when he had such a sombre expression.

“Give or take a few days, I would presume the actual attempts would be in about a week, why?” Cody gave one of those graceful little shrugs, all but oozing mystery and Ted wondered what his deviant little siren had going through his mind at that point in time. Sometimes Cody’s innocent face belayed the rather shrewd and downright frighteningly cunning brain that lay underneath the sweet exterior. “Oh, no reason in particular…” Cody said as they made their way towards the gym so Ted could sign up.

“Would you mind awfully if I asked you to rehearse with me for a little after dinner this evening, Ted?” Ted felt a blush lightly staining the apples of his cheeks; helping Cody rehearse was both a blessing and a curse because Cody always seemed to attract the roles wherein some sort of sensual interaction, or action, was needed, and having to act as the focal point for all of this attention and suggestion did things to Ted that no good Christian boy should feel proud of. And yet, even so, he’d say yes—he always did. 

The sign up sheet and a fountain pen (which Ted was rather surprised hadn’t been stolen by someone already) were right where they were supposed to be: on a small desk set up right outside the gym. There were a couple names there already, but not too many. As they turned around after Ted signed up, they passed by Joe and Windham while they went on their way to sign up. Ted couldn’t recall how many positions needed filling, if John even said at all, but he hoped that his two friends, at least, could make the team. 

“So… will you be doing any training prior to your tryouts?” Cody asked during their walk.

“I don’t think so. I’ll go in with whatever skill set I have, and if that happens to get me through, then that’s wonderful. If not, well, I still have the cricket team,” Ted replied, wondering why, all of a sudden, Cody had taken such an interest in his sports playing abilities. 

“Fair enough… Now, come along, I’m starving. Let’s go have some breakfast,” Cody said, completely changing the subject. Ted wasn’t about to object, though. Sitting through the morning announcements on an empty stomach was always torture. 

There were numerous long tables inside of the hall, one for each year of the school, and Cody and Ted joined the communal breakfast queue so that they could collect their portion. “What does it look like we’re having today?” he asked Ted; the other might only have an inch or two on him in height but when it came to looking over people’s heads that inch or two really made the difference. “Looks like toast and some egg and bacon,” at least Ted prayed that they would have enough to last until they got there; toast was all well and good but nowhere near as filling on its own.

Cody hummed slightly, giving a small frown and Ted grinned internally as he knew why Cody was pouting: much like a lady, Cody was always conscious of what food would do to his figure… though as Ted always insisted it would take more than one bacon breakfast to ruin his outer perfection in any way. And, had he been imagining how thrilled Cody had seemed when he had called him perfect?

After what seemed like eons they had their food and went to sit with the rest of their year, pitchers of drink, juice, coffee and tea, already awaiting them at the tables as they found two spots that were vacant. When they had settled Cody stood and leant over, reaching for the juice pitcher to pour himself and Ted drinks once he had ascertained the other would like juice. 

Justin’s backside was still tingling from the touch of his Headmaster as he began walking towards the dining hall for breakfast. This was the first time that Wade had ever looked so upset with him, at least when it came to his behaviour at school. He hated that feeling. He never wanted to upset the man that had been taking care of him for so long now. 

He never knew his own parents, never found out just what had happened to them, didn’t know if they were still alive, didn’t know where they were. He lived on the streets for as long as he could remember, and some of the people he knew told him something about Africa, and it would explain his darker colouring, but he could never know for sure just where in Africa he came from. 

And then Wade had found him. And Wade took care of him. And Wade brought him here, where he shot right up to number one in his class. 

He made it to the dining hall, cringing at the long line in front of him. It moved fairly quickly, though. He grabbed a tray and got the offered eggs, bacon and toast before heading over to his year’s table, finding an empty seat across from two of his friends, Ted and Cody. “Good morning,” he greeted as he took his seat. 

“Hello, Justin,” the two of them said at the same time, chuckling at one another as they did. 

Justin reached out for a pitcher of coffee and poured himself a cup. He smelled the strong drink before taking a sip, smiling into the cup as he could still feel Wade’s hand lingering on his backside. 

“You seem to be in a good mood today,” Ted noted. 

“No reason not to be,” Justin replied once he set his cup back down, the smile still on his lips. 

“Has innocent Angel-baby been doing something that he shouldn’t?” Cody sent Justin a smirk as he looked up at him through thick lashes and Justin’s cheeks bloomed red once more; Wade had given him the surname of ‘Gabriel,’ as well as his first name ‘Justin,’ and Cody and Ted never failed to tease him by giving him some spiritual nickname that played on the biblical undertones from his surname as well as his angelical face.

“N-No!” Justin was astounded at the mere thought—but that only grew when Cody said slowly, “I didn’t see you after the assembly and you’re rather late to breakfast—“ Justin braced himself, knowing what was coming but still cringing and looking around in fear that they had been overheard when the barb came, “—were you receiving some special commendation from our dear headmaster again?” Cody giggled as Justin gaped noiselessly.

“I haven’--!” Ted and Cody grinned and taunted him, but their comments held no true malice as opposed to the other boys who felt that he had only gained his position in the academic hierarchy by some precedence he received from being the Headmaster’s ward. That was far from the truth however, because Wade demanded nothing less than perfection from Justin and even had him working on extra assignments during his leisure time to ensure that neither his English nor general grades fell below par.

However, the comments that he offered in protest to people when they taunted him about his relationship with their Headmaster were not entirely true… and that was why Cody and Ted always embarrassed him when they commented: they knew some of the truth about what went on between he and Headmaster Barrett. “Oh, calm down,” Ted assured as Justin seemed about to attempt to injure himself with his bread-knife, “-no-one’s listening to us anyway.” Justin mentally sighed; how had these two become his closest friends, really? 

“You two are plain awful…” Justin mumbled, finally getting the marmalade on his piece of toast after fumbling around with it for so long. 

“Yet you continue to chum around with us,” Ted replied, grinning. They’d known Justin for a while, and had become even better friends when, two years ago, Justin joined the cricket team with him. 

“I really should look for some better friends,” he said with a smirk just before he took a bite of his toast. 

“Who even needs friends when you’re already so close to someone with such power?” Cody asked, smirking himself as Justin nearly choked on the bread. 

“There you two are,” Windham said from behind them, he and Joe squeezing into the table on either side of Ted and Cody. “Pass me the juice, will you?” he asked to Cody, who slid the pitcher down to him. 

“Pass it back this way,” Joe said once Windham had poured his drink. 

Grabbing the pitcher as it slid down the table, Joe happened to glance up and see another one of their buddies, Heath Slater, looking for a seat. Never one for being shy, he shouted, “Hey, Red, over here!” He pointed to the opposite side of the table, a free seat having cleared near Justin, whereas their side of the table was still pretty packed.

Heath scowled lightly at the nickname and taking the proffered seat with as much dignity as possible, giving Joe a positively poisonous look for a moment before the expression melted into one of practiced indifference. Heath’s hair-colour in itself was unusual, but the other man also had rather long hair by the accepted standards and so he was often teased as being a woman of fiery temperament due to its length and shade.

“Hullo gentlemen,” he greeted, eying the assembled group as he queried, “-so, who here has deigned to take on Captain Cena’s rigorous trials?” those who had signed the list indicated themselves and Heath looked amused, “Apparently quite a few of last year’s team have had to dispense with their services, either through graduation or other reasons, so there are at least four spots on the team.” No one questioned where Heath heard any of the information he shared; he never named names, and was more-often-than-not accurate.

“Well, there you go, boys,” Cody sent them all a winning smile that many of the boys in the school would pray would turn to them even for mere moments one time in their terms at the school, “-there are enough spots for you three, and one extra—“ he caught Ted’s eyes, sensing the other’s lingering apprehension over crossing commitments, “-I do so hope you’ll succeed.” Ted swallowed and took a deep swig of juice, a warmth beginning under his collar. 

“I have no doubt that I’ll make the team,” Windham said with confidence. 

“Why? Will your daddy work his influence to get you onto the team?” Cody asked, grinning. Windham’s dad was one of the teachers at the school, teaching economics and business classes.

“Really, Cody? No. Did you see any of the games last year? They’re lacking in their defense, they need a big, talented guy like me. Although Daddy’s influence might not hurt my chances,” he added with a grin. “Of course if anyone’s dad can influence the decision, it’s Joe’s.”

Joe Hennig blushed. His father, Curt, was in charge of the sports program at the school, and taught the athletic courses to sport students. “I will make the team without any of my father’s assistance.”

“Well, you get on the team without having your dad help, just tell him that he should put in a good word for Teddy here,” Cody said, putting an arm around Ted’s shoulders, giving him yet another one of his famous smiles.

Ted’s arm went around Cody’s waist in turn a very matey gesture, not even thinking about it as he did it. Cody was a tactile creature by nature and Ted was hardly going to protest when such attention was centred upon him; he’d never admit to it but he always felt so lonely without the continued, innocent contact.

“Are you sure you don’t want to try, Justin?” Windham asked the African boy; Justin was small but he had some stamina thanks to his cricketing, and he was fast, “I mean, Headmaster will probably give a personal recommendation for you if you play your cards right.” The group broke into laughter as Justin covered his face with his hands.

“I could really hate you all, you know that don’t you?” Justin scowled lightly but then allowed his features to relax; he had long-since learnt that letting himself get worked up by the taunt didn’t do him any favours, and it wasn’t worth his time to do so.

When they all finished their breakfasts they had to go and attend their morning lessons, each of them agreeing to meet up for lunch. “Unless Joe gets placed into detention by Professor Cole again.” Windham smirked and Joe rolled his eyes; Professor Michael Cole seemed to have it in for him—actually, all of their little group if you thought about it. 

~~~

Arching a brow as he turned his head to face John, he then said, “I thought you would never ask.” They were already heading the way of their dorms. As Head Boy, Randy had his own private quarters that they made use of quite frequently. In fact, John hardly slept in his own bed, which was in a dorm room shared with two other boys. There were several other rooms that had two or three beds to them for the rest of the students in their class. Once they made it back to Randy’s room, the door was swiftly shut and locked behind them. “I’d been dying to do this all throughout announcements,” Randy said as he brought his lips down to meet John’s.

After a long, deep kiss, John grinned up at him. “You mean you didn’t get enough before announcements?”

“Weren’t you the one suggesting that we do something neither respectful nor dignified?” Randy asked, pinning John up against the door. “I think this is enough talking for now.” With that, Randy began unbuttoning the jacket to John’s uniform, resisting the urge to rip off the layer after layer of clothing they had to wear on a daily basis. They couldn’t risk tearing another one of their uniforms in such a manner. 

“Mhm,” Randy made a sound of pure satisfaction in his throat as he looked upon John’s naked torso; it was very obvious that he had done a lot of physical activity in his life, but considering that his father had close ties to the army that was probably unsurprising, “I may have to insist upon you receiving a private changing room.” John cocked his head.

“Why?” John mused, baby-blues darkening as Randy’s long fingers traced down his chest and to his abdomen, familiarity and possessive, protective desire oozing from the small action. “Because I do not appreciate those boys being able to look at you.” Randy said this with great dignity, as though he was completely unaffected by John’s large hands undoing the button and zipper of his trousers.

“Not hardly,” Randy’s smirk would have made John embarrass himself without being touched had he been a lesser man, “-I know I can give you more than they ever could.” John found himself on his back moments later, Randy standing over him at the foot of the bed, “That a promise, Randal?”  
“For you, Jonathon? Always.”

Bracing himself on his elbows (with his trousers open, sliding down his trim hips and his undergarments concealing nothing about how his best friend since youth made him feel) John watched in appreciation as the Head Boy neatly toed off his shoes and socks before using his long, capable fingers to pop the button of his own trousers; the rasping of the zipper had John’s abdomen quivering. “You know, I think you’re supposed to wear underwear sometime, Randy.” Randy smirked as John took note of his unclothed state. “Where’s the fun in that?”

John chuckled at that. Randy was quite the character. “You enjoy getting up and talking before everyone, knowing that there’s nothing but these thin pants between them and… that, don’t you?” he asked, raising a brow as he licked his lips at the sight of Randy’s hard cock.

“You know me so well,” Randy agreed as he pulled his trousers the rest of the way off. His knees landed on the bed as he began crawling up John’s body. Once his face was hovering above John’s, he smirked and asked, “Could you remind me where we left off this morning?”

“Well… this morning I had your cock in my mouth, and I do believe I made you come. Yes… yes, I do recall that quite clearly. And then I believe there was something said about you wanting me to fuck you through your bed,” John told him with a grin.

“Did I say all that?” Randy teased. 

“You most certainly did,” John assured him. 

“Then what exactly are you waiting for?”

“You do realise you are possibly the bossiest tart ever, don’t you?” John’s dimples flashed in a smile that rendered even the great, untouchable (to near enough anyone but John in any serious sense) Randy weak-at-the-knees… though he would rather chew off his own arm than admit to such a tender frivolity aloud.

The cheeky retort that balanced on the tip of Randy’s often pointy tongue was unheard as with a skilful movement on John’s part had their positions reversed and Randy found himself underneath the other teen, looking up into those baby-blues that he knew only he could turn that fetching shade of smoky-ice.

Reaching with one hand into Randy’s bedside table John was surprised to find that the little tub his fingers had been eagerly anticipating was absent. When Randy pulled it out from underneath his pillow instead John arched a brow and spoke in a low, rough tone that made Randy’s abdomen quiver, “Have you been using this without me?” Randy licked his dry lips, John’s eyes following the motion, “Sometimes gents have needs, John, and you aren’t always around… more’s the pity.”

“What did you do to yourself? Were you thinking of me as you did it?”

Randy’s smirk remained firmly in place as he answered, “What makes you think that I was doing anything to myself?” While he and John had been sleeping together for quite some time, and while he knew that he did truly love John, they weren’t exclusive to one another. No, no, he may not lie on his back for any man but John, and no other man had ever gotten to feel his cock pounding into him, but hands and mouths were fair game. 

“Are you saying that you had someone else’s hand stroking your need?” John asked, putting that much more pressure on the shoulder he was pushing down on. 

After a pause long enough to see that John’s temper was quickly rising, Randy finally replied, “No. That was all me. And, yes, I imagined that it was your hand. It’s always your hand or your mouth that I’m picturing on me,” he rumbled, voice low. 

“Where did you touch yourself? Was it just your cock, or did you slip one of your long fingers into your hole?” John asked. He loved watching Randy touch and prepare himself, that sight alone turning him on as much as Randy’s touch upon him.

“Well, Randal?” John unscrewed the lid from the jar, fingers hovering teasingly over the surface of the slippery substance they were both so well acquainted with and Randy shivered before responding, “My cock… and my hole.” John’s eyes sparked and Randy felt himself getting, if possible, even harder than he had been previously—and when it was a John-created erection that wasn’t an easy task at all. “How many fingers?” Randy indicated in response and John groaned low in his throat.

“Show me—” Randy’s eyes hooded, feigning reluctance and embarrassment; there was nothing to be embarrassed about before John anyway, but when it came to sexual activities there wasn’t much that those two hadn’t already learned and explored together. “John—“ John’s hand gripped one of his strongly muscular thighs and pulled the limb up, spreading his partner open before him. “I said show me, and god, that tone alone was almost enough to do him in before they’d even gotten started.

No one, not even Headmaster Wade, had the unction to tell Randy no, or chastise him, but John would. John would tell him if he was getting ahead of himself and Randy thrived in there being someone to take his power from him for a change. Slicking three fingers up Randy then held John’s eyes as he pressed one into himself with a small hiss at the initial penetration.

“That’s it, Randy. Nice and slow,” John said, encouraging him on. Soon the finger was as far inside Randy’s body as it could go, so he said, “Pull it out. All the way out.” When Randy did just that, he went on, “Put it back in. Keep going slow.”

Randy pulled the finger out again before inserting it into him again. The action was slow and evenly paced, and he knew without even having to look that John’s cock was leaking as he watched. 

“Put the second finger in,” John ordered. 

Withdrawing his single digit, Randy then went back in with two. He slowly pushed the fingers in, wanting them to go as deep as he could possibly get them. “Oh, God, John,” he whimpered. “I want to feel you.”

“Not yet, Randy. I want to finish watching your display for me. Then you can have my cock.”

Biting down on his bottom lip hard Randy resisted the urge to whine loudly; he absolutely abhorred when John made him wait, and his fingers were nothing compared to what John felt like inside of him. However, John would not be rushed, and when Randy reached three fingers he growled and tried to command, “Bastard!”

Those dimples appeared in a strangely innocent contrast to the fire that was blazing in his John’s eyes. “All of them all the way, and then take them out—“ before Randy could offer another protest John was moving onto the bed, “-and then you’re going to place your hands up and hold onto your headboard.”

If anyone else ordered him around they would have been out on their ear but with John he permitted it. He obediently thrust his fingers into his body once more before then pulling them out and stretching his long body in a tantalising manner. John took some of the lubricating substance onto his hand and began to slather himself up with it, giving a return show now.

John twisted his hand over his cock as he stroked it, slicking it up to prepare himself. “Bring your knees to your shoulders. I want to hold onto your ankles as I fuck you,” John growled.

Obeying John’s wishes, Randy raised his legs up, bringing his knees as close to his shoulders as he could get them, exposing his ass to him even further. “Like this, Johnny?”

“Just like that,” he said, moving up towards Randy until his cock was pressing into the crack of his ass. His right hand gripped Randy’s ankle as, with his left hand, he ran the tip of his cock along the crack. 

“Come on, John. Fuck me.” 

“If you insist.” He aligned the tip with Randy’s hole and pushed in. Once he was completely seated inside, he took Randy’s other ankle in his left hand and gripped tight as he leaned forward, bending that tall, slim frame in half. 

“Oh, God!” Randy groaned in pleasure as his body was forced to bend underneath John’s, taking the other’s weight, but not being smothered by it; John had always been good at toeing the line without crossing it.

Taking a few moments to compose himself as the tightness of his oldest friend in the world surrounded him once more John then pulled himself from Randy’s willing body and then thrust himself inside again. The pace was deep, but slow, and even when John was touching his prostate it was so fleeting a sensation that he wasn’t getting nearly as much as he wanted out of it, “Gods, Jonathon, move will you?” John looked amused.

“I do believe I am moving, Randal.”  
“Bastard!” Randy moaned, trying to arch his hips up and push John in harder, faster, but there was little he could do in the current position… and he did believe John had chosen it for just that reason; payback for her earlier taunts.

“What did you just call me?” John asked, eyes burning with lust.

“Bastard,” Randy repeated, his own eyes rolling back in his head. He’d been waiting for so long to feel John’s cock inside of him, and he’d been teased enough. He didn’t need John to be taking his time with this. He wanted to be fucked, goddammit. 

“Calling me names won’t get me to go any faster,” he said. “Although begging me just might do the trick,” he added, not even moving his hips until he got Randy to plead with him to fuck him hard. 

“Damn you to hell.” He hated having to beg for it. He knew that John wanted it just as bad as he did, but damn that man’s self control. Somehow he was always able to move slow, pace things… 

“That doesn’t sound like you begging,” John said, rolling his hips just slightly.

“John, I swear by all that is good-and-Holy--!” John looked amused by the blaspheme, giving another roll of his hips, “Darling, I do believe what we are doing is far from holy…” the look he sent Randy was enough to have his swollen cock pulsing against his own abdomen, “-it sure as hell is good though.” Randy growled softly, knowing John wouldn’t let up.

John knew well enough by now when Randy was going to give into him; he did this gesture wherein his brow would furrow and a muscle in his cheek would work before he finally closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself.

“John—“ Randy would have pulled the other close had he been able, but with John holding onto his ankles he couldn’t do so, “—fuck me. Please, fuck me the way that only you can.” Oh, Randy was such a pretty tart when he begged for him. “Good boy.” Before Randy could protest the patronising comment John was thrusting into him again-- hard.

“Oh, God, that’s it,” Randy groaned as the sound of skin slapping against skin filled the room while John pounded into him. “Oh fuck, oh, fuck! Harder.”

John loved it when Randy talked like that. When he voiced the pleasure that he brought unto him. “That how you like it, Randy? Do you like to take my cock deep into your tight ass?”

“Yessss,” Randy hissed. “Your cock feels so good; your cock fills me so full.”

“You like being on your back for me, don’t you?” John asked. Randy flaunted his Head Boy power to anyone and everyone, and that wasn’t to say John didn’t enjoy it when that power was used upon him, but he loved when Randy laid down for him. It was a vulnerable side of Randy that no one but him saw. 

“Oh God, yes. Only for you, though, John. I only lay down for you,” Randy gasped as John fucked him rough and hard, hitting his prostate with nearly every thrust into him. “On my back, on all fours… it doesn’t matter, as long as I get your cock in me.”

“That’s what I like to hear, pet,” such pet-names that John used upon him completely subconsciously would have had any other boy getting a swift right-hook to the jaw… but John got away with it. Where Randy was concerned John nearly always got away with it.

“Always feel so tight, darling, makes me feel like you’re not ever going to let me go.” Despite his, well, not vulgar comments, exactly, but his, rougher, comments, John always had a tender undercurrent that Randy privately knew he would go into a fury over if he ever heard John using it upon anyone else. “Oh, fuck me, yes--!”

Soon their bodies were moving in earnest as they knew that even though their schedules were more flexible than their lower-year school-mates they still had attendance records and reputations to consider. “Touch yourself,” John’s cheeks were flushed, his gorgeously broad shoulders tensed with effort as he continued to hold Randy in place, “-I want to see how much you enjoy my cock, Randy…”

Randy groaned heavily, wrapping a hand around himself and jerking his wrist as swiftly as he could to match John’s almost brutal but completely and utterly delicious pace, “Oh, oh so close—come on, Johnny, please--!” John called his extra reserve, giving Randy what he wished.

“Yes, Johnny! Just like that,” Randy panted, John practically pushing his legs up into his pillow he was holding them so tight as he fucked him.

John came first, his cock shooting out streams of cum into Randy, though his hips continued to thrust through it. His eyes were screwed shut and his body convulsed with the force of his orgasm. 

The feel of John coming inside of him and the sounds of John gasping, were what finally brought Randy over the edge. He let out a strangled cry, choking out the name, “John,” as his cum soaked his stomach. 

Releasing Randy’s legs from his grip, John knelt up and slipped his cock from Randy’s hole. Lightly tapping his lover’s ass, he said, “Come along, Randal, we have got class to attend.”

Grumbling, Randy pushed himself into a sitting position, ass pleasantly raw from the thorough fucking he’d just received. “Well, at least I had a good start to my day,” he said, pressing a surprisingly gentle kiss to John’s lips. 

Quirking a small grin as the kiss broke John then moved into Randy’s en-suite bathroom (they were rare commodities given only to those like the Head Boy and teachers, even though some of them had to use communal staff bathrooms on occasion) before finding a cloth to clean them both with. He tended to Randy first before himself and then they redressed themselves.

Now, John would have been lying had he said that he didn’t enjoy seeing the slight limp that Randy had as they walked, his hand resting on his friend’s backside for a few moments in the empty corridor as Randy locked his room. “Looking forward to the tryouts?” he asked John and the other sent him one of those dimpled grins that he made him one of the most lusted-after boys in the school, “Really looking forward to it!” he assured Randy.

“I may have to come along and supervise…” Randy said as though thinking as they made their way to their Geography lesson, “To ensure all runs well.” And, of course, to see John in those little white shorts and the form-fitting rugby tops they wore. 

“Why don’t you try out for the rugby team?” John asked.

“John, don’t you see how muddy and disgusting everyone gets at the end of a good game? It’s bad enough after a football game. No, no, I would much rather watch. Rugby is an excellent spectator sport, I must say.”

“You would be a great asset to the team, but if you don’t want to, I can’t force you,” he said. Randy was a natural at football, though, his long legs allowing for speed and quickness that most of the other players didn’t have. 

The two took their seats in the geography classroom, atlases and notebooks set out in front of them. The bell hadn’t rung yet, though, so they continued chatting. It always amazed John that he and Randy could have such passionate sex just minutes before a class started and carry on in public as though there was nothing more between them than just a solid friendship. Although the little grimace that appeared on Randy’s face as he squirmed about in his seat just slightly said otherwise.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Illusion is the first of all pleasures. - Oscar Wilde

Their lessons were the least interesting parts of their day. All of them were required to take an arithmetic class, English writing classes, literature classes and geography classes. They all had some electives, as well, but even those could drag along. 

Professor Cole taught their literature class, his speaking voice grating on the nerves of nearly everyone in the classroom. “Mr. Hennig,” Cole said, hitting his cane against his desk, causing his students to startle, “I don’t believe that Charles Dickens’ novel was a lesson on how to fall asleep in class, do you?”

“No, Sir,” he said, sitting up straight, looking Cole right in his eyes, fighting the urge to rub the tiredness out of his eyes.

“Tell me, what was I just talking about?” he asked, turning away from the desk. He quickly turned on his heel just in time to see another student attempting to lean over and explain. “I didn’t ask anyone to help him, did I? I asked Mr. Hennig, not you. Do you have an answer for me?”

Joe felt, for a moment, that he was going to end up with another detention—but then the door opened and in sauntered the class’ resident ‘clown’, Michael Mizanin; his unusual last name came from his father’s routes out in the ‘New World’, America, or its colonies, no one truly knew.

Joe ground his teeth together as Professor Cole merely chastised Mike lightly for his tardiness before then indicating he sit down, though he swiftly read the neatly written note Ted had slipped him underneath the table. He looked up in time for Professor Cole to focus on him as Mike took his seat behind him, the man repeating his previous question.

Trying not to seem tentative as he responded with what Ted had written, Joe exhaled a mental breath as Professor Cole begrudgingly accepted that he had gotten the answer correct, turning his attention to another of the boys in the class since his moment had passed him by to target Joe. Slipping the note into his blazer pocket he traded a silent look of thanks with Ted; their little arrangement had saved many of them from a detention due to such incidents almost since their first year in their current establishment of education. 

Once the class was dismissed, the boys had two more classes to attend before they were able to have a lunch break. Joe and Cody both had arithmetic while Ted had Windham’s dad in an economics class, Windham and Heath both had Joe’s dad for a gym class and Justin was in an advanced literature class. 

“Cole is an utter bastard,” Joe muttered once to Cody they left that room on their way to the second class of the day. 

Cody chuckled. Joe said it as though that were new news. “I know. He was just starting here when my brother, Dustin, had him. He was miserable back then, too. Dustin asked me who I had for teachers this semester the last time he saw me. When I told him Cole, he couldn’t stop laughing at me. I have an extremely insensitive older brother.”

“Sounds that way. This class isn’t too bad, though,” he said as they made it to the door of their next class. 

“That’s because it’s so horribly easy!” Cody whispered as they sat down. When they signed up for classes, they continually signed up for arithmetic classes that were below their skill level so they would be guaranteed a fairly good grade. Cody tried to get Ted to join the class, but he wanted to take that economics class and wouldn’t be persuaded. Now he was just stuck in an advanced math class, same as Justin. Oh well, it was his decision.

Classes seemed to drag for Cody; his determination for easy-grades alongside Joe meant that they often finished their work early, but had to pretend that they hadn’t as their teacher could have them transferred to a more advanced class if he cottoned on to how intelligent they really were. Finally the bell rang signaling their last lesson of the day.

“Oh, thank God!” Cody began pushing his books back into his school-administered leather satchel, his fountain pens being placed back into their casing with more care since if they exploded then all of his work would be ruined. Joe and he were amongst the first to leave the room, easily moving between the other students. Joe sent Cody a sly grin, “Cody, do calm yourself; Ted will be there waiting for you even if you do take your sweet time leaving the classroom.” Cody swatted at the other teen.

“That isn’t the only reason why I’m glad to be out of class!” Cody pouted his plump lips and Joe held his hands up in a gesture of surrender though the smug smirk didn’t leave his face. “I’m going to go meet Windham,” Joe announced, “-and then we’ll probably meet Justin along the way so we’ll see you and lover-boy—I mean,” He pretended to look embarrassed by his faux-pas, “-Ted, and we’ll see you both at dinner.” Cody rolled his eyes in wan amusement and waved the other off as he continued on his way to where he always met Ted after this particular lesson. And, lo-and-behold, there was Ted. Waiting. 

Cody couldn’t help but smile when Ted came into view. He and Teddy were the best of friends, but they had never been anything more than that. They were _not_ lover boys, as Joe had so eloquently put it. Of course, that didn’t mean that Cody didn’t _want_ to be Ted’s lover. He could feel the eyes of the other boys upon him all the time, and occasionally he’d given in to those stares, receiving a few illicit hand jobs in the boy’s bathroom, but he’d never done anything more with anyone. He held out in the hopes that it would be Teddy he could do more with.

“Hey, Codes. Where’s Joe gone off to?” he asked, seeing that Cody was walking alone.

“He went off to find Windham. He said that we can meet back up for dinner, like usual,” Cody told him, leaving out the part about Joe calling Ted his lover boy. 

“Sounds good. So, how were your classes today?” Ted asked as they set off on a walk.

“Same as usual.”

“You mean far too easy for you? Are you going to keep that up for the rest of your time here, too? Take classes that are way below your level just to get a good GPA? I mean, look at Justin; he’s taking advanced _everything_ and he’s still top of the class.”

Leaning in close, Cody whispered, “You and I both know that’s only because he’s sleeping with our beloved Headmaster.”

Ted smacked Cody lightly on the arm and muttered, “Stop it, you know that’s not true,” though he couldn’t help but chuckle himself.

Ever the drama-queen Cody pouted and pretended to cradle his arm into his body as though he was mortally wounded, “Oh, Teddy you do wound me so! A heavy hand doth lead to a heavy heart!” Ted rolled his eyes in fond exasperation after recovering from the momentary panic he had that he _had_ hurt the other man even slightly. He draped his arm around Cody’s shoulders as they walked towards the dining-hall once more. “I’m hungry,” Ted confessed, aware of Cody’s eyes flickering to him now and again as they walked, but not responding since it happened all the time, “-I hope there’s a good meal out.”

Per the insistence of the influential parents, and Headmaster Barrett himself, the school had a very enviable dining menu wherein all got decent portions and the food could be exotically varied as Headmaster Barrett was very keen for them all to experience new things… though Cody would swear to it that the Headmaster only had an interest in foreign cultures because Justin was a foreigner.

“You’re still going to help me rehearse tonight, aren’t you?” Occasionally Ted cancelled on him when he had cricket practices or other arrangements even though he may have promised previously and Cody wanted to make sure nothing would take Ted’s attention away from him even for a few moments.

Standing in line behind the other boys Ted sighed and nodded, looking embarrassed, “I don’t see how me reading the lines helps you though; I’m terrible with enunciation and putting emotion into my voice, I don’t see how you can handle having to pretend to be some completely different person." 

“It’s such fun, Teddy! I know you’re awful playing those other characters, but believe me, it really helps me. You could try a bit harder, yes, but it makes me work even harder to portray all the emotion I need to to get the character’s actions across,” Cody told him excitedly. “The best part about acting _is_ being able to be someone completely different than you are normally.”

“Really? I just don’t see how it’s helpful when I’m so dull with reading your script.”

“It doesn’t hurt to put a little something behind it. No one ever said to you that you only have to read the lines right from the page. Try it tonight. We can really get into it,” Cody said. In the play they were working on, Cody had managed to get the lead role… the lead _female_ role, so he knew that he’d have to find a scene to run through that allowed them to get close… 

“I’ll feel like a fool,” Ted mumbled. 

“It’ll just be you and me, Teddy, I promise.” All Cody had to do was tell the rest of their dorm mates that he and Ted were going to run lines, and people would be more than happy to go into the common room for a while. 

“Oh, alright.” Ted eventually conceded to Cody’s imploring words and Cody gave a jubilant little smile; Ted didn’t know why the other was so pleased to have worn him down though, because he himself could count the number of times he had denied a request of Cody’s on one hand. “If you tell anyone though—“ Ted threatened weakly and Cody swore on his father’s life that he wouldn’t tell anyone about Ted getting into the acting more.

Collecting their meals they then made their way to the usual table, seeing that Windham and Michael were already there, Justin sitting opposite them with Heath at his side. “Come on, boys!” Windham grinned, “Where have you been?” the waggling brows that accompanied the implication in this sentence had Ted blushing and scowling at their friends, Cody seeming unaffected by the words as he gracefully seated himself. Ted followed suit with less grace.

~~~

John wasn’t bad at academics by any stretch of the imagination, but he hated being stuck in the classroom setting; he was happiest when he was out on the sports field doing what he knew for sure was something that he could excel in. When it came to outside classroom homework assignments Randy often had to give John the metaphorical kick (or bribes) to do it.

Geography passed in a blur for John (Randy silently chastising him at one point for jotting down play-plan diagrams for what he intended to do for the rugby training session instead of paying attention to the teacher) and then the other lessons followed suit.

“—did you even do your French homework?” Randy was saying as they exited their French class to go to dinner, French having been their last lesson on the day, “Of course I did!” John pouted slightly when Randy sent him a look that said quite plainly that the other didn’t believe him. “And I can prove it, too!” John insisted and Randy cocked his head to one side, “Oh really, how?” John opened his satchel and pulled out his French book where he had jotted a phrase he had found in the back, Randy’s eyes widening, “Who taught you that?!” Better yet, who had dared ask John if he wanted to go to bed with them that night?!

John smirked at that, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“As a matter of fact, I would,” Randy said. 

“And I bet you would _really_ like to know if I actually took them up on the offer,” John went on, raising an eyebrow. Of course, he hadn’t (well, a hand job wasn’t considered going to bed with someone, was it?), but it was always fun to work Randy up. The man could get very possessive. 

“Tell me who it was,” Randy demanded.

“Rene Dupree,” John answered as they walked into the dining hall. Dupree was one of the French exchange students they had at school. He was a year younger than they were, but he was in the same French class as they were, as they were required to take at least one class in their native language while studying abroad. 

“Bastard,” Randy grumbled. He then asked, needing to know the answer, “And did you go to bed with him?”

Knowing that it would only wind Randy up further, John merely adopted a contemplative expression and continued to walk in silence. Randy ground his teeth together and fought the urge to drag John back to his room and damn-well _force_ the other to tell him whether he had or not. There was a part of him that was annoyed as to how much such a thought bothered him, but the larger part of him demanded that he exact revenge against the one who had ventured into territory that he had claimed long before.

Seeing the expression upon Randy’s face John’s expression softened slightly and he then sighed; if he held it in then Randy would go after Dupree himself, and that was the _last_ thing that John wanted. “No, I didn’t go to bed with him.” He had been forced to lower his voice because they had just entered the dining-hall and were now surrounded by their peers, “I shan’t deny that I… _assisted_ him in his needs,” Randy scowled momentarily, “But I didn’t do _that_ with him.”

Conversation over dinner halted momentarily as John Cena and Randy Orton walked into the dining-hall, being allowed to move to the front of the line the way that teachers did due to their standing. Now, whilst Cody actually _had feelings_ for Ted, he couldn’t deny that the Head Boy and Sports Captain also garnered his interest in the physical aspect anyway. 

Ted answered Windham’s question once the chatter began to pick back up again. “We were walking from our meeting point here. That’s all we were doing. I don’t know _what_ that look is for.”

“Oh, that’s all you were doing?”

“Yes, that’s all we were doing. Now would you quit wiggling your eyebrows at me?!” Ted asked, rather flustered. 

Cody turned his attention back to his friends at the table after letting his eyes wander towards the two older teens. He knew that they were out of his reach, what with them having such high standing in the school, plus them being two years older, but it couldn’t stop him from looking. 

Randy nodded. That was fair enough. He would never tell John to not assist with another’s needs, so long as he wasn’t assisting them _that much_. “Good,” he said, though he still scanned the room for that French bastard.

“Oh, Randy, I meant to ask you something,” John told him once they sat down, making it sound as though he’d forgotten something important.

“Yes?” Randy said, wondering what it was. However, when John repeated the phrase to him in French, his smirk grew and he answered, “Oui.”

“Good to hear. I think that’s all the French I need to know, don’t you agree?” he asked, cutting into his dinner.

“I don’t know how successful you’d be should you travel to France if that’s the only phrase you know. Well, you’d obviously be successful in _that_ sense, but doing anything other than that? You’d be up the creek with no paddle…” He paused as he chewed his food, then added, “Although with _me_ , then yes, it’s the only French you need to know.”

John watched as a scowl appeared on Randy’s previously smirking face, and he soon found out why when someone said to him from behind, “Excuse me, John.” He couldn’t help but be annoyed, either, but he still turned around with a smile on his face to see what the kid had to say.

Randy didn’t even pretend to hide his irritation at the interruption, and the younger teen seemed visibly shaken from the subtle but poignant glare that was being sent in his direction as he asked John about the age-limit to the rugby tryouts.

When he had answered the teen he thanked him hastily (giving John a rather dazed look of adoration that the man more-often-than-not-missed because he was oblivious to the affection of others unless it was Randy) John smiled and waved him off before turning his attention back to Randy and his food. He noticed that the other looked a little bit superior and he arched a brow at the other in silent question, Randy shrugging.

When Rene ended up sitting opposite him though John mentally groaned; he didn’t find Dupree overly attractive even though he was far from ugly, and in decent enough shape, and he had only gone with the other because he had been in need of relief and Randy hadn’t been around; Rene made no secret of the fact that he found John attractive—but then, the French always had been flamboyant.

“Bonjour, Jonathon.” Rene cooed and John nodded politely, letting his thigh press against Randy’s underneath the table as he sensed the younger man bristling somewhat. Randy forced himself to relax, smug in the thought that _he_ had been inside John, had him screaming in climax, and Dupree would _never_ get that.

“René, how are you today?” John asked, trying to at least be courteous to the man that joined him at their table. 

“I’ve been quite well… how are you?” he asked in return, raising an eyebrow, obviously wanting a repeat of the other day. And obviously oblivious to the fuming Randal Keith Orton who sat diagonal from him.

“I’m well, thank you…”

“How’s your French coming? If you _ever_ need ‘elp on your ‘omework, I’m more than ‘appy to ‘elp in any way,” he offered.

“John’s French is coming along just fine,” Randy growled, staring a hole right through the exchange student.

René’s brows almost vanished into his hairline as he heard Randy’s tone, then offering a sweet smile to the Head Boy just because he knew it would rub him up the wrong way entirely. “I know he has _skill_ ,” John knew that Randy was about five seconds away from strangling Rene with his tie, “-but practice makes perfect, non?” he asked innocently.

“Non,” Randy growled softly at the other man, their French teacher mercifully choosing that moment to appear, engaging René in conversation about how he was continuing with the curriculum and suchlike. “Randy, do calm down,” John murmured gently, actually falling silent when Randy gave him That Look.

“You, come with me. Now,” Randy ordered, talking directly to John. He excused himself from the table, nodding to their French teacher and muttering something about doing his duties. John stood as well, following Randy to leave off their dishes, then walked beside him on the way back to his room. “That little prick,” Randy huffed under his breath.

John could see that Randy was fuming. That was ok with him, though. He loved when Randy got angry. “Who? Me or Dupree?” John asked, hearing Randy slinging out the insult. 

“The both of you.”

“Oh, come on, Randy, you were having me on today earlier. Had me thinking that someone else had their hands on you…”

“No one that I’ve ever played around with had the gall to come and say such things to you, though, did they? French bastard…”

~~~

When the boys jokingly quipped that he had to be tense because of some _tension_ that had yet to be released, Ted really had to hold onto his temper; although he didn’t sound off over small things, he did admittedly not need that much fuel to his fire before he exploded. His father’s temper was legendary in its own right and out of three sons it was only natural that one would inherit it.

However, when the need for food outweighed the need to tease, conversation became stymied between them all as they filled their mouths. Cody was quiet, though his attention was on Ted and _not_ his food. Windham and Joe might not be far off when they spoke of _tension_ , as Ted was notoriously… _innocent_. 

Cody was hoping that _perhaps,_ if he found a scene that involved a lot of emotion and close contact, perhaps even a kiss, then he could finally help to relieve Ted of some of that tension he was holding onto. Ted never told stories of meeting other boys in the bathroom to touch one another’s cocks or anything. In fact, once, when they were eleven and twelve respectively, Cody asked Ted shyly if he could look at his cock, and Ted had said no. The older they got, the more Cody wanted to see and hold and suck and get fucked by that cock…

“What? Is there something on my face?” Ted asked when he noticed that Cody was looking at him.

“Oh, uh, no… Sorry… just lost in thought,” Cody told him, turning his attention to the food in front of him, taking a bite. 

“Oh, ok,” Ted said with a shrug, going back to his dinner. 

When dinner and dessert were over Windham and Joe both excused themselves reluctantly as they both had homework to do (and because it was for Professor Lawler, whom near-enough all the students liked as he saved them from Professor Cole, they wanted to get it done lest the man be disappointed in them) and Heath went off to do… whatever it was that he did, and Justin seemed a little bit absent-minded himself. When Cody asked what he was up to that evening the other teen evasively answered, “I have to sort something out…”

When they had deposited their dishes in the appropriate place (and Cody had asked Justin to remain away from their room for a while, to which the other assured he would) Cody then caught Ted’s hand in his own on reflex and began to pull the other teen along with him, “Come along, Theodore, the night is young and you and I have scenes that need rehearsing!” Soon, they were back in their dorm room.

Cody found his script and handed it to Ted. He thought he had all his lines memorized, but he wouldn’t know until he tried. “Ok, Teddy, we’re starting…” he paused, leaning forward, his face extremely close to Ted’s as he flipped to the page of the scene he wanted to run through, “right here. You just pretend to be… everyone but my character,” he said with a chuckle. 

“Ok.” Ted began reading the lines, and Cody walked around, imaging the marks on the stage as he moved from spot to spot, acting his lines instead of just saying them. 

After a while, though, of Ted just reading from the page, Cody stopped them for a moment. “Teddy, you promised me that you’d try and act. You may feel a fool at first, but it’s only in front of me. Just… imagine that you _are_ the character. You only have to act one of them, too. If you want to simply read the rest.” Cody moved back towards Ted, pointing to the lead’s name on the page. “Pretend that you’re him. Please? Do it for me?” he asked, batting his lashes.

Sighing heavily and looking uncomfortable Ted nodded his head and Cody immediately slipped back into his role, back to Ted the way the character was supposed to do, but on a front view towards the ‘fourth-wall’, which referred to the audience. Clearing his throat softly as he found his place, Ted felt his cheeks beginning to heat up as the male lead started to become a little… demanding, of Cody’s female character.

“You cannot tell me that he makes you feel the way that I do,” Ted moved forward as the script requested, a hand going to Cody’s arm and using the contact to turn the other to him.

“You can’t expect me to believe such lies, Charlotte!” And lord, he never could get used to calling Cody female names even if it was just for the script. Cody felt his heart-rate increasing with excitement as Ted seemed to take on the character slowly but surely, heading towards the _one_ point of the scene where he _desperately_ wanted Ted to act out with him. “I am the only man who can make you feel like—“ Ted’s words cut off as he caught sight of the stage direction not several lines down: _Henry pulls Charlotte into a passionate embrace, kissing her for several seconds._

Cody watched as Ted froze. He can’t say that he hadn’t been expecting something like this to happen. He remembered last year when he’d gotten a supporting female role and he had to have his first on stage kiss. It was weird for him at first, but his male counterpart told him that he’d done on stage kisses before, and that all he had to do was close his eyes and it would be over before they knew it. It was only acting after all. So, Cody improvised slightly, trying to get Ted to finish his line so they could move on. “Make me feel like what?” he asked in character. 

“I am the only man,” Ted began to read, “who could make you feel like—” he then cut off again, still not able to focus on anything but that stage direction.

“Who could make me feel like this?” Cody asked.

Ted looked up from his page, realizing a change in Cody’s tone. He wasn’t in character anymore. When their eyes met, he hardly had time to wonder why the change in tone as Cody moved in and covered his lips with his own.

The script fell from Ted’s stiff hands, landing on the carpeted floor with a muffled flapping sound, Cody placing his hand on the back of Ted’s neck as he kept his lips against the others. Cody eyes had closed but Ted’s were wide open, the bright blues projecting the shock he felt at the other’s movement. _Cody was kissing him_. That was the only thing going around Ted’s head right then and the teen was powerless as to doing anything in response. Cody managed to hold on for a few seconds longer but when it seemed that Ted just wasn’t going to respond he started to pull back, dejected and disappointed.

However, he didn’t get very far because a hand was splaying over his lower-back, forcing him to tilt back slightly, looking up at Ted. There was an apprehension in his eyes as well as his hurt disappointment, and he supposed he should apologise, “Teddy, I…”

Although there was a voice in the back of Ted’s mind that said he shouldn’t be encouraging, hell, initiating such behaviour, he couldn’t help himself. “Shut up, Codes,” Ted’s voice commanded lowly and Cody was admittedly more startled by that then when Ted’s lips took his own again in a firmer, if inexperienced, kiss. 

Ted let his tongue run along Cody’s lips, and they gladly parted for him. He couldn’t say that he knew what he was doing, but he was determined to try. His other hand had joined the one already on Cody’s back, pulling the younger teen further into his body. God, he’d wanted this to happen for so long, he’d just always been too shy to do anything about it. 

Moaning into the kiss, Cody let himself be wrapped up in Ted’s strong arms. He let his tongue dance with Teddy’s as his hands tangled into the blonde mop of hair. Even when they broke apart for air, his hands remained in the hair. “Damn, Teddy,” he said breathlessly. 

“How was that?” Ted asked nervously. 

“I’ll give you a hint. That was a good, ‘Damn, Teddy,’ I just gave you,” he told him with a smile. “I’d really, really like to do it again.”

“Again?” Ted swallowed, unsure whether he could control himself if he allowed himself to continue; his confusing feelings for Cody and his father’s lessons had meant that he had refrained from intimate contact with others and so he didn’t want to rush the other by getting too carried away—he was unaware of the fact that Cody would be _more than happy_ for Ted to get carried away.

“D-Don’t you have more scenes you want to rehearse?” Ted asked, Cody’s fingers tightening in his hair as he spoke, their bodies so close together that even a piece of paper wouldn’t have slipped between them as Cody responded, “Damn the rehearsal, Theodore, and kiss me!” Cody demanded, needy.

“As my lady wishes—“ Ted tried to seem unflustered and casual, but that went out the window when he suddenly found himself sprawled out atop his neatly made bed with a lapful of Cody and the other kissing the very breath from his lungs. 

“Oh, God Teddy, I’ve waited so long for this,” Cody told him between kisses. 

“Mmm, me too, Codes,” Ted replied, returning Cody’s kisses with vigour. That was until he felt Cody’s hands pulling at his shirt. “Wait, wait, what are you doing?” he asked, grabbing onto Cody’s wrists. 

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m undressing you,” Cody said with a raised brow. Wasn’t that fairly obvious?

“But… but why?”

“Don’t you want to fuck me?” Cody asked, again as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

~~~

Appointment card still in his jacket pocket, Justin made his way through the halls of one building, exited that one and entered another where the Headmaster’s office was located. Even though he had the card, he was still worried that he’d be stopped and asked about the reason behind his late evening visit with the Headmaster. 

He wasn’t stopped, though, and he made it to the office with no issues. He smiled and nodded at the secretary, who looked as though she was packing up to go home for the night. Knocking on the door, he waited to hear “Come in,” before actually opening it up.

Closing the door behind him, Justin stepped into the room, smiling at Wade as he looked up from his desk at him. 

“Good evening, Justin,” Wade greeted genially as he motioned for Justin to come towards his desk. However, when he made to sit down in the visitor’s chair, Wade reached a hand out and caught the African teen’s wrist, pulling him with consummate ease into his lap; sometimes people missed that Wade had a very admirable sportsman physique and record of his own.

Justin gasped as he found himself straddling Wade’s lap, a blush just visible on his dark skin as he turned his head and looked back to the door, “Sir—“he protested breathlessly and Wade gave a roguish grin that highlighted his often understated youth before speaking lowly, “Do calm yourself, Justin, she won’t be coming in.” he then tilted his head to one side and said, “Now—I do believe you came to visit me earlier.” 

“I did come to visit you earlier… and I’m sorry that I got you so angry,” he added softly, his eyes lowering to Wade’s lap. 

“It’s not that I don’t enjoy seeing you in my office,” Wade said, placing a hand under Justin’s chin to raise his head up to look at him, “but you know how I enjoy holding you in my arms… And I can’t have someone else seeing us like this. Now, what was it you came here to see me about? Are your grades slipping? Are you having trouble in one of your classes? You know that I expect nothing but the best from you.”

“No, no, it’s nothing like that. I’m still top in all my classes,” Justin assured him before placing a hand on Wade’s broad chest. “I just wanted to come and see you, that’s all.”

“I missed you, sir.” Justin confessed softly. Even though he had his friends (regardless of all of their teasing, he knew that they cared about him) he felt so lonely and… well, uncomfortable, when he wasn’t around his guardian. He was the only non-white boy in the entire school and he had been targeted for it on occasion, to name one thing that made him uneasy—though Wade dealt with such people harshly.

“Justin…” Wade offered an indulgent smile, one of his large hands resting on Justin’s back as the other remained atop the teen’s thigh, “You know you may call me by name when we’re alone.” Justin bowed his head slightly before looking back up, swallowing (Wade’s eyes drawn to that delicate throat as it bobbed up and down) “I know si—Wade, I was just waiting for permission to do so.” 

“You don’t have to wait for my permission,” Wade told him, the hand on Justin’s back beginning to move in small circles as the hand on his thigh rubbed up and down. 

“I know… but I… I like it when you give me permission to call you by your first name,” Justin told him, his hips scooting up even higher. He never had any issue calling Wade by his first name when they were at home, but when they were at school, it was a completely different story. At home he’d always been Wade. Here, though, Wade was still his headmaster and he had the utmost respect for the position that he held. He liked to know when that barrier had gone down and Headmaster Barrett became Wade once more. 

“So, tell me, Justin… this is just a… leisurely visit to my office?” Wade asked, the hand on Justin’s back moving upwards to cup behind his neck and draw him forward until their foreheads were touching. 

~~~

“No, I don’t.” Seeing the stricken look that appeared across Cody’s face Ted hastened to explain himself, “I mean no I don’t want to ‘fuck’ you,” he started, hands going to Cody’s waist to keep the other close, “I want to make love to you—“ that hopeful glimmer was back and Ted swallowed, trying to keep resolute.

“Not like this,” he indicated them, terrified in the back of his mind that if they did this and then Cody woke up the next morning hating him then Ted would be destroyed. “I just… I want it to be a time when you’re sure that you want to do such a thing with me.”  
“I _am_ sure!” Cody immediately stressed. 

“Well… _I’m_ not,” Ted told Cody. “Besides, you’re only fifteen, I… I don’t want to be something that you’ll regret in the morning, a week from now, a month from now… a year from now… Ever.”

“Teddy, _I want this_ ,” Cody pleaded. 

“I’ll be more than happy to keep kissing you, Cody, but I don’t want to sleep with you quite yet.”

“Then at least let me take care of you. Please, Teddy? I can take care of you really well,” Cody then said, his hand drifting to Ted’s pants, brushing over the hard cock that he new would be there.

The way Ted jolted even from that simple touch had Cody even more eager to please Ted; he wanted to see whether his best friend was as responsive as he had always dreamt he would be, and believe it when Cody had dreamt about that particular element _a lot_.

“Cody—“ Cody pressed his lips to Ted’s to silence the other, pulling back enough to murmur reassuringly, “No more than this, I promise, just this—“ Ted, transfixed by the passion glowing in Cody’s eyes, Ted nodded without even realising he was doing so, only coming back to awareness when he felt Cody’s soft hand wrapping around him underneath his trousers and underwear, “Oh, gosh!” 

“Has anyone ever touched you, Teddy? Touched you like this, I mean?” Cody asked as he began stroking over him. When Ted shook his head back and forth, Cody smiled at him. “It feels good, though, doesn’t it? Having someone’s hand on you…”

“It does,” Ted answered. “It’s… really nice.”

“I know.”

Ted knew that Cody had done this with other boys before, and that thought didn’t bother him, a majority of the other boys had been touching one another since about ten years old. But something was nagging him. Cody had been so eager to fuck him, it made him wonder if he’d ever been that eager to fuck anyone else. He’d never heard Cody talk about doing that with anyone, though, but that didn’t mean that he _hadn’t_ , he could have just wanted to keep it to himself… “Codes… Have you ever slept with anyone before?”

The way Cody’s hand jerked against him in surprise made Ted bite his lip, suddenly wondering whether he had offended Cody or something from the way the other had frozen—but in his defense Cody’s behaviour did indicate that he had at least _some_ experience. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—“ Ted started, but then Cody gently hushed him.

“No, Teddy, I haven’t,” Cody’s hand started to move again and Ted groaned softly as his head dipped back, hips rubbing against the other’s palm to increase the friction even as he desperately tried to pay attention to what was being said about him, “—I’ve been saving myself,” Ted felt jealousy flare through him before Cody finished, “—for you.” His eyes widened then, the following gasp having nothing to do with the interesting twist Cody’s wrist just gave, “M-me?” Cody smiled slightly at the reaction, eyes drifting momentarily to the cock in his hand before meeting Ted’s own, “It’s always been you, Teddy. Always.” 

“Really?” Ted whispered, losing himself in the blue pools of Cody’s eyes. 

“Really. I wouldn’t tell you that unless it was true. I’ve dreamt of kissing your lips for many years now… And I’ve imagined what our first time would be like on many occasions,” he admitted, continuing to stroke Ted’s cock, his hand going through the motion as he confessed all his pent up feelings for his best friend _to_ his best friend.

“If you…” he sucked in a breath as Cody’s hand squeezed lightly, “hadn’t gotten me tonight, how long would you have waited?”

Cody’s hand paused momentarily, thinking that question over. He’d never thought about that before, mainly because, in his mind, he _always_ ended up with Teddy. “As long as I needed to… I hope you know that that holds true now. I’ll wait for you to be ready for as long as it takes.” 

There was only a momentary disbelief in Ted’s heart as he heard Cody’s words; a look in the other’s eyes told him that Cody was indeed being honest with him, that he would indeed wait. “Would it really mean that much to you to be with _me_?” Never in a million years would he have had the gumption to presume that he was Cody’s type of lover, but he wasn’t about to dispute it if he apparently was. However, although he had no intention of losing Cody, he wasn’t going to rush the physical aspect either.

“Teddy,” Cody looked serious indeed even as his hand moved so swiftly, with such a _good_ grip, that Ted was helpless but to lie underneath the other panting, his body growing tenser and tenser until he was finally crashing over his first _ever_ orgasm, Cody’s low words reverberating in his pleasure-clouded mind, “It has never meant anything without you, Ted. I don’t want any other than you.” And Ted wasn’t even going to attempt to deny the truth in those words. 

“I’ve felt the same way about you,” Ted admitted once his breathing began to calm, though his body was still tingling from the sensations of his orgasm. 

“You have?” Cody asked, eyes lighting up. 

“I have… But I refuse to rush into anything with you. I want to know that the time is right,” he said.

Cody frowned, but he knew that he’d be getting Teddy sooner rather than later. Hell, all he’d have to do was get Ted to come to his play rehearsal as they practiced the scene that he and Ted had worked on. Having to see him kiss someone else would get Ted’s blood boiling. On the same note, he didn’t want Ted to regret what they did and end up never speaking to him again. Oh, well, he had Ted in some fashion, and he was _determined_ to keep him. And maybe teach him a thing or two.

With shaking hands the tawny blonde moved to clean himself up with the pristine handkerchief Cody handed to him, pushing himself upright. “Um,” being the gentleman he was he supposed he should offer to return the attention Cody have given him. However, the other merely smiled slightly and shook his head, “It’s quite alright, Teddy.”

Momentarily Ted wondered whether he had offended the other by saying that he didn’t want to sleep with him, because even _he_ wasn’t oblivious enough to miss the tent in Cody’s school trousers, but the other seemed genuine when he said, “I’m happy just having done this for you; I said I wasn’t going to rush you and I meant it.” He reached and picked their fallen scripts from the floor and offered the one Ted had been using back to him with a cute smile, “Rehearse with me a little longer?” he asked the other, batting his eyelashes sweetly.

“Of course I’ll rehearse with you some more,” Ted told him. 

“Perfect. Let’s pick up where we left off,” Cody said, giving him a wink, the pair of them knowing _exactly_ where they left off. However, this time when they got to the kiss, Ted was more than happy to follow the stage directions (even going above and beyond what the directions told him). 

The rest of the scene unfolded, and Ted had to admit that it was actually somewhat entertaining to play someone else for a while. Especially since he had helped him come to fully realize the extent of his feelings for Cody. Even though things weren’t going so well for his character at the moment, he was hoping that, while they continued to rehearse, there’d be another kissing scene when Henry and Charlotte hopefully make up for the final time.

There were no more kissing scenes in the amount that they got done before they were receiving the warning-knock on their door by the Prefect who was on duty for their dorm floor, telling them that it was lights out soon. One might think that they could ignore it, since the Prefect couldn’t see what they were doing _inside_ the room—but sometimes they conducted room-checks and you were punished if caught still out of bed.

“Shall we go and brush our teeth?” Ted asked Cody as the other pouted and reluctantly put the scripts away. Cody nodded and they both grabbed the small bags that contained their toothbrushes, hairbrushes and other such bodily-care items, heading towards the bathroom for their floor. A few other boys were in there and as Cody and Ted took up two sinks next to each other Cody then looked to the watch that adorned his wrist, “I wonder where Justin got off to… he’s usually so conscientious of curfew.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead - Oscar Wilde

“Rand, calm your passions,” John mused, ignoring the filthy look that Randy sent his way as he walked alongside the other, “-he’s just flirtin’, you know the French are promiscuous.” And that was precisely _why_ Randy had such a problem with the man being near John. He tolerated hand-jobs, hell, even mouth-jobs, but having someone attempting to get _more_ from John made his blood boil.

“If you’re mad at me,” John started, Randy pausing on the first step of the stair-case leading to the upper floor wherein his room was to look back at the other, “-does that mean you’re not wanting me in your room tonight?”

Randy didn’t think he could _ever_ be so mad at John as to ban the other from his room. “Actually,” Randy attempted as much dignity and firmness as possible, “-I’m going to insist that you move double-time to get to my room…” he looked at the expensive watch on his wrist, “I expect you there _now_.”

“That an order, Head Boy?” John asked, daring to push Randy just that extra inch further.

Randy took John by his shirt collar, towering over him as he leaned forward from his step. “You’re damn right it’s an order,” he growled low in his throat. 

Had John been anyone else, he would probably have pissed himself by now. There _was_ a reason that Randy was head boy, because although he was charming, he was also rather frightening and intimidating. However, John _wasn’t_ anyone else. And that was why his cock had grown rock hard the instant that Randy’s hand went to his collar. 

“What the hell are you waiting for?” Randy asked, yanking on John’s shirt to pull him ahead of him on the stairs. Glancing around quickly, when Randy saw that no one was around, he slapped John’s ass as he walked up the stairs.

Hearing John gasp Randy muttered lowly, “You’ll be lucky if you can even sit down by the time I’m done with you, Jonathon.” And, oh, John would have doubted those words had Randy not followed through on that dangerous promise once before; he’d had to claim he’d landed funny in rugby to explain why he was walking so strangely.

It was mere minutes later when they were reaching Randy’s room, but because of the atmosphere between them and his constant awareness of Randy behind him it seemed like eons to John. Before he could comment on the door being locked Randy was bodily pressing him into the door, keeping John pinned between the wooden surface and the younger’s body as Randy unlocked the door.

John yipped slightly as another firm slap landed on his backside as the door opened, Randy pushing him inside before locking the door behind him once more. “I think you need a reminder as to just _what_ is acceptable, John,” Randy purred predatorily.

“I think I need a reminder, too,” John said as he allowed himself to be manhandled towards the bed. He was pushed face down into the mattress, Randy holding the back of his head down.

“You strayed a bit too far for my liking, John,” he growled right into John’s ear as he bent his tall frame over. “I don’t like it when people think that they can claim this ass for themselves.” He ran his hand over John’s ass through the fabric of his trousers, grabbing and pulling the firm, muscular buttocks. 

John groaned into the mattress. When Randy got possessive… he got possessive. He knew that he was going to be in for a rough fucking, and couldn’t deny that he loved it when Randy got rough with him. Even if it did result in him walking funny the next day, it was always worth it. He could feel his pants being undone, and even though Randy’s hand wasn’t holding him in place anymore, he knew better than to try and move. 

Yanking John’s pants down to expose the large, taut ass, Randy licked his lips at the sight. “Fuck… this ass is mine.”

“Actually,” John said, trying to temper down the excited breathless tone of his voice, “-I think you’ll find it’s mine—ah!” John yelped slightly as a sharp feeling suddenly shot up his spine from his buttock, turning his head enough to see Randy’s dangerously stormy eyes as his teeth remained pressed into the flesh of one muscular cheek.

Now, it wasn’t as though they had never left marks upon one another before but _that_ was something new entirely. Randy had just bitten him _on the arse_ … and was continuing to do so, no doubt intending to leave a prominent reminder behind that would last longer than his awkward walking from the fucking—which was exactly what Randy wanted.

“What was that, John?” Randy purred as he finally removed his mouth from the other’s body, admiring the way that John shivered as he inspected the bite-mark he had left behind. If anyone *cough*Dupree*cough* attempted to get near John’s arse they would know it was taken. “ _Who_ does this ass belong to?” As John opened his mouth to respond Randy let his hand slap the unmarked buttock John possessed, causing John to cry out instead, “Fucking hell, Randy!”

“That’s it, John, scream my name for me,” Randy said, slapping John’s ass cheek again. This time he let his hand massage out the large muscle. Only to smack it again, the sound resonating throughout the room. “Whose ass is this?”

“Yours. Oh, shit, Randy!” John yelped as a series of slap after slap fell upon his ass. He felt the sting on his backside and the sting in his eyes as he tried to hold back the tears of pain. 

“All mine. No one can lay a hand on this ass _but me_ ,” he growled, spanking John again. “Understand that, John?”

“Yes, Randy!” John cried out.

“I don’t think you understand it _enough_ ,” Randy told him, and he could hear John’s whimper. He knew what was coming next. Randy repositioned himself so that he was standing just behind John, his cock slicked with nothing but precum and a touch of spit, John’s hole hardly prepared at all. And he pushed his way inside, holding John’s head into the mattress to muffle the cry.

Even though he had breached the other without much prep, intending to fuck the other until the only conscious thought in John’s head and being spoken aloud, was his name, Randy did wait a minute to allow John _some_ sort of adjustment to Randy’s size.

It was only a moment though and then Randy was bracing his other hand tight enough on John’s hip to leave finger-marks behind as he hissed between his teeth and drew out of John’s body somewhat before rolling his hips and driving himself back into him once more. There was a muffled cry from John and Randy growled softly as he felt his lover’s muscles fluttering around him even as they held like a choker.

“My ass, John, everything about you is _mine!_ ” Randy pulled his hand back from John’s head to allow the other to pull his head back from the material somewhat, all but sobbing for breath at the brutal and yet pleasurable fucking he was receiving, Randy’s hand on the back of his neck keeping him bent over submissively. “And I will not share, understand?” All John could do by this point was whimper reflexively, trying to keep his legs from giving in.

“You’re going to be covered in my marks tomorrow. You know that, don’t you, John… Every time that you sit down, you’ll feel my cock in your hole and my _teeth_ on your ass. Every step that you take, you’ll feel my hand around your hip. Every time you move, you’ll feel my hand at the back of your neck holding you down. And those marks are going to stay with you, too. But you like that, don’t you, John? You like knowing that you’re _all mine_.”

John continued to whimper, knowing that Randy would know that every whimper meant ‘yes.’ Yes, he _loved_ knowing that he was all Randy’s, just as Randy’s was all his. The roles of this situation had been reversed many, many times in the past. He was just as possessive as Randy was. And that, he believed, was why they worked so well together. 

“No more of this with Dupree,” Randy then growled. That man had overstepped his boundaries the second he asked John into bed with him. “If I so much as hear a whisper of him trying to get you again, I will rip his cock off and fuck him with it. _You’re mine_.”

Those final words rang completely true, and both young men knew that even if their fathers eventually forced them into marital contracts with wealthy young ladies of good breeding to continue on the family line or increase their social standing and financial assets, that neither of those ladies would ever get them the way that they had one another. No woman would ever have John’s heart even if he was occasionally forced to allow her access to his body, and he knew the same would be said for Randy were he to ask.

Seeing the way John’s shirt looked close to tearing from the tightness of the other’s muscles and feeling the way John began to shake stronger and stronger beneath him, Randy knew that John was close. However, even knowing this, he made no move to touch John, merely driving into the other with the last reserves he could muster, causing John to all but hump the bedspread in his desperate search for friction.

“Are you going to come, John?” Randy panted into John’s ear, hearing the strangled affirmative, “You’re going to come without being touched, and you’re going to scream that it was _me_ that made you come, so loudly that the fucking school is going to hear it!” an exaggeration, but he liked to imagine it as such anyway.

John groaned low in his throat, “Yes,” he managed to choke out after a struggle. 

“You’re about to come?” Randy asked again as he thrust repeatedly into John’s hot, _tight_ hole. He wrapped his hand in John’s hair and yanked his head up from the bed. “Scream my name, John,” he ordered. 

“Randy!” John groaned out. 

“That’s not loud enough. I said _scream_ my name. Let everyone know that you’re mine.”

“Randyyyy!” John yelled, louder this time.

Still, it wasn’t good enough for Randy. He thrust into John, finding his prostate and held his cock right against it, rolling his hips to rub the tip over the nerves. 

“Oh, _fuck! Randy!_ ” John screamed, his normally deep, calm voice rendered to nothing but a shaky, quivering mess… much like his body.

Hearing John screaming like that as the other convulsed in his arms, took Randy over the edge with a roar of John’s name in return as he spilled himself into the other man. Thanks to the previous continued stimulus of Randy’s cock against his prostate the sensation of Randy’s hot seed inside of him had him shuddering through his own climax.

Whatever strength John had had left in his body abated immediately after and he collapsed down onto the bed face-first, uncaring that he was laid on the dampness that was his own seed. Randy’s long body fell onto his own and John groaned softly at the pressure before mumbling hoarsely, “You’ve heavy,” and Randy mumbled a protest before reluctantly easing himself from John’s body and lying beside the man, arms around John’s waist and drawing him close as he quipped, “Quit whining, dear, you’re ruining the mood.” John snorted.

John groaned as he rolled over, aching _everywhere_ from everything he and Randy did. “You could have waited until after we did our teeth,” he muttered, not knowing how he’d be able to even move to Randy’s bathroom (where he always kept a spare toothbrush).

“There was no way that I was waiting until you brushed your teeth first. Oh, but I could have bent you over the sink… Ah, well, there’s always next time,” Randy said, lazily trailing his finger over John’s abs. 

“But let’s make sure it’s one of the public restroom sinks,” John added. What could he say? He was a sportsman and he loved a thrill. 

“Oh, I like that idea very much.” After a short time of lazing with John in his arms, he asked, “Would you like me to help you get ready for tonight?” He enjoyed getting rough, yes, but, above all, he cared for John and would do anything for him, including changing him into his sleeping clothes and assisting him to the bathroom.

After a few moments John mumbled, “Yes’m,” and Randy smiled slightly before helping his lover sit up as he removed (with gentle hands this time) the clothing that John was wearing until the other was gloriously naked; seeing John like that it was no wonder he was nicknamed ‘a poster-boy’.

Since they spent so much time in Randy’s room there was one of John’s spare uniforms and spare pajamas in the bottom of Randy’s wardrobe, neatly folded for whenever the other needed them. Though the other pouted at him for needing to depend on Randy to such a degree Randy knew that John actually felt rather precious in moments like this; goodness knew he did when the roles were reversed.

Soon John was dressed and had been aided to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash up, Randy then helping the other back to his big bed so John could settle on his side and wait for Randy to finish his own nightly ablutions, wrapping his arms around the other when he joined him in bed. 

“It’s still fairly early, did you want to do anything else tonight?” Randy asked as they lay there in bed together.

“Randal, I am not having sex with you again. I—”

“For once I’m not talking about sex,” Randy said, rolling his eyes as he heard John gasp. “I mean, did you want to read, or possibly do your homework?”

“Well, I’m not going to give up lying in your arms to go and do homework,” John replied, sounding rather insulted. “Reading might not be too bad, though… If I fell asleep now, then I’d be up at three in the morning,” he reasoned, even though he didn’t want to move at all and he let his eyes fall shut.

“John… I do have duty tonight,” Randy reminded him as it looked as though he was about to fall asleep in his arms.

“No you don’t,” John mumbled, pressing his face into Randy’s chest. Randy rolled his eyes with fond exasperation; if he allowed John to keep him from doing his duties as often as John tried to, then Randy would have been stripped of his position within a week of receiving it. “You can stay with… me a little longer…” John’s words started to slur.

“I’ll stay, John,” Randy promised the other softly, knowing that when John was asleep he’d have about an hour before the curfew would be firmly in place, with enough time for any of the ‘rebels’ of the school to be sneaking out and about. Running a hand through John’s short hair Randy hummed slightly to himself (a song his mother used to sing to him) and to soothe John, feeling the exact moment when his lover finally succumbed to sleep—and Randy was rather pleased that he could exhaust the star athlete more than any sport could.

Randy was quite content to watch John sleep for a while before he had to go off and do his nightly duties. He always found it rather ironic that he was the Head Boy, off every night on the lookout for those sneaking out after curfew, considering that he’d been known to do that on numerous occasions in the past. 

Finally, though, he had to slip out of bed and put the rest of his uniform back on. He’d buttoned his slacks back up and kept his shirt on, but he’d left it untucked. So, he tucked his shirt back in and threw his jacket on over it. Before leaving the room, he kissed John’s forehead and muttered, “I’ll be back soon. Love you.”

Even though patrol itself couldn’t be considered difficult (doling out detention and taking merit points from anyone he caught) it was a laborious task for he had to walk all around the school to meet with the Prefects who patrolled each area and receive their report. He supposed having them cut down his workload but god a lot of them were such brownnoses.

Going back to his bed, warmed by John and with his lover’s body there waiting to provide him with night-time comfort, made it all the worthwhile though for he knew he and John wouldn’t get to spend nearly as much time with one another as they did had he not his position in the school hierarchy and John his; if you wanted rewards you had to earn them after all.

“You’re back,” John muttered, obviously still out of it with sleep, only being woken up because Randy crawled back over him to get into the bed. 

“Shhh,” Randy soothed, wrapping his long limbs around his lover’s thick frame. “Yes, I’m back. Now get some sleep,” he whispered, knowing that John wouldn’t remember a damn thing come morning time. 

It was within seconds that John had fallen back into a deep sleep, Randy joining him a few minutes later.

~~~

“Not entirely, S-Wade.” Justin was quick to correct himself before he used Wade’s title; Wade really did seem unhappy whenever he called the other such formal addresses whenever they were alone together. “I _had_ just wanted to see you…” and, well, he wanted _more_ than to see him if he was honest. “And?” Wade prompted, fingers stroking the soft hair at the nape of Justin’s neck, feeling the teenager’s breath feathering against his lips each time it skipped.

“And…” Justin could never actually _say_ when he wanted something _more_ from Wade, but Wade would no doubt have him at least verbally admitting to something before he sent him back to his own bed for the night; it was only very rarely when he could chance being in Wade’s room overnight because it was much too risky. When the African’s soft lips pressed against his own Wade had to fight a shuddering moan as he gently but firmly took control of the still shy kiss, reveling in the way Justin’s hands moved to rest on his shoulders. 

Pulling back from the kiss, panting slightly, Justin gave Wade a brilliant smile, which Wade returned. “Is that what you came here for, Justin?” he asked.

“Yes,” Justin answered, biting his lower lip. 

“Is that _all_ you came here for? A kiss?” Wade asked, letting both of his hands drift lower down Justin’s back to finally settle on his ass. When Justin shook his head back and forth, still looking so shy and innocent, Wade went back in for another kiss. And this time, he lifted Justin up with all the ease in the world (pleased when he heard Justin’s squeal of surprise, and felt those strong legs wrap around his waist) and then lay him down on his desk.

Justin shivered slightly as the chill of the wood seeped through his thin school jacket to his shirt, probably more conscious of the sensation because of the heat of the strong, masculine body over his own. “Wade,” he mewed breathlessly.

“You look so beautiful like this,” Wade murmured, the passionate, protective, and, possibly even somewhat possessive, tone his guardian held making Justin’s trousers tighten even as his heart started to pound faster, “-blushing, innocent, needy…” he traced his thumb over Justin’s bottom lip. A shudder ran through his body and his eyes flashed slightly with desire as that sweetly articulate mouth of Justin’s closed around his thumb in a manner that was most certainly _not_ sweet.

Wade soaked in the sight of his thumb in Justin’s mouth. He had no idea how one could do such an act yet still look so innocent. No matter what, even when his cock was inside of Justin’s mouth or inside of Justin’s ass (or even the rare occasion when Justin took Wade), the young man never failed to keep his innocent appearance. 

Even after the pair had undressed enough to expose themselves and Wade had slipped inside of Justin, had him begging for more and panting for breath, had come inside the tight, willing hole (Justin’s cum coating his abdomen), Justin still looked like his little angel. 

“Justin,” Wade reluctantly eased himself from the spent teen’s body, reaching into his pocket for his crisp handkerchief and cleaning the teenager off with a tender care, meeting the young man’s eyes. “-swear to me no-one else shall ever feel you like this.” He knew he had no right to make such a request of Justin, that it was possibly even _cruel_ of him to do so, but he couldn’t help himself…

Possibly because he already knew what Justin’s response would be. That sweet smile Justin possessed was sent to him, the teen’s fingers caressing his cheek as he murmured, “I promise, Wade.” Wade adjusted himself with much less care than he showed when he righted Justin, gently catching the younger man’s hand as he went to straighten his hair, “Don’t. Leave it.” 

“My hair must look something terrible, though,” Justin said as Wade stopped him. He’d been rubbing against the desk and the papers and he knew that his hair was a mess.

“It looks perfect,” Wade told him. His boy, mussed up and sweaty, clothes rumpled, an obvious sign of what had just happened… it was quite a sight to behold. 

“I should be getting back—” Justin began, but he was cut off.

“Stay. For a while longer,” Wade insisted. Even if they didn’t talk, he always enjoyed taking Justin into his arms and simply holding him. “I’ll make sure to write you a pass incase you’re stopped along the way.” 

How could Justin say no to that?

As the door clicked shut behind Justin, the touch of their last kiss still causing his lips to tingle, Wade heaved a sigh, smiling to himself. Justin… he truly adored his little angel, regardless of the propriety of it.

The boy had been in his care for a long time now and he couldn’t imagine life without him. He knew that many people looked down on Justin because of his ethnicity, but anyone who said such things before Wade Barrett were met with severe consequences.

Eventually, still basking in the memories of Justin’s legs pulling him in tighter, pleading breathlessly against his lips for, “More, more, oh, please, please, Wade!” Wade forced himself to make his way into his own quarters, the ensuite and bedchamber which adjoined his office, sleep calling to him with less temptation than Justin had. 

~~~

Ted gave Cody a curious look, “You’re right. Where did he get to? He was acting rather strange at dinner, though, wasn’t he?”

“Hmm, he was, yes,” Cody agreed. They stopped talking for a bit as they did their teeth, and they also didn’t want the other boys to hear about where they _thought_ Justin might have gone off to. A few minutes later they were back in their room and changing into their sleeping clothes as they finally had the chance to talk about where Justin could have gone. “Do you think he’s off to see Wade?”

“That’s what I think,” Ted said. “It’s mighty risky, though, to be going at such a late hour, isn’t it, though?” he pondered. Still, if he was going to see the headmaster, who was his guardian, then he could never get in trouble for being out so late, especially if he had an important reason to go and see him.

“You don’t think they’re—“ Cody waggled his brows slightly as he and Ted got into their respective beds, Ted turning off the lamp that rested atop the small bedside cabinet that separated their beds. “Please, tell me that you aren’t picturing it,” Ted said, feeling both uncomfortable on Justin’s part and admittedly a little jealous about Cody thinking of anyone else in such a physical capacity.

“Maybe,” Cody said innocently, voice soft in the darkness, but in truth he was only teasing Ted. Sure, he had thought about it _before_ , he wasn’t going to deny that if asked, but he was only saying it then because he had sensed that there was something in the undercurrent of Ted’s voice that he most _definitely_ wanted to hear when it was in conjunction to himself, of course. Ted was quiet, frowning in the darkness and Cody had to hide his face into his pillow to prevent his giggles being heard by the other.

“Wade is… he’s so _old_ , though,” Ted mused aloud. 

“He’s not _that_ old,” Cody replied, turning his head out of the pillow just enough to speak clearly. 

“Ok, so he might not be that old… but he’s Justin’s guardian. Isn’t that kind of… wrong? He took care of Justin as a child and—”

“And now he’s _taking care_ of Justin as a teenager,” Cody said, cutting Ted off, putting an extra emphasis on his words, going back to giggling once more. 

Ted fought a few chuckles of his own, though he was sure that Cody could sense the amusement in his voice when he attempted to chastise the other, “Cody, you’re terrible!”

“Don’t you think it’s quite sweet though? I mean, Wade takes real good care of Justin, and I don’t just mean in _that_ way… although,” Ted could just imagine him waggling his brows in the dark, “-from the strange walk Justin acquires sometime I’ll say it counts there too.” He did genuinely think the relationship was cute though.

“Cody!” Ted whispered sharply into the darkness at Cody’s last comment. To think he thought that Cody might have been serious for a moment. 

“What? It’s true, isn’t it? I wonder which of them made the first move,” he pondered. “I can’t actually imagine _either_ of them taking that first step, to be honest with you. I mean, to go from guardian to butt fuck buddy must be quite an adjustment for someone to make.”

“Cody!” Ted said again at the crudeness of Cody’s words. 

“Oh, come on, Teddy, don’t tell me that you’ve never thought about it before!”

Ted was quiet for a moment but then haughtily responded, “Of course not!” Well, alright, _that_ particular consideration (who made that first move upon who) may have crossed his mind a few times—but he doubted that he had been considering it to the same degree that Cody _apparently_ had.

“Teddy,” Cody bit his lip to keep from laughing at Ted’s overly formal tone, “-are you honestly telling me that you’ve _never_ thought about such things before?” Ted was glad that the room was dark because there would have been no way for him to hide his blush from his friend; the thoughts he’d had about Cody were not fit for polite discussion.

“Well… not in regards to Wade and Justin,” Ted admitted. “I also rather like _not_ thinking about them in that manner.”

“You mean to tell me that you don’t ever think about what Barrett looks like naked?” Cody asked.

“Good Lord, Cody! Do you ever quit?!” Ted replied, shocked. “No, I do not think about what Barrett looks like naked. And while I’ve seen Justin naked, I don’t think about him naked, either.”

“Do you at least think about me naked?” Cody asked then. In the showers they’d all seen everything belonging to everyone, and Cody knew that he looked at Ted more than anyone, even though Ted kept as much of it hidden for as long as possible. His body was so lovely; it was a shame that he was so modest. If only because it meant that Cody couldn’t look at it more.

“…I may have,” Ted said delicately and with great dignity, but Cody didn’t mind that: whenever Ted said ‘may have’ that was his code for ‘yes, I do it often, and the last time was recently’. At least that was how Cody read into the words every time he used them.

Before Cody could comment though the door opened and both of them froze, eyes closing and pretending to sleep until they recognised the surprisingly darkness-adept footfalls entering the room. “Justin?” Ted ventured.

There was a small ‘thud!’ that denoted Justin had just banged into his bedpost, Cody immediately starting to giggle. “Jesus Chris!” (“Don’t take the lord’s name is vain, Justin.” “Sorry, Ted,”) Justin’s exotic accent sounded in the darkness, softly, “Are you two trying to give me a heart-attack? I thought you were sleeping!” there was a rustling as Justin started to undress and Cody struck, “Which is more than you’ve been doing, aye?”

“Cody!” both Justin and Ted shouted.

“What?!” Cody replied as though he’d said nothing wrong. “It’s true, isn’t it? You’d never go out after curfew unless you were seeing our loving Headmaster.”

“Will you ever leave him alone about that?” Ted asked.

“Absolutely not.”

“He pulled me into his lap and we kissed. Then he picked me up and placed me on his desk, pulling both of our trousers down just enough. When his cock—” Justin said, hoping that maybe giving them _too much_ detail would be enough to deter Cody from asking anymore questions.

“Justin!” came Ted’s voice in the dark. “Goodness, we don’t need all the details. We don’t need _any_ details, for that matter.

“Oh, come on Teddy! Let the man speak!” Cody said, having the exact opposite reaction that Justin was going for.

“Teddy, go to sleep,” Cody commanded and this time Ted spluttered in the dark for a completely different reason, “I want to hear this,” Justin groaned as he dropped himself into bed and pulled the covers over himself as he tried to segue, “I’ll tell you in the morning, Cody.” Cody snorted softly.

“I’ll be holding you to that,” and Justin internally cringed because he knew that Cody was going to keep on at him until he spilled the beans. He had told the other _some_ things before, but it was only to sate Cody’s curiosity on how such physical elements worked; it was one thing to guess for yourself another for someone with experience to tell you.

Before Cody could try to plead afresh they heard the sound of rustling outside of their door and they all hushed up, the lock clicking open a moment later as the Prefect on duty poked their head around the door. He lingered for a few minutes and then headed out again, locking behind him. 

“In the morning,” Cody whispered, knowing that no one else in the room was asleep yet. “Don’t think I’ll forget. I want all the dirty details, seeing as you were so easy to give them up just now.”

He heard a sighed, “Fine,” come from Justin, and he could practically _hear_ Ted rolling his eyes.

“Don’t pretend that you don’t want to know, Teddy,” Cody then said. 

“I just don’t think we need to pry into Justin’s private life,” Ted whispered back, pulling the covers up over him higher. “I wouldn’t want to tell him all the details of _my_ private life, so I—”

“Teddy,” Cody butt in, “you don’t _have_ a private life. Well… not much of one anyway…” he teased. However, he hoped that that would be changing very soon. Ted already had one hand job under his belt. Cody hoped to provide him with many more in the future.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best - Oscar Wilde

The next morning John was awoken by a sharp pain in his backside as he rolled from lying on his side to being on his back. “Ow… fuck…” he grumbled, still partially asleep.

There was a movement next to him and Randy turned his head to look at his lover, his arm still slung over the other’s waist. “Alright there, John?” he mumbled, though Randy could see the slight smirk on his sleepy lover’s face. “Like you don’t know…” John yawned heavily, trying to arch his hips up to keep his backside from being rested upon. “Wanker.”

“Aww, poor Johnny,” Randy said, letting his hand slide downwards to soothe over John’s stinging ass. 

“Poor Johnny indeed,” he agreed.

“I did get a little carried away,” Randy told him, still circling his hand over John’s backside. 

“If I didn’t want it, then I wouldn’t have provoked you the way that I did.” He knew what he was getting into from the very beginning. He had been willing to accept this fate from the get go. He’d left Randy in very similar states before, as well, so the younger teen knew exactly what he was going through.

“Are you admiring the mark on my arse?” John asked with exasperated amusement, fighting a chuckle as he felt himself being pushed onto his side a little, Randy’s hand still rubbing his backside soothingly. “Guilty as charged,” Randy conceded gracefully with a chuckle.

“Do you need a hand in the bathroom again?” And, for once, that wasn’t some covert innuendo that he would often use on the other. “I may do…” John said, rubbing a hand over his short hair, stretching his body out, “Depends on how I am when I walk…” when the other made no move to get up Randy grinned, “I’ll carry you if you want.”  
“… Piss off.”

“Hey, I’m the one that’s trying to be kind and civil in this situation. There’s no need to be rude about it… shit head,” Randy teased. “But I am serious, you know. I am the one that got you into this state, and I’m willing to do anything to help.”

“Not biting so hard next time might be a help,” John told him as he made his first attempt at standing up. “Oh, _shit_ ,” he hissed, his eyes shutting tight at the pain. One would think he had felt pain to the 9th level of hell with all the sports that he partook in, but more often than not, his sports injuries were minor, leaving him with some dull throbbing bruise. This, though? This was a sharp, stinging, burning pain that shot through his entire body as he sat up. He was sure that it would dull throughout the day, and that him being so tired and stiff at the beginning of the morning had something to do with it. But, damn, did it hurt. 

Randy sat up and rolled off the bed, standing before John, his hands outstretched. He grabbed John’s hands and pulled him to his feet. “C’mon, let’s go… I really am sorry if I went too far last night,” Randy told him as they walked into the bathroom.

“It’s alright,” sure, he was hurting like fuck, but at the end of the day any sensation or feeling he had that had links to Randy was more than enough for him. Using his lover’s body for support John managed to brush his teeth and wash up before changing into his spare uniform.

“When will you be collecting the list for the tryouts?” Randy asked, John looking contemplative from where he was once again leaning against the wall as Randy readied himself for the day, “I figured I’d give it three days,” John said, “that way everyone has a chance to get their name down if they want to and it’ll still give me adequate time to formulate my tryout plan.” Randy had to admit that he adored the passion and drive for which John used concerning all teams, whether he was actually an active member of them or just fulfilling his duty as the overall captain.

“Breakfast?” Randy offered when he finished placing his tie on and although John whimpered (the stairs were going to be murder) the elder teen then nodded his head and said, “I could eat a whole cow right now.” Randy grinned slyly as he headed towards his door with the other, “If you did that then there’ll be even more of your delicious arse for me to bite in future— “he neatly side-stepped the swat sent in his direction.

“No hitting, Johnny, come on now. Be nice. I am the Head Boy after all. I could write you up for something like that. Violence against your superiors,” Randy teased. He’d never _dream_ of writing John up… unless he could be assured that he would wind up in a detention that he was supervising and that it was _just_ the pair of them. He had always wanted to fuck John over a desk, and they were in their last year. 

“You’re such a shit. You should have never been given such power,” John said to him, grimacing with each step. When they made it to the stairs, he took a deep breath before continuing. 

“Need to hold on to me?” Randy asked, his tone changing from teasing to kind and genuine. He really would go to the ends of earth and back for John, so helping him down the stairs was the least that he could do.

It was apparent that John dithered, because it wouldn’t do for them to be seen like that even if everyone knew they were two proverbial peas in a pod (even if they hadn’t yet twigged how close that counted for) but then he knew he had to concede to the fact that he’d struggle if he did it on his own. “Would you mind?” he mumbled, clearly embarrassed; that wasn’t new though because either of them got embarrassed when they had to ask for help—it was a pride thing.

“Of course not,” without any qualms at all Randy wrapped an arm around the waist he knew so well, reveling in the strong limb that went around his shoulders in turn, subtly resting his head on a gorgeously broad shoulder.

“Thank Christ I don’t have a practice today,” John mumbled and Randy was privately inclined to agree—though for different reasons that he was sure John had said it for: the one thing he hated about watching John play rugby was all the other men who tackled him to the ground, who got the privilege of being on top of John even for a few moments.

Getting down to the last step, John let his hand slide down Randy’s back to grip his arm, Randy’s hand still on his own back to steady him. Randy then took the final step, joining John on the level floor. “Well, that was an experience,” John muttered, still feeling that sting in his ass. 

“Want me to kiss it and make it better?” Randy whispered into his ear.

“Only if you French kiss it,” John retorted, pleased to get a snort of laughter out of his lover. Really, though, John did love when Randy prepped and stretched him using his tongue. And he loved doing it to Randy. 

“Well, you can be assured that that can indeed be arranged,” Randy told him as a few of their fellow classmates walked by, not a clue as to what was being discussed right in front of them.

“Maybe if you’re a good boy I might return the favour,” John suggested casually, any passer’s by probably assuming that he meant schoolwork help or something, though Randy hardly needed it, even though he meant something so completely far away from schoolwork that was rather difficult to keep amused laughter in.

Was Randy interested? Tch, was the Pope a Catholic? The mere thought sent a shiver down his spine and it took all he had not to falter out of step from his otherwise confident and casual striding. They reached the dining-hall and Randy was tempted to tell John to go and sit down but that would draw undo attention to them.

They joined the queue together making innuendo filled small-talk with references that no-one would understand other than them. It was amusing to hold a means of communication that they needn’t attempt to censor.

Taking a seat once they got their food (Randy’s eyes going slightly wide at the sheer amount of food that John piled on the plate; the man had not been lying), Randy made sure to point that fact out. “Damn, John, you’re mighty hungry this morning, aren’t you? Strenuous day yesterday?”

“Something like that,” John said. “I told you I could eat an entire cow… or pig as the case may be right now,” he corrected as he shoveled some sausage into his mouth. That was followed by eggs and toast and then some more sausage. 

“And you said you didn’t have practice today? After eating that much, how do you plan on keeping this body of yours so fit?” he asked. 

“I have my ways,” John replied, giving a sidelong glance to his lover. 

“Oh, do you? You’ll have to show me one day,” Randy said, nodding resolutely as he cut up a piece of sausage for himself. 

“With any luck I can show you part of my exercise regime later,” if the pain in his body went down enough there was no way he was going to miss out on a chance to be with Randy, even if he was giving Randy something and hadn’t got the time to have a return favour; if they missed one another they always made it up to them.

“Just don’t overdo it, alright?” Randy requested and John gave a slight salute with his cutlery free hand as he continued to eat. He knew that his appetite surprised people sometimes but he maintained he wasn’t a weedy boy; he needed proper sustenance daily.

“I missed out on my morning protein, though,” he commented mournfully when he had swallowed what was in his mouth, seeing with some smugness that Randy’s body tensed a little in surprise (and probably arousal) as he fought not to choke on his drink, “I’ll need to get some later... if my usual source if willing, of course.” Randy tried not to nod too eagerly.

“Well, heaven forbid the sports captain doesn’t get his daily protein,” Randy muttered after coughing a little bit. “Did you manage to get any of your homework done yesterday?” he then asked in a change of subject. 

“Enough… What?” he asked when Randy gave him a surprisingly stern look. “I’ll get it done, don’t worry. It’s adorable that you’re so concerned about my grades,” he added in a whisper as he leaned in close.

“I’d just rather not have you flunk out of school, that’s all…” he replied. He didn’t _mean_ to come across as the doting mother, but sometimes he just couldn’t help himself when it came to John.

“That would be a shame, wouldn’t it?” John agreed, thinking of how much he would miss being around Randy, hoping that Randy would miss him just as much. 

“You’d probably not be too lonely without me though—“ John mumbled, and he insisted to himself that the slight thickness in his voice was because he was still swallowing in the midst of speaking. Randy immediately looked surprised and then… mad?

Leaning in to John just a little, not enough to make anyone think any more than the two friends couldn’t hear one another over the rest of the room’s conversation, “Never, _ever,_ ” Randy rumbled seriously, “-think I won’t be lonely without you.”

“Really?” John’s puppy-dog look when he got hopeful made Randy smile, though he tried to bite back the expression as he always ensured that he remained dignified before the rest of the student body. “Yes,” he said, “Really,” wiping his mouth on his napkin he then said, “Do hurry up; we have class soon,” he then smirked a little, “And during our free lessons you and I will catch you up on your homework.” John groaned.

“Do you mean we’re _actually_ going to catch up on my homework, or, you know… catch up on my homework?” John asked as they stood, bringing their trays up to drop them off. 

“Oh, we’re _actually_ going to catch you up on your homework,” Randy told him. “However, that shouldn’t take too long, so we may have time to, well, catch up on your homework… or to show me your workout regimen. Either or is fine by me.”

“Well, then, I do hope our classes fly by today. I’m quite looking forward to our free period,” John said as they made their way to their first class. As they wandered the halls, he leaned in and asked, “Randy? Would you make good on that promise that you made yesterday regarding Rene?”

Turning his head to the side, Randy raised an eyebrow at that. “You mean what I said as I was—”

“Yes, that one.” John always loved seeing Randy get possessive over him, and he couldn’t help himself when he thought about trying to see if he could goad Rene into attempting to woo him into bed once again, this time where Randy could see it play out. And hopefully make good on his threats…

“Of course I was serious.” Randy said, as though wondering whether John could really be so naïve as to need confirmation. “I meant what I said regarding what would happen to both of you if he tried it on.”

Though, he felt he might change his mind about ripping Dupree’s cock off; removing it with a blunt instrument was much more satisfying in his mind, and not something that he had considered until he had seen the Frenchman walk into breakfast that morning as he held his butter-knife.

Reaching their first lesson John let himself into the room, Randy following, several of their peers already there. Nods and greetings were exchanged before every boy in the room stood behind their chairs to give the obligatory “Good morning,” to their professor—Professor Lawler merely waved them all down though, grinning.

“Morning, boys, how are we all then?” This class was much more informal than others. When someone complained about Professor Cole their teacher used a word that had them all grinning and giving appreciative kudos to their teacher. Lawler might not seem serious enough to teach but the man was damn good at his subject. Randy nudged John, indicating that the other should get his pen and notebook out now rather than later.

Rolling his eyes, John mumbled to Randy that he was going to get his things out soon enough, but he took out his things anyway and set them on his desk in front of him. The bell was ringing before they knew it, and class began. As their class was an upper level, it was filled more with class discussions and partner work than it was lecturing straight from the professor’s mouth. 

Everyone was given their chance to speak out, to agree or disagree with someone else’s thoughts. And all the while they were expected to take notes as there would be exams on everything they discussed. 

That class always managed to go by very quickly, the combination of class format, the students in the class and the professor making it easily the best course they had taken in all their years of schooling. Just before the bell rang for the end of the class, Randy looked to John and said, “Look at that, you actually put words down on the paper. Good job, John!” When John glared, he only smirked, tucking his notebook away in his back as the bell sounded. “Let’s see if you can keep it up and use your notebook and pen again in our next class.”

“I don’t know how, or why, I put up with you sometimes,” John mumbled as they left the room for their next class. 

“Because you love me,” Randy whispered conspiratorially into John’s ear, the Sports Captain’s lips curling into a small grin at those words. “I may do,” he said casually and Randy pouted, only resisting the urge to bite John’s sensitive earlobe because they were not safe enough from their peers to be unseen as he did it. “Don’t tease.” Physical teasing was one thing, but when it came to John’s true affection… no way.

They went through their lessons in much the same fashion, John obediently taking notes because Randy was breathing down his neck about it. When the time ticked closer and closer to their free period, John felt his anxiety mounting. He was still in pain, though it had mercifully lessened from what he had been experiencing since awaking that morning.

Although he seemed completely casual on the outside Randy couldn’t deny that he was anxious for their free to hurry up too. However, he had been serious when he said John would do his homework first and he wasn’t kidding about it either. The Head Boy subtly shifted a little bit, attempting to ease the expensive material of his school trousers against his groin. It was all John’s fault; Randy had really had more than enough last night, but with just one word or implication from John and he was ready for anything and everything the other would give him—physically and emotionally.

Their free time had finally come. They tucked away their things in their bags as class ended and began heading back to Randy’s room. “Ready to do some homework?” Randy asked.

“Absolutely not,” John replied instantly. He always managed to do well on his exams, even though he was awful with his notes, mainly because he was able to retain information simply by hearing it. But he’d never enjoyed doing homework. 

“Well, that’s too bad. But just think of the nice reward you’ll get afterwards if you’re a good boy and do all your work,” Randy said with a smirk. “Don’t you think that that’ll be worth it?”

John returned the smirk as he answered, “It may be. But it’d better be a damn good reward.”

“I’ll get you some ice cream,” Randy told him.

“Ice cream? Well then, what are we waiting for?” John asked, amused. 

Moving across to his desk Randy then motioned John to sit beside him, extending a hand for John’s homework diary. There were several small assignments that wouldn’t take them long… as long as he could decipher John’s notes.

“Your handwriting really is appalling,” Randy mused and John shrugged with a murmured response along the lines of ‘he was a sportsman, not a scholar’. “Why is it that when you write to me during holidays that your handwriting is much neater?” he arched a brow.

John shrugged and reached to get a pen and his necessary notebooks from the satchel when Randy gave it back. “Because… you know,” he mumbled a pink blush on his cheeks, “Those actually matter, and work doesn’t.”

Randy was flattered but he wasn’t going to let the other get away with it like that. “Come on then,” Randy motioned to the first book John had out, “Let’s get this Geography work out of the way.” He watched as John found the right notes.

“We’ve got a map quiz coming up, so let’s study up on your countries,” Randy said as John handed him the notes. 

“Oh, who gives a fuck about the other countries? We live in England, the United States is across the pond, Asia’s to the east of us, Africa is down there, Australia is down in the middle of the ocean and South America is over that way,” he said, jerking his thumb to his left. 

“Wow, John… How have you ever managed to get decent grades in any of your classes?” Randy asked. 

John shrugged and mumbled, “I dunno.”

“You haven’t been bribing them, have you?” Randy asked, raising a brow.

John stared at him, not sure if he was joking or if he was being completely serious. Either seemed like a viable option. “Well, I promise you that I had this same attitude when I was nine, and I certainly wasn’t sucking anyone off at that point in my life.”

“I’m going to assume I just heard the insinuation that you have sucked off a teacher,” Randy said; his jealousy wasn’t limited to boys their own age, after all, but there was more than he could do about them as opposed to teachers.

“I haven’t sucked off a teacher,” John snickered, “Though, who knows? Maybe after a bit of time with me Professor Cole will be able to remove that stick up his ass.” John was, of course, kidding; Michael Cole held no physical appeal to him whatsoever. “Hey, didn’t you say your cousin would be back soon?” he tried by way of a desperate segue from Geography.

“Uh huh.” Randy nodded his head, indicating towards his book, “Evan will be back in three days, and you’ll have your little sports apprentice back.” John grinned; Evan Bourne, Randy’s cousin of some description who had been adopted into his family and sent to the academy too, was small but he was deceptively good at sports—John’s protégé almost. 

“I’m not stupid, John, I know what you’re trying to do here. If you keep it up, though, we’ll never get to the good part before lunch. Which means that we’ll have to wait until tonight to do _anything_ ,” Randy told him.

John sighed, his eyes going back to his atlas. “Can’t we just skip this whole part?”

“No.” Randy snatched the atlas from him and placed a blank world map in front of him. “Point out these countries first, then I _might_ cut you a little bit of slack. But not until you can show me where every country is located.” Randy began reading off the countries from the list, from Argentina to Zaire, Australia to Yemen. And John, surprisingly, got most of them correct on his first go around. On the second go through, John ended up getting them all correct. “Wow,” Randy said, slightly shocked. 

“See? It’s all up here,” John told him, pointing to his head. 

“I am very impressed with you, Johnny,” Randy told him, bending down for a kiss. He then stood up straight and said, “But we’re not done yet. You’ve got a few assignments left to finish.”

John groaned. “I hate you.”

When they finally, finally finished the assignments John muttered, “Glory hallelujah!” before letting his head thud down onto the desk with a groan. Randy finished checking John’s homework before then blowing over the ink to make sure that it had dried before he closed the book. “Good boy, now you’re all caught up, Johnny.”

“Thank Christ,” John lifted his head from the table again and Randy had the urge to press a kiss to the red mark that was there from where his head had connected with the desk. “Does that mean we can do _fun_ things now?” he asked, pouting his bottom lip out and giving the other his best pleading look. Randy pretended to look contemplative before saying, “Well, we can’t go get ice-cream until the weekend…” as a tease. The joke was on him though when John stood from the desk and knelt before him, large hands spreading his strong legs as John moved between them.

“Well then,” John said, fingers easing Randy’s zipper down after opening his button, freeing the semi-erect cock of his lover to the cool air of the bedroom. “-I guess I’ll just need to settle for another type of _cream_ won’t I?” Randy felt his breath hitch; John’s lips paying the most mind-numbingly glorious attention to the head of his prick.

“Oh… oh God,” Randy muttered as John’s tongue flicked out to lap up a drip of his precum. His hands moved into the short hair, fingers digging into John’s scalp as he fought with his body to not jerk forward and drive his cock deep down that expert throat. He had to let John move at his own pace. But goddamn, it was a challenge.

John’s hand wrapped around Randy’s cock as his tongue and lips continued to focus on nothing but the head. He slid his hand up the now hard shaft, meeting his mouth before sliding it back downwards again. He kept his motions swift and constant, not letting up with either his hands or his mouth. Slowly but surely, he was going to drive Randy crazy.

“Shit, John. More, _please_ , more,” he begged, though he knew that John wouldn’t give in that easily. 

~~~

The next morning the three boys dressed together and went to do their morning routines together, Cody seeming to have forgotten about his determination to know what happened between Justin and Wad—he meant, the Headmaster, something which Justin and Ted were both glad about for two very different reasons.

However, when they were seated down a less-crowded end of their breakfast table with their meals Cody immediately leant into Justin and said, “So tell me, what happened?” Justin almost choked on a piece of egg, dabbing his mouth with a napkin as he got himself under control, “You don’t want to hear about it as you’re eating…”

“Now is as good a time as any,” Cody maintained as he bit into some toast, Ted groaning slightly besides Justin but offering no complaint; when Cody was set on something then come hell or high water he’d have it, or the information, that he wanted, before the week of his initial decision was out. “I went to his office…” Justin’s voice was very quiet, “And—“ 

Justin then whispered the details of nearly his entire night with Wade, even mentioning how, during the act, he’d reached up and ripped Wade’s shirt open so he could run his hands down the strong, muscular chest. He couldn’t believe that he was actually talking to them about it, but, somehow, it felt nice to finally talk about what he and Wade shared, really talk about it. 

“My goodness,” Ted muttered, wide eyed.

“Who would ever think that Angel-boy would have this side to him?” Cody asked. 

Justin remained in between them, his face bright red from embarrassment. “Well, there you have it.”

“Excellent. Now, Teddy and I were wondering last night who made the first move, and now that you’re here spilling all the details, I figured that I might as well ask. You know, get it straight from the horse’s mouth and all.”

“Um…” Justin momentarily looked confused, brow furrowing. He’d never actually _thought_ about whether he or Wade had been the one to ‘make the first move’ as Cody so quaintly expressed it as, because as he remembered it… “We both did.” The surprised expression Ted had that mirrored Cody’s proved that the other teen wasn’t as disinterested in the conversation as he had been making out he was.

“What do you mean?” Cody prompted, completely focused upon Justin. However, by some virtue of mercy of a curse, the bell that signaled the end of breakfast and the start of lessons started tolling. “We need to go,” the African teen pointed out.

“For fuck-sake!” Cody grunted, then sending Ted an innocent look when the other made one of those reproving noises in the back of his throat, “What?” he asked innocently and Ted rolled his eyes, Cody then focusing on Justin. “We’ll continue this in French class.” 

“I am _not_ talking about this _in_ French class!” Justin protested. He enjoyed his French class, and he wasn’t about to talk to his friends through it. Nor was he going to talk through any class. He had a lot to prove to himself and to Wade and to the school by keeping his grades up and remaining number one in his class. 

“Good Lord, you’re sleeping with the Headmaster, yet you’re such a goody-two-shoes when it comes to your classes,” Cody mumbled. 

“Well, I’m sorry that I want to actually challenge myself in classes. I just… I don’t want to let Headmaster Barrett down,” he said, dead serious. The last thing that he ever wanted to do was to disappoint the man who had given so much to him. 

“Ok, ok, fine. But at lunch? You’re answering my question.” 

Cody flounced off a little ahead of them (though he’d be waiting by their French class when they reached it) and Justin looked to Ted, “Teddy, can’t you distract him somehow?” he really wasn’t sure whether it was acceptable of him to discuss the innocent, intimate details, as opposed to a few of the not-so-innocent details. Ted looked marginally apologetic.

“Sorry, Justin, you know how he gets… just tell him the barest minimum and he should be satisfied.” And he said ‘should’ for it was the optimum word.

When they reached the French classroom all of the other boys were casually lounging in their chairs, taking advantage of the fact that the professor had yet to make their presence known. The trio moved to their usual seats at the back of the room (Justin had wanted to sit at the front when school began but Cody wouldn’t hear of it) and settled to wait. 

Cody shook his head as he watched Justin take out his notebook and opened it to a fresh page, dating it at the top, then set his pen down carefully. He really was the epitome of the perfect student. He glanced down at his own notebook which had been doodled all over as he sat in class, bored out of his mind, not understanding a word that was being used. Maybe the Headmaster really had been a good influence on him in all the years they’d spent living together.

When the professor finally came in, he was greeted with the customary “Bonjour monsieur,” from the entire class. Cody groaned inwardly. He hated his French class with a burning passion. He would much rather have been in a drama class where he could be reading scripts or actually performing small skits on stage. 

Ted was rather indifferent to the whole thing. He didn’t hate it, but he never took it as seriously as Justin did. He just went with it. A language class was required, so he had to do what he had to do. No, it wasn’t his strong suit, but he enjoyed learning other things enough. 

When the class finally began, Cody found himself hunched over in his seat already ready to leave, Justin was sat up perfectly straight in his seat with his pen in hand ready to begin the lesson and Ted was slightly leaned forward in his seat at least somewhat curious as to what class would be about. 

“Oh my God!” Cody groaned in relief as he dramatically stumbled out of the French classroom, “Freedom!” Ted and Justin followed at much slower paces, with more dignified actions; it was no wonder that Cody had such an aptitude for theatre and plays when he was so naturally flamboyant. “It’s not that bad, Cody,” Ted mused and Cody shot the other a look of such stupefaction that one would think that Ted had just suggested that they place puppies on the school’s upcoming lunch menu for a change of pace.

“Not that bad!” Cody huffed slightly and shook his head, “I hate French, I really do.” The ravenette was momentarily silenced by the arrival of Joe, the other telling him that they’d better get going if they wanted to make it to class on time… and God-forbid that Joe be late for his father’s own class. “I’ll see you both later,” Cody told Justin and Ted.

Justin watched with minor amusement as Ted’s eyes seemed drawn to Cody’s backside as he walked away. “Did something happen between you two?” he asked quietly and Ted startled a little, looking defensive but blushing so darkly that the otherwise stern image was ruined. Justin knew all about Cody’s feelings for Ted, and vice versa.

“No.”  
“Lying makes you senile, Ted.” Justin said in all seriousness; Ted looking confused for a moment before sending the other a slight grin as they made their way towards math class. “I think you mean ‘sterile’, Justin.” And that was an old wives-tale.  
“Yes, that too.” Justin said, missing the amusement in Ted’s voice. 

“You know, it’s about time that something happened between you two,” Justin said. Both of them had confided with him about their feelings for the other, but he was sworn to secrecy to not let the other know what was felt about them. He just hoped that those two would do _something_ before they ended up graduating. 

“It wasn’t _that_ something, if that’s what you mean,” Ted whispered, his blush not fading at all. 

“But there _was_ something?” he asked hopefully. 

Leaning into speak into Justin’s ear, he confessed, “We kissed last night.”

“Good God, it’s about time!” Justin said. 

Ted couldn’t help but find it ironic that Justin, top of the class, picture perfect student, was not only sleeping with the headmaster, but encouraging his two closest friends to sleep together. 

They reached their class and were forced, as such, to stall their conversation for the moment. Unlike when he was around Cody, Ted merely accepted that the conversation was over and didn’t push. Justin was focused on their work once they got settled, but even so he found himself being concerned as lunch drew closer and closer with each moment that passed.

“Well,” Cody sighed quietly to Joe as the two of them slouched in their chairs and settled in for an easy lesson once more, “-at least we only have the one lesson after lunch to put up with.” He had theatre rehearsals that evening and wondered if Ted would go with.

“True, so very true,” Joe groaned, rubbing his shoulder. He’d got into a little scuffle earlier with a boy in their year and was feeling an effect from it. The blood-splatter that his handkerchief had wiped up earlier though hadn’t been his, so he felt like he’d won the bout. 

“You ok?” Cody asked, seeing the way that Joe had been massaging his shoulder ever since they met up with each other.

“I’ll be fine. It’s nothing really,” he assured his friend. When his father walked in to begin their health class (he alternated between health and gym classes), they all greeted him, and he couldn’t help but cringe when his father shot him an evil look. Obviously word had gotten to him about his scuffle from earlier. 

Cody also caught that glance that Professor Hennig gave to his son, and he was terribly happy that he wasn’t in his shoes. “You won’t be ok once your father’s done with you,” Cody said in a hushed tone as he leaned over to grab his notebook to at least pretend to take notes.

Joe cringed a little and glowered at Cody a little sullenly, “Thanks, Codes,” he muttered, grabbing his own pen and notebook.

He wouldn’t have minded, but it was that fucker Mizanin who’d started it! He and Mike Mizanin had a legendary rivalry with one another, the other teen being in a few classes with him and also in the drama club/class with Cody. Mike was a young man with a mouth and knew exactly how to use it; it was no secret that people expected he’d go into politics or something.

“What did he say?” Cody requested in as loud as whisper as he dared when Professor Hennig turned towards the blackboard, chalk screeching across it painfully and causing them all to wince. “It’s Mizanin,” Joe grunted with irritation, “It’s not what he says, it’s how he says it,” and that was all he’d say on the matter. 

The minutes of the class drew on, Cody doing nothing but doodling on his notes and writing down lines from the upcoming show. He listened, but always ducked his head when the professor was looking to call on someone to give an answer. It was one thing for him to get up and speak in character in front of his entire school, but he absolutely hated having to answer a question in front of a single class. 

The ending of the class was signaled by the bell, and for Cody it was a relief. For Joe, on the other hand, it was not. “Joe, will you please come and see me?” his father asked as he attempted to slip out of the door without being seen. 

Saying his goodbyes to Cody (who wished him the best of luck), Joe headed to his father’s desk. “Yes, Father?” he asked, looking nervously at the stern looking man. This probably wouldn’t end well. 

Curt Hennig was a physical man, that was no surprise, and while he didn’t mind his son defending himself if the situation presented himself, he saw this as unnecessary physical violence. That didn’t shine well upon Joe, himself or the school. And he was certainly going to tell his son just that.

“—picking fights in corridors is not acceptable, son!” Joe had to grind his teeth together to keep from interrupting his father’s lecture; why was he the only one getting into trouble when Mike was the one who’d started it, and thrown the first punch?

“If I catch you doing this again I’ll have no choice but to recommend to the Headmaster that you be punished… thoroughly.” Joe felt his stomach bottom-out; surely his father wouldn’t send him to be caned? Kurt waved a hand with a heavy sigh, “Go and have your lunch.” Seeing the petulant look on his son’s face made him sigh again, _boys were so rambunctious_. 

Exhaling a breath of relief when he was safely in the hallway Cody adjusted the satchel onto his shoulder firmer before then heading towards the dining-room for lunch. Ted would meet him, as always, outside, because he would _never_ make Cody eat a meal alone. Even thinking of Ted brought a smile to his lips, thinking that even though it had taken them so long to reach the point they had last night, the point was that they had made it.

And, lo-and-behold, there was his Teddy, and Justin, both waiting by the door. “You took your time,” Ted mused though there was obvious concern in his eyes. Cody gave the other a reassuring look, “Sorry: Joe’s father wanted a word after his earlier fight with Mizanin.”

“Joe got into another fight with Mizanin?” Ted asked as the three made their way to the dining hall. 

“Yeah. I guess it happened this morning. His dad was _pissed_ ,” Cody told them. “I hope he’s still alive. You should have seen the look that he gave to him.”

Justin was terribly thankful at that point to have the added distraction of Joe’s little incident with Mike, and he hoped that they’d be able to keep the discussion up for the whole of lunch time. Of course, if they were joined by some of their other friends, then he couldn’t talk about it. While they had some vague idea, they didn’t know near as much as Ted and Cody did, and he was determined to keep it that way, too. Hell, it was bad enough that Ted and Cody knew anything to begin with!

His hopes came true as they met up with Windham and Heath who were already sitting at their usual seats. “Where’s Joe?” Windham asked. Joe was always with those three before lunch, so for him to be missing was quite strange.

“Did you not hear about his little spat?” Ted asked.

“Hear about it? I was there!” he declared. He and Joe were generally inseparable, and he’d witnessed their scuffle from earlier. 

“Oh, hey, there he is,” Cody said, jerking his head in the direction of the door when he happened to glance up and spot a very dejected, yet angry looking Joe enter the dining hall. “Looks like his daddy didn’t kill him after all.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation - Oscar Wilde

“Ngh!” Randy’s head dropped back in pleasure as John’s tongue teased the slit atop the swollen crown of his cock, the Head Boy wanly reflecting that whilst he had admittedly had many a hand or mouth around his dick in previous times no one was as good as giving him what he needed as John was. John was the perfect partner for him sexually, but he cherished him as more than that—whether he admitted it out loud or not.

“John!” John moaned around the head and Randy’s thighs quivered and twitched powerfully, his fingers kneading and flexing desperately around John’s skull as he fought not to force him down, however, just as Randy was sure John would torture him like this until he came, he found himself being swallowed right down into the hot, wet throat he knew so well. He slammed his fist down on the desk nearby from pure sensation.

“Oh, fuck John — Just like that… Oh, please, suck me—“ Would he say please to anyone else? Would he buggery; no one had the balls to tease him the way John did.

Sucking in his cheeks, John drew his head back upwards, his hand then going back to Randy’s cock to stroke a couple more times before taking Randy into his throat once again. 

Randy’s fist hit the desk again before he gripped around the edge, knuckles white from how tight he was holding it. When, for a third time, John took him all the way into his throat, he couldn’t control himself any longer. He bucked his hips forward and the hand he still had in John’s hair held him tight (though he couldn’t deny that he missed the sensation of the gag reflex around his cock, which he and John had both lost over the many years together). 

Pushing back on Randy’s hips, John pulled his head up, taking a quick, panting breath before going right back to pleasuring his lover. While he’d given his fair share of blow jobs to others, no one ever felt as right as Randy, he never teased anyone as much as Randy either. 

“Shit!” Randy cried as John’s hand moved down to his balls, taking them in his palm and rolling them between his skilled fingers. John moaned again, this time when Randy was all the way into his throat, and he felt the cock twitch in pleasure. And he absolutely loved that he knew no one could ever bring Randy as much pleasure as he could.

“John-John—“ Ah, Randy was close; whenever he used a variation of John’s nicknames he was close to release, though John had noted rather sweetly that Randy refused to say anything but his actual name in climax.

The Head Boy felt his body beginning to tauten in impending climax, hand getting tighter and tighter into the other’s hair before he was finally crying out a breathless, “John!” before he thrust his hips firmly multiple times as he spilled himself down the other teenager’s throat. _Fuck_ but John was so damn good at that. Randy would have been bothered by his jealousy at the thought of John’s mouth around another boy’s cock had it not been the fact that he knew John got jealous in the reverse situation.

Swallowing his lover’s seed down quickly, with practiced throat movements, John then continued to gently suckle upon Randy’s softening cock until he finally released the other from his mouth with a wet ‘pop’. Sitting back on his haunches John couldn’t help but smirk through swollen lips at how sated Randy looked.

Feeling a hand curling through his hair once more John allowed himself to be pulled up to meet his lover’s lips, their tongues melding and twining, Randy thrilling of the strangely erotic taste of himself on John’s tongue. Before the Sports Captain could really consider his own state of arousal a hand was sliding underneath his trousers and pushing them down enough to allow Randy to free his lover and began to pump his fist around the other in firm, swift motions.

“This won’t take me long at all, will it?” Randy asked when he briefly broke apart from their kiss, already knowing the answer. John was hard and already leaking even before he took him in his hand. He then brought his lips to John’s once more, teeth lightly tugging on his lower lip as he hand continued its motion.

John whimpered into the kiss. He’d never tire of Randy’s hands on him. Just as no one else ever felt as right as Randy did in his mouth, no one’s hands ever felt like they _belonged_ on his cock. And while he’d never demand that they be exclusive with one another, John knew that he himself had gone to someone else less often with each passing year. He didn’t know if the same was true for Randy, but the fact that he was so possessive over him had him hoping that was the case. 

It only took a few more twists and strokes of his hand before Randy had John coming, body convulsing as his breath hitched in his throat. Breaking their kiss once again, Randy smiled at his lover. “I have a feeling I’ll have to change my shirt,” he whispered before he even glanced downwards, knowing that he had John’s cum on him. 

“I can take care of that for you, if you’d like,” John offered. Even though it’d require him covering Randy’s body back up, he would never pass up the opportunity to undress him.

“So sweet of you, Johnny,” Randy smiled slowly as he let his tongue flick out over his soiled hand, cleaning some of John’s seed from it. Forcing his eyes away from the sight John then adjusted Randy’s trousers for him, leaving his own for the moment as he took the time to strip Randy of his shirt. Randy caught the item back and cleaned John and his hand with it.

Nodding in thanks (and chuckling slightly as how much the laundry women in the school must hate them all) Randy tossed the shirt into his hamper as John moved across to his wardrobe. The Head Boy leant back and just admired how gloriously mussed and sated John looked, even from merely being touched by his hand, and knew that he had to be in a similar if-not worse sate of messy satedness. It was only as John was buttoning Randy’s shirt up for him that Randy took notice of the clock on his bedside table, surprised.

“It would appear that we have to think about getting a wriggle-on.” They had missed lunch and had merely a few minutes until their next lesson. Usually John would bemoan when he missed a meal but right then he seemed damn well unbothered by the situation. “Do we need to?” John would have been more than happy to just settle down on Randy’s bed with the other and remain there until dinner. But, alas, their senses of duty wore out and they left the room after giving one another a once-over for propriety, and then they were heading off for their final lessons of the day.

If any lesson were to be John’s least favourite, it would have to be math class. He absolutely hated it. And the fact that even Randy struggled at times in it didn’t help that matter, either. Plus the professor that they had to suffer through was horrible at teaching. “I can’t wait until I don’t have to sit in this classroom ever again,” John muttered to Randy as their teacher wrote some equation that he didn’t understand up on the black board. 

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with you,” Randy whispered back, then sat up straight in his chair again just before the teacher turned around. 

Both exhaled a sigh of relief when the bell sounded, walking as fast as they possibly could out of the room. “I hate that class.”

“Do you really?” Randy asked, his tone sarcastic. “I never would have known.”

“No need to be a twit about it,” John replied. “Good God, I’m starving,” he said then, obviously skipping lunch, then having to sit through that class on an empty stomach was not a good combination. One would think they would have learned that lesson by now, yet it had happened countless times in the semester already.

A final lesson before dinner seemed to go at a snail’s pace, even though it was one that John found more bearable than math. When the bell rang for that lesson to end John had to resist the urge to grab the other’s hand and yank him out of room. No-one would bat an eyelash at that he supposed (because Randy was always marching John along somewhere if he was reticent about classes) but it wouldn’t do to risk a few second-glances and commentary if they needn’t do so.

“Oh, excellent!” John groaned happily when he saw what was on the menu that night: toad-in-the-hole with mashed potatoes and a choice of vegetables. Of course you could forgo the mash or vegetables if you wanted to, but he didn’t know anyone who would protest toad-in-the-hole. “Mhm, I am very much in the mood for that right now.” Randy smirked, tempted to comment on what John was _usually_ in the mood for.

They moved to the head of the queue (no disgruntled voices daring pipe up that they missed the queue) and took their meals from the lunch staff, heading towards their usual table. As they sat down Randy wanly muted, “Drama lot are missing again; should be interesting to see what play they come up with this time,” in-house productions were very hush-hush.

~~~

“What happened?” Windham asked his friend, immediately concerned and knowing that Joe was going to need a way to vent if he had _that_ expression on his face; he might not be the sharpest pen in the pot but he knew when his friends needed him. Still sulking, Joe stabbed viciously at some of the meat on his plate with his fork, lips compressed into a thin pout of dissatisfaction.

“He threatened to send me to Headmaster Barrett for a caning if he found out I had an ‘unnecessary’ fight with Mizanin again.” All of the boys at the table winced at the mention of the cane; though neither of them had had any serious experience with a cane for a long while it wasn’t something that you’d ever forget… especially when your headmaster was deceptively strong and horribly focused when he set himself on a task.

“But what about Mizanin?” Cody prompted and Joe snorted darkly, shaking his head as he shoved some food into his mouth. He took his time chewing (though Ted privately thought it was as though Joe was attempting to desiccate the food in his mouth as opposed to just breaking it up for digestion) “He never said a word about him.”

“Want me to trip him up in rehearsal later?” Cody offered in what he assumed was a consoling matter. Mizanin might be his ‘male lead’ more often than not but Cody wasn’t about to tolerate someone messing around with his friends. Joe shook his head, though there was the tiniest of smiles appearing on his face for a moment. Windham laughed openly though, teasing Cody about his ‘neat aversion to fisticuffs’. 

“Look at me, Windham. Do I look like someone fit to get into a scuffle? I thought not. Besides, this face is far too dashing to ever risk being in a fight,” he said, and that earned laughs from everyone at the table, including Ted and Justin. 

“He’s right, though, if he ended up with a broken nose, he’d lose his feminine features and wouldn’t get cast as the leading lady anymore,” Windham teased. Oh, yes, he thought Cody was fantastic at acting, but sometimes he just couldn’t help himself. 

“It’s not like I actually _wanted_ to be cast in the women’s roles!” Cody protested. Even though it was only the first time he’d been cast to play a female that he’d been displeased. He’d come to accept it, hell, even enjoy it every time since. Though it did get people talking and spreading rumours around about how he was the best bottom in the school, simply because he was always cast to play a woman. 

“He can’t help that he’s got some feminine features,” Ted cut in. 

“Oh, well, I’m sure _you_ really enjoy his feminine features,” Windham went on. Ted might think he’s hiding it well, but a blind man could see that he felt something towards Cody.

A crimson flush covered Ted’s cheeks and for a moment he actually looked angry. Although no one had ever really seen Ted lose his temper before, or actively throwing a punch at someone else or anything, it was common knowledge you didn’t attempt to have a go at him.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked thinly, chin tilting imperiously and Cody felt his stomach roll in interest at the sheer power that Ted was exuding even without really thinking about it. It wasn’t very often that this side of Ted came out and so he was keen to see more.

“Oh, I don’t know, Teddy,” Windham said, grinning like the proverbial pariah as Ted immediately reacted on the defensive towards what they were saying. “I mean, you and Cody are _close_ to one another…” usually Ted did blush over such things, but this time the blush was darker than usual, and Cody was looking like a very smug young man indeed—more so than usual. Something must have happened that they were out of the loop on.

“-and everyone knows a gentleman should appreciate a pretty face.” If Ted found out anyone was _appreciating_ Cody’s _beautiful_ face then he was going to end up severely affecting his otherwise perfect reputation within the school with a good old-fashioned beating for the boy in question. 

“I think that we should end this discussion of men appreciating Cody’s beautiful features,” Ted said, voice rumbling. He felt Cody’s leg press against his, and when he glanced to the side, he saw Cody’s eyes twinkling with mischief. 

Windham knew when it was time to back off of a subject, and he knew that time was now. While he was comfortable enough with himself to admit that Cody was quite an attractive young man, he had no interest in him whatsoever. Still, he knew that Teddy boy _did_ have an interest in him, and it wouldn’t bode well to piss him off, so he dropped the topic once he got a satisfactory reaction. 

The rest of their lunch time was spent discussing the classes they had and which ones were coming up, and how they weren’t looking forward to them (except for Justin, who always seemed to enjoy nearly all his classes). 

When they all stood, Cody managed to walk beside Justin and whisper, “You managed to luck out again, but we sleep in the same room. Can’t escape forever.”

Justin winced, giving Cody what he hoped was an innocent smile, but he doubted the other brought it at all. Cody merely rolled his eyes in response and merely reiterated a quiet warning that they _were_ going to talk later when curfew came around.

Cody split off from them when it was time for his rehearsal, Ted promising to go along after all of his lessons were done; he also made sure to remind himself to get a meal for Cody that evening, since the other’s rehearsal often ran on and he knew that Cody would miss food if he got too involved in his practice. The blonde then shook himself somewhat and forced himself to focus on the work in front of him and not on thoughts of his best friend, even though he _really_ wanted to.

When he was in the theatre Cody arched a brow as Mike Mizanin came sauntering towards him; the cocky smirk on his face was one that Cody would melt over if Ted was wearing the expression, but on Mike he just felt as though the other was trying too hard. “Hello, Mike.” The words were clipped, a stiff greeting considering what the other had done to his friend earlier, but to his consternation Mike didn’t seem phased. “Hello, darling.” He cooed. 

“I’m not your darling,” Cody replied.

“I hope you’re not this cold to me when we’re actually performing,” Mike said. “I don’t think this is any way to treat your love interest.” Though Cody’s character had two love interests in the play, Mike’s character was the one he truly wanted from the beginning.

“You just _wish_ that I could be your love interest,” Cody teased, arching his brow. The same could be said about a majority of the students in the theatre program. And while Cody had pleased a few of them in the past, he was never going to love any of them.

“That’s a rather bold statement, don’t you think?” Mike asked, arching his own brow at Cody.

“Michael,” Cody batted his lashes, leaning in so close to Mike that their lips were millimetres away from touching, Mike’s eyes widening slightly, as Cody continued speaking,

“Theatre is all about the _bold_.” On that note Cody moved away from Mike, sashaying to where their theatre master, Mr. Matthews (a very young, brand new teacher who had started at the beginning of that school year) was waiting to call them all to order and run through their rehearsal schedule.

Staring after Cody slightly Michael quirked a small smirk of amusement before shaking his head, moving towards the rest of the group and wanly musing that Cody had no idea that Mike had no interest in _boys_ their age. If anyone knew the man he had an interest in they’d never believe it, but it wasn’t as though he was going to tell. 

~~~

“Are they gone again?” John looked around, noticing that, yes, they were indeed missing. Randy always had a far keener eye than he did when it came to their fellow classmates. Of course, John could spot anyone missing from a sports practice from a mile away. “I don’t see anything appealing about the theatre, especially if it involves missing dinner nearly every night.”

Randy chuckled, but quickly steeled his features once more. “Well, it’s nice to know where your priorities lie.”

“It’s true. There’s only one thing that can keep me away from missing a meal,” John said, giving Randy a wink. “And it’s not sports practice. Because there is nothing worse than a group of large, athletic men bitching about how hungry they are.”

Randy stared at John for a brief moment before saying, “You realize that you just described yourself, don’t you?”

“Exactly. Now imagine a whole group. It’s not pretty,” John told him with a grin.

Shaking his head in wan amusement Randy said, “I’m actually amazed you didn’t try to bite Evan’s head off about missing practices whilst he went on holiday.” John paused with his fork halfway to his mouth, loaded with food, and said, “Well, actually, I was more wondering why you didn’t go with him.” Randy shrugged and admitted it was no big secret: he just hadn’t fancied going to the country for a while with his aunt and uncle.

His orphaned cousin was someone who Randy was very close to, but he had the feeling that there was something that had been off with Evan when he had last seen him; the other had seemed withdrawn, almost depressed—and there was a reason that they nicknamed Evan ‘puppy’: the man had such a hyper and cheerful temperament that he actually annoyed some people with the continuity of it.

“I just hope that he’s feeling better when he comes back,” was how Randy rounded his point off, John nodding his head; he too had noticed Evan’s off behaviour before he left. “Well, I’m glad he’ll be back—he’s the best bowler we have on the cricket team!”

“I’m happy he’ll be back, as well. As annoying as he can be at times, I missed being around him,” Randy said. “I imagine there are plenty of other people that have missed him, as well. But I think he needed the holiday.”

John nodded. “Absolutely. Just so long as he hasn’t lost any of his cricketing skills.” He then took the last bite of his food (and he had really loaded it up… as usual), and glanced back up at the food station. “Think I can get seconds?”

“Are you serious? You’re that hungry?”

“I didn’t eat lunch!” 

“You didn’t do anything _that_ strenuous,” Randy said. 

“I still didn’t eat lunch!” John repeated. “So… do you think I can go and get seconds?”

“Yes, you can probably go and get seconds…” John could charm the very birds down from the trees when he put his mind to it, and he had no trouble sweet-talking the middle-aged women who served up their food on meal times.

Watching as his lover headed off Randy quirked a small smirk and then shook his head with fond indulgence. Finishing off his own meal Randy then wiped his mouth gently with his napkin and then placed his cutlery neatly atop the plates to be collected afterwards.

When a certain dirty-blonde haired foreign exchange student entered the dining-hall though and Randy saw him, he felt his eyes narrowing; he was sure Christopher Jericho (“Call me Chris. Actually, no, call me Jericho.”) was the reason why Evan had jumped at a holiday chance. 

“What’s that look for?” John asked of Randy as he sat down, a fresh plate of food in front of him (a simple flash of his smile had gotten him an extra serving of dinner, much to his delight).

“Him,” Randy said, jerking his head in Jericho’s direction. 

John didn’t reply, as he was currently shoveling the food into his mouth, but he nodded his head, even though Randy wasn’t actually looking at him, he was looking _past_ him. 

Finally managing to tear his gaze away from the exchange student before he noticed he was being stared at, Randy looked back to John, though the scowl hadn’t left his face. 

“Hey, c’mon now, perk up a bit. What’s his deal, anyway?” John asked. He’d only heard scattered details about Jericho, but he knew there was more to the story.

“It was shortly after he and Evan began hanging around together that Evan started to change,” Randy muttered, attempting not to watch John’s borderline obscene eating habits out of the corner of his eye.

“So…” John swallowed his latest mouthful of food, “You think he had something to do with it?” Randy sighed and shrugged; usually Evan would tell him everything, the young man closer to him than their behaviour sometimes suggested, but concerning Jericho? He got nothing.

John gave the other’s thigh a nudge underneath the table, “Maybe he was just having a bad time of things; they can catch up to us when we least expect it.” Randy was so surprised by the profoundly wise words that he didn’t even comment when someone bumped into him as they walked past—usually he’d fly off the handle for such rudeness and potential messing of clothing by some plebeian who was not worth his time.

“You’re right,” Randy agreed, letting his thigh rub against John’s a bit more. “I just wish I really knew everything that happened between them. Evan was so ready to get away from here. And if I ever find out that it was that blonde asshole that had anything to do with it, I swear to God, I will break him in two.”

John didn’t doubt those words for a second. Randy was highly protective of those that he loved, and he’d do anything for them. “Think Evan will finally talk to you when he gets back?” John asked before picking up another forkful of food. He had made a severe dent in this pile of food, and he really didn’t look like he was slowing down.

“I hope so… I don’t want to force it from him, I just want to help him,” Randy mused. 

“I know you do, you big softy,” John teased.

Randy shot an amused glare at his lover. “Don’t say that too loud. We can’t let news of that get out. I do have a reputation to uphold, thank you very much.”

“Oh yes, the big and hard Head Boy with the untouchable façade that keeps all in lust-bound awe of him,” John teased and Randy gave a playfully lecherous look and pressed his thigh tight against John’s under the table, “I thought I’d already proved to you about how _big and hard_ I can be when the occasion calls for it.” John hid a smile quickly.

“Oh, had you?” John continued to devour his plate and finally, after what seemed like an age, the other man was done. “How are you even going to be able to get up and walk after all of that food?” Randy asked, dropping their playful banter for the moment as he recalled just how much his lover had consumed and in a stunningly small amount of time over all.

“Just give me a sec,” John responded casually with a wave of his hand. Finishing the wine that those legally allowed to drink were given with their evening meals he then took a moment to compose himself before standing with much more grace than one would expect of a person with his advanced stature.

“At least there’s no question in anyone’s mind where all that food goes to,” Randy told him as they finally left the dining hall. 

Having no doubt in his mind just where Randy was talking about, John said, “It’s always nice to have that little bit of extra padding for those hard tackles on the rugby field. Believe me.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Randy said, wanting to grab John’s ass and squeeze it tight in his hand. It wouldn’t have to wait too much longer, though. But his walk to his room still felt like it was taking forever. 

“I can’t remember the last time that I actually slept in my room,” John said suddenly, voice low so no one around them could hear. He only had one roommate, Phil Brooks, and he’d known about John and Randy for the longest time now. And, well, he would never raise a complaint about John’s absence to any of the higher ups, as he absolutely loved having the entire room to himself.

Randy slowed his pace significantly at John’s statement. “What? Are you saying that you… want to stay in your room tonight?” The thought of that actually stung Randy a little bit. He’d grown so used to having John with him at nights…

John smiled up at Randy and replied, “I’m not saying that at all.”

Randy felt his ears reddening a little as he realised that he had rather jumped to a conclusion there, as John had never complained about being in his room before, and also because of how emotionally vulnerable he had made himself in one single moment. Not that he minded being vulnerable before John, but there was still pride involved.

As soon as they were in the empty hallway leading towards Randy’s room John caught his lover’s hand in his own and squeezed it, seeing the small and surprisingly shy grin that flittered across Randy’s lips before the younger turned and used his free hand to open the door to his dorm. “If you do want to go to your room again—“ Randy started but John cut him off almost immediately as he nudged him inside, “If I did that I actually believe that Phil would cry over having me back as a room-mate.”

Chuckling richly at John’s words Randy mused aloud once the door was shut, “I’d ask if you had adequate sleepwear but I really doubt either of us will need it.” And, probably amusingly, Randy’s words were not an innuendo for more activities to come (although John would never rule that out, and no pun intended) but just from how Randy preferred them to sleep skin-to-skin. Neither of them would ever admit to being embarrassed by doing such a thing when they first got together, but they had… they had only been young after all.

“Mmm, no, I’m all set,” John agreed. He absolutely loved feeling Randy’s skin against his as they slept. He always had, really, even though the idea of sleeping nude with one another was odd at first. Of course, before Randy got his nice Head Boy position with his single room, sleeping in the same bed while at school was near impossible. But they always visited one another of holidays, and that was when the idea of them remaining in bed together completely naked after they had sex first took hold. 

“I thought as much. So, shall we do our homework now?” Randy asked, savouring the groan that John let out at the mere suggestion. 

“Really? Homework? Right now?” John asked, utterly protesting the idea. 

“Well, _I’m_ going to do my homework, and considering we’re in nearly all the same classes, wouldn’t you like to copy all of my answers?” 

John nodded. That idea sounded far better than actually _doing_ the homework. 

~~~

“Is everyone ready for our warm ups?” Mr. Matthews asked. He always believed that before every rehearsal, his students should do several warm up exercises, not only some stretches for the body, but some improvisational activities for the mind. 

He had them do a few stretches, participating right there along with them. Then, once those were done, he made everyone make a circle to begin the improv skits. Mike, Cody and a few others always managed to get everyone to crack up, while another group always took the serious route with their little skits. It was a nice little mix, but it was obvious that they all belonged in the theatre.

“Ok, that’ll be enough of that!” Mr. Matthews told them. “Let’s run lines from act two again!” Most of them were learning all their lines quite well, some even had nearly all of them memorized, so now it was becoming a matter of being able to _act_ the lines that they had stored in their minds.

They were halfway through their rehearsal when Mr. Matthews registered a noise by the door and turned his head. When he saw that it was young Mr. DiBiase he placed a finger to his lips but motioned the other in—Cody always seemed to do his best acting when Ted was there.

Oh, sure, the teachers pretended not to notice such things between their students, but sometimes it was just so hard to miss. When you were around the same boys for years, watching them growing and maturing and changing it was difficult to miss things like this. Besides… it wasn’t as though Josh himself was any stranger to emotions like that… not that he would ever admit such a thing upon pain of death.

Dramatic? Of course; he was a drama teacher after all. Moving into the theatre space Ted moved as silently and swiftly as he could and settled into a seat. When the scene progressed further, to Cody getting _very_ close to Mike Mizanin, Ted found himself sitting on his hands and biting his bottom lip—his jealousy seemed more prone to appearing than usual now after that kiss. 

As Ted watched the rehearsal, his eyes grew wide as he realized which scene they had just reached. It was the same scene that he and Cody had run through the night before. He didn’t even want to think about, much less _watch_ Cody having to kiss Mizanin, especially not after the kiss they shared. 

Of course Cody realized that, as well. He didn’t _want_ to kiss Mike, but he really had no choice. They ran through their lines, and Mike pulled him into an embrace that had _nothing_ on the embrace that Ted held him in. Their lips met, but it was only for a brief moment before they continued on with the scene. 

“You will need to show more passion than that!” Josh cut in as he watched their kiss from off stage. He walked out to them and said, “An audience won’t connect with a kiss like that. You deliver your lines with such passion, you have all this build up, and then… it fizzled out! Just imagine that the other person is someone else,” he added, his eyes flicking from Cody’s out to Ted in the audience. “Ok, pick up where you left off!” he then said, going back to his spot to watch them.

Mentally cursing Josh (and it wasn’t often that Cody did that because the man was quite indulgent with them, letting them show off their creative flair and suchlike as they wished as long as they didn’t go too far) Cody then took up his place on the opposite side of the stage to Mike, his fingers placed over his lips as though trying to keep himself together.

Mike strode swiftly across the stage, grabbing Cody’s wrist with minimum force, but it looked like more, pulling him into his arms as he declared passionately that Cody (Cody’s _character_ Ted amended in his mind as he ground his teeth together as he watched Cody seemingly swoon into Mike’s arms) would never love another the way that he loved him.

When Cody delivered his return line though Ted could have _sworn_ that the other’s eyes met his for the briefest but most pointed of moments before they returned to Mike as they continued with the scene. Josh kept them at it for another three-quarters of an hour before he finally called a halt to the rehearsal. “That was really good, everybody, really good,” he praised, then called across to Cody –who was not standing before Ted, ready to ask the other what he thought- about his fitting for his costume tomorrow afternoon. 

Cody turned back to Josh and called out, “Just give me a time for the fitting, I’ll be there!” After settling on a time (in between his classes, during his lunch time), Cody smiled at Ted. “Could you grab me a little extra something for lunch tomorrow so I can ear before class?”

“Of course,” Ted replied. “Speaking of, I got you some food for dinner since you were here,” he told him. 

“Thank you, Teddy! I’m starving, too. Anyway, I can eat in the room. What did you think of the performance?” he asked, biting his lower lip nervously. 

“It looks like it will be really good,” he answered. “But, umm…” he muttered, “I don’t like the fact that you’re kissing Mike.” His voice was so low that even Cody could hardly hear him. But hear him he did. 

“Don’t worry, Teddy, he’s got nothing on you.”

“Really?” Ted couldn’t help but feel a little hopeful at that and Cody giggled, nodding before asking, “Would I lie to you, Teddy?” they had reached their room by this point and Cody unlocked the door as Ted was still carrying his food for him. “Only if it gets you presents,” Ted teased his best friend.

Play-pouting Cody said, “It’s not often that I have to lie to you to get presents.” Pretending to pause and consider, Ted heaved a wan sigh, “This is true: my ability to say no to you is lacking.” And Cody liked it that way, funnily enough. Taking his plate of food Cody then leant up and brushed his lips against Ted’s.

The elder teen blushed and Cody smugly sashayed to his bed and sat down to eat, “You gave me the best present ever last night though, Theodore,” Ted looked momentarily confused as he moved and settled on his own bed which was adjacent to Cody’s, “I did? What?” Cody looked amused at his inability to realise, “You, Teddy.” 

“Me?” Ted asked. 

“Yes you, silly!” Cody declared. “I never thought that I’d ever be able to have you in any way aside from just being my friend. But last night… last night I finally got you, and ever since I’ve been the happiest man alive.”

Ted couldn’t help but smile as Cody spoke; he’d felt the exact same way about Cody. Having known that Cody had played around with other guys in the school made Ted certain that Cody would never want him. But he couldn’t be happier knowing that he was wrong. “I know that feeling.”

“Really?” 

“Yes, really,” Ted answered. “All because of you.”

“Cody…” Ted exhaled a breath from where he sat, resting his elbows atop his knees as he looked across to the other; even with a plate carefully propped atop his lap and no cutlery Cody managed to look perfectly pristine and graceful. “I want to ask you something.”

Immediately the younger man nodded his head, as Ted had expected he would, and Ted steeled himself up to possibly be rejected by the other. “If things are to happen between us, like we discussed—” Ted was so cute when he got all serious and formal, “—then I’d like you to prevent doing such things with other boys.” For a moment Cody didn’t honestly register the words and so asked dumbly, “None at all?” 

“No one but me,” Ted told him. “And whatever you have to do whilst performing,” he added, since that sort of thing was beyond his control. 

“Oh,” was all Cody said to that. He’d never really thought about that part of being with Ted before. The whole being exclusive to one another thing. Of course he wanted to be with Ted, he’d wanted it for a long time now, but he’d never considered that that would mean giving up being with other boys from time to time. 

Ted’s face dropped at the lack of reaction that he got from Cody. “Is that a problem, or something?” he asked. He didn’t think he could stand knowing that Cody was playing around with other boys during the day, then coming back to him at night. He wasn’t doing that to Cody, so why should Cody do that to him? 

Seeing the look on Ted’s face Cody set his nearly empty plate onto his bedside chest of drawers and then moved to him, straddling the other’s lap in a fluid motion that obviously startled Ted because he blinked multiple times like some adorable little animal as his hands moved tentatively to Cody’s hips. “Teddy,” Cody made sure that the other was looking him in the eye as he said, “Giving up all those other boys won’t be a problem—“ it would just be a bit of an adjustment, “But there is one thing…”

Having a bad feeling in his stomach Ted managed to croak, “What is it?” Cody pretended not to notice the other’s anxiety because if he did acknowledge it that’d make it worse, “I have _needs_ Teddy, and even though I told you I’d not force you, and I mean that, I’m going to need _something_ from you.” Ted looked confused and Cody tried not to get frustrated by his naiveté, “I’ve wanted you for so long, and now I have you, I’ll at least need to know I can kiss you or something or else I’m going to go crazy.” 

Ted shut his eyes and breathed out a sigh of relief. “I thought you were going to say that we’d need to… well… _you know_ soon.” He then chuckled and moved his hands around to clasp behind Cody’s back. “Of course you can kiss me,” he told him, even though he was blushing. 

“If you say so,” Cody said, leaning forward to press his lips to Ted’s. His tongue ran along Ted’s lips, which easily parted for him. The two were so involved in their kiss that they didn’t hear the door opening. All they heard was a rather large stack of hardcover text books dropping to the floor. Cody and Ted both looked towards the door, Cody giving a smile as he greeted, “Hi there, Justin.”

Justin’s lips were moving, but there were no words coming out. He’d seen other boys giving one another hand jobs and things of that nature in the bathrooms, but those weren’t as shocking as seeing his two best friends kissing on Ted’s bed. Of course, he had a hunch that they’d acted upon their feelings for one another, but he couldn’t say he was actually expecting to see it happen. “Hi guys,” he finally managed to get out, mentally shaking himself as he bent down to pick up his dropped books.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The man who can dominate a London dinner-table can dominate the world - Oscar Wilde

They both moved to Randy’s desk once more to do the work (and John absently wondered whether anyone commented about the fact that Randy had two desk chairs in his room) and John was glad that Randy worked fast when it came to answering questions; it meant that he could copy just as quickly and they would be getting to bed sooner. And it wasn’t just the sexual elements of being in bed with Randy that appealed to him… he just liked laying there with the other, he in Randy’s arms or Randy in his arms, merely reveling in one another.

When they finally finished the last of the problems John had to quell the urge to throw his pen down in relief; they had done that once in their youth and ended up in the then-Headmaster’s office explaining why ink had exploded all over the bedroom wall. Setting the pen down nicely after capping it, Randy mimicking the actions, John sighed in relief. “Whoever invented homework must hate students.” Randy rolled his eyes with fond exasperation as he said, “You big baby—it wasn’t that bad.”

“You’re joking, right? Please tell me that you’re joking,” John said. “All homework is is a waste of time!”

“Well, if homework is a waste of your time, enlighten me, John, what would you be doing in all that time that you spent doing your homework.” 

“Don’t you think it’s fairly obvious?” John asked, reaching out to place his palm over Randy’s cheek. “I’d be spending my time training. Doing sprints, practicing my batting, maybe find someone to toss the rugby football around with…”

“You’re joking, right? Please tell me that you’re joking,” Randy repeated. 

“Of course I’m joking. I know I spent my time doing homework with you, but I would much rather spend my time with you in bed together. Far less stressful, that is.”

“I have to agree on stressful. If you had said that it would be less strenuous then I would have had to disagree.” He waggled his brows playfully at his lover as they both started to strip their uniforms from their bodies, both seeming to breathe easier as the ties were gone.

“Oh thank God.” John sighed deeply as he settled onto what was unofficially his side of Randy’s bed, Randy joining him moments later and pulling the covers over their bodies, feeling himself pulled into John’s arms—something that he very much enjoyed indeed.

“You act as though a day of academics is more tiring than a day of sport!” Randy teased the other and John arched a brow, “You’d be surprised.” Sometimes he would swear that academic subjects took a greater toll than a rowing race, cricket and rugby combined. 

“At least when I’m out in a game or even at a practice, I’m actually enjoying myself. While I can’t say that I’m horrible in my classes, I can’t say that I enjoy them. _That’s_ the part that’s absolutely exhausting. Sitting through hours upon hours of classes every day… I can hardly take it. Especially now that we’re in our last year here. I’m just ready to leave.”

“Well, you know you will still have to do academic work when we go onto University, right? You won’t just be playing sports all day.”

“I know that. But my classes will be more flexible and sports will still be a huge part of my life,” John said with a shrug. “It’s only a few more years, anyway, then we’ll be done with this for good.” He nuzzled his head against Randy’s chest, not wanting at all to think about what would happen if they went to different universities, or what would happen to them once they graduated and had to go their own separate ways. 

There was a momentary quiet between them, neither feeling the need to break it with random chatter. Although John had a mouth on him when he got talking he could also be quiet and thoughtful at times, and right then he had a bit on his mind. What happened when they were outside the relative seclusion and safety of the school? Once they were done in the Academy, all game-plans were useless.

“We’re going to keep in touch though, right?” he attempted to sound as casual as possible, not wanting to get into anything too heavy right then; he was too tired and didn’t want a bad mood to ruin their night together.

“Of course we will,” Randy didn’t even give a pause before he responded through a yawn, “Though keeping in touch sounds a bit unfriendly. I mean, we are going to attempt to enter the same establishment of further education, are we not?” They had often said it when they were younger, and John had no special university where he wanted to go, but he had figured with age Randy might have wanted to go somewhere specific. “Yeah, that’s right.”

“You… you still want to do that, don’t you?” Randy asked.

“Of course I do. Absolutely I do,” John answered without hesitation. “Now can we please stop talking about schooling for a while?” he asked, placing his hand on Randy’s abdomen, letting it rest there. 

“Sounds good to me. Although we _are_ going to have to start applying places soon enough.”

“Don’t remind me,” John said, shaking his head. “I thought our school conversation was over?”

Randy yawned again and replied, “Mmm. God, why am I so tired? I think watching you eat all that food exhausted me.”

“I think eating all that food exhausted me,” John told him, his eyelids fluttering shut, even though it wasn’t that late into the night. 

As John remained with his eyes closed Randy took the advantage to merely admire the handsome face that had still retained the boyish charm of their youth, dimples and all. Even though John gave no indication of being aware of his lover’s eyes on him he had to know that he was being looked at.

“I know I’m handsome as sin, but staring Randy, really?” John finally said after a few moments, forcing his eyes open long enough to complement the smile that he sent Randy before he curled around the other a bit more.

“Shut up John-boy.” Randy chuckled softly before dropping a kiss to John’s forehead before he yawned once more. Though he was quite sure he hadn’t been too tired, now he was settled in bed and with John beside him he was more than ready to call it a night.

“Don’t tell me to shut up,” John mumbled in replied, even though he was dead tired himself and was ready to shut his eyes, curl up in Randy’s arms and fall asleep.

“Too late, already did. Now I’m getting some sleep,” Randy said before reaching over and switching off his table lamp. “Goodnight, John.”

“Night, Randy,” he returned, leaning over to place a kiss directly over Randy’s heart before raising his head enough to press a light kiss to Randy’s lips. He then settled back down, using his lover’s chest as his pillow. 

Randy resisted the urge to say “I love you,” as he’d only ever said it to the other when he’d been asleep. They knew it to be true, anyway, so he figured that there was no reason he needed to say it aloud. That and he didn’t know if actually saying those words would scare John away from him. He’d known that John had his heart a long time ago, and he knew that John felt the same way, but to actually say that to him… One of these days he would.

~~~

Cody, who thrived on the reactions of others, merely grinned as Justin picked up his books. Ted however gently nudged Cody from his lap and moved to help the other by way of an apology; he supposed that they should have warned him earlier on, for had Ted been a lesser man he would have had Cody in his bed by now.

“No visiting with Headmaster Wade, today?” Cody asked slyly as Justin and Ted straightened up, and it was only quick-thinking on the part of both teens that prevented Justin from dropping his books all over again. “Really, Cody, must you?” Justin shook his head wanly as he saw Cody finishing off what appeared to be his dinner. Latching onto the chance for a distraction he said, “So, tell me about rehearsal today. How was it?”

“Oh, it was alright,” Cody said casually, obviously allowing Justin a momentarily respite as he finished eating so then he could focus his entire attention on the other boy when he finally made him spill the beans about what he had been up to the previous night. “I had to kiss Mizanin though.” Justin grimaced and said that they’d best not tell Joe about that or the other boy would be mad. “Not as mad as Teddy though, I’m sure,” Justin teased lightly and Ted blushed darkly, the well-formed apples of his cheeks going bright red. 

“Oh, you’re quite right. Teddy wasn’t pleased about that at all. He even told me as such when we left the theatre together,” Cody told Justin. 

“So… when did this,” Justin began, looking and pointing between the two of them, “happen?”

“Just last night,” Cody answered with a grin. “I asked him to run lines with me, and I just so happened to pick the same scene that we ran through today at rehearsal. The one where the male lead and I kiss.”

“I knew there was something different between you two today,” Justin said. “I’m just happy that you two finally made a move on one another. God, I didn’t think it was ever going to happen.”

Neither of them thought to question Justin’s words about waiting for what was seemingly an inevitable thing, but when they got him alone individually at later dates then they would try to get the other to ask what the other had said about them. Cody then slowly grinned and leant forward, chin resting on his hands as his deep cobalt eyes seemed to freeze Justin in place.

“Now, Justin, I believe you owe me—I mean, us, a few explanations.” Justin groaned, laying himself on his front on his bed, looking across to the other teens, “Cody, just… three, you can ask three things.” Cody immediately asked how big Wade was below the belt, and Ted actually fell off of his bed as Justin seemed to choke on thin air. 

“Well? Come on, it’s not like I’ve never seen a cock before,” Cody said, chuckling as he watched Ted pick himself back up, dusting himself off as he sat on the bed once more. “And you just told me that I could ask you three things, so I asked, and I’m expecting an honest answer out of you!” Of course, Cody really enjoyed the shock factor more than anything else. Well, that and he was admittedly curious.

“Do I have to? That just seems like an infringement of his privacy,” Justin muttered after a while of standing there in silence. 

“Cody, the next time I see Headmaster Barrett, I really don’t want to think about how big he is below the belt,” Ted said in a hushed tone. 

“Then cover your ears. Because I, for one, would love to know. I mean, he’s quite a man of stature, so his cock has got to be rather large, don’t you think?” By the way that Justin was blushing, Cody was pretty sure that their Headmaster was, indeed, rather large in that area. 

“It’s not like I ever measured it,” Justin then said.

“A rough estimate, then. If you don’t answer this one, then I’ll just have to ask you something else to make up for it,” Cody threatened. And he was certain that he could come up with far worse questions than what he just asked.

Grimacing slightly at the prospect of what questions were going to be asked if _this_ was how Cody opened the informal seminar, as it were, Justin sighed and tried to picture Wade’s cock. Now, this wasn’t something he’d not done before, far from it, but there was a frigging difference thinking about such things when he was alone as opposed to when he had an audience! Neither Ted nor Cody interrupted Justin as they allowed him to think.

When the other finally gesticulated how large he would approximate their headmaster to be below the belt Cody gasped and Ted’s jaw dropped; it seemed the other hadn’t decided to block his ears and protective his sensitivities after all. Justin’s face was crimson beneath the dark skin as he set his hands atop his lap once more, ending the demonstration.

“Really? My goodness,” Cody sounded oddly breathless though Ted had a feeling it was probably more out of awe than anything else. At least, he was hoping that it was awe and not Cody actually wanting to be bedded by their Head-teacher. “—how does it even fit?” Justin coughed embarrassedly, “Is that your second question?”

“Fuck no!” Cody said, shaking his head emphatically and trying to think of something else he wanted to know from Justin. Ted was still slightly dumbstruck, attempting not to imagine anything and yet being powerless at the same time to not do so. Well, in his defense he was interested in _eventually_ doing such things with Cody, so… advice was always good, right? 

“So, it’s not your second question, but you’re expecting me to answer it?” Justin asked. “That hardly seems fair.”

“And you tell me that our Headmaster is _that_ large, and you’re expecting me to merely speculate on how it can fit inside you? _That_ doesn’t seem very fair,” Cody countered. 

Justin took his bottom lip in between his teeth, shaking his head back and forth. “Maybe you should be left to speculate. In case you haven’t realized this is a bit of…” he dropped his voice low as he continued, “a scandalous relationship, so a little bit of mystery would probably be for the best.”

“It _is_ rather scandalous. Why else do you think I want to know so much about it?” Cody asked. “And, no, that’s not my second question, either. That was a rhetorical question, so it doesn’t count. If you were off fucking someone our own age, you know that I wouldn’t actually give two shits about it. Ok, what else do I want to know about our beloved Headmaster? Hmm…” There were so many things that he would like to ask, but he was so limited in what he _could_ ask. Before he went on, though, he smirked and asked, “Does Teddy get three questions, too?”

“I’m quite sure Teddy doesn’t want three questions,” Justin said, both in an attempt to save himself and also because of the other’s reactions earlier. However, much to Justin’s consternation, Ted took one look at the expression on Cody’s face and then quickly said, “Yes, Teddy would like three questions.” God, he was so tame when it came to Cody.

“Teddy!” Justin groaned and Ted looked apologetic as he mumbled a quick “Sorry,” whereas Cody remained sitting there looking very smug. Technically he now had five questions because he had no doubt that Ted would catch on to what he was asking and ask things in the same line of thought… or Cody would _steer_ him in the _right direction_ for the questions. Sighing, Justin stood up and began to undress to ready for bed, Ted getting up to follow suit—something that depressed Cody since he couldn’t focus on questioning Justin and admiring Ted undressing at the same time.

“Right then, for my second question…” Cody’s brow furrowed, wondering what he should ask next. He knew how big the headmaster was, that he had been inside Justin. “Ok, it’s not a question—well it is,” Cody amended and then said, “How did it go the first time you had sex together?” Justin looked confused and Ted grudgingly explained that Cody meant he wanted to know what Justin’s first time with the Headmaster had been like. Justin looked mortified. 

“Are you… you’re serious,” Justin muttered. “Ok… well, I think it’s pretty obvious that my first time with him was my first time _ever_. He, you know… took his time to, umm, get me ready,” Justin told them not able to look them in the eye. He could _feel_ his face burning up with how embarrassed he was. He couldn’t believe he’d actually agreed to do this. “Even though he prepared me really well, it still hurt so badly when he entered me. But Wade was so gentle and caring and sweet. He made sure that I was doing all right the entire time. It was wonderful, though. The whole thing. The pain and all, I would gladly do it all over again so long as I could be with Wade.”

Hearing Justin actually call their headmaster Wade in such a tone made Cody certain that it was never just a little fling, but that Justin was actually, well and truly head over heels in love with the man. “You really do love him, don’t you?” Cody asked.

Justin finally looked up at Cody and gave him a small smile before he nodded. “Yes, I really do. Was that—”

“No,” Cody cut him off. 

“Isn’t that bending the rules?” Justin asked, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“No,” Cody answered again. “Well, maybe a little. Ok, Justin… what was it like the first time that _you_ took Wade?” He was just praying to God that Justin had been inside of Wade at least once, otherwise he just wasted a question. But from the way that the blush instantly returned and Justin’s eyes looked to the floor once again, he knew right then that he did _not_ waste his third question.

“It wasn’t long after I had started here,” Justin said, needing a few minutes to compose himself, as though he was thinking about the situation in order to reminisce, as though he was struggling, when in reality the memory was one that he revisited often. “—I think it was around the time when we had that Halloween party, do you remember?” a small gasp left Cody, eyes widening; that had been a time before Ted and Cody had been aware of what was happening between their friend and their headmaster, “ _That_ was why you vanished off?”

Shyly, Justin coughed and nodded his head as he got underneath the covers of his bed, the admittedly rather expensive pajamas that Wade had bought him for his last ‘birthday’ complementing his colouring and build very well indeed. “It wasn’t planned, not at all… I was going to try and convince him to take a break,” the familiarity and closeness between their friend and the headmaster, and the tone when he spoke of Wade, made Ted think about his own parents when his mother was having one of her he-infuriates-me-sometimes-but-I-love-him-anyway moments about his father. It was weird to suddenly think of Justin and Wade married.

“If I, or someone else, doesn’t make him take a break then he’ll forget to eat or anything.” Justin clucked his tongue slightly and then swallowed hard before looking down at his hands where they rested in his lap, “Well, I went into his office, and he wasn’t there, so I went into his bedchamber…” warm shivers ran down his spine as he remembered the way he and Wade had just been sitting together, Justin offering to give his guardian a soothing massage to while away his tension, somehow progressing from an innocent massage to… 

“You give him massages?” Cody asked aloud (having next to no filter between what he thought in his mind and what he spoke out loud). “Sorry, do go on.”

“Well… yes, so, I was giving him the massage, just on his shoulders and back at first. But he kept insisting that I go lower. So I kept moving lower down his back. But he still wanted me to go lower. And then I was massaging his buttocks… he then asked if… if…” Justin was stumbling over his words; the moment was so incredible to him, he didn’t know if he could share about how Wade had asked him to slip a finger inside of him, how he all but begged Justin to take him. “I can’t…”

“Can’t what?” Cody then asked, disappointed that Justin stopped the story there. 

“I just can’t share anymore. Look, when you and Ted share a moment like that one and _you_ share it with _me_ , then maybe I’ll be able to tell you about it. But it’s just too special to me,” he explained. “Sorry, but… I can’t do it.”

“Oh, alright,” Cody acquiesced glumly, supposing he could respect such a decision. When something like that happened between he and Ted he would share information with Justin should the other ask, as a compromise for this and all, but he supposed he could already imagine there would just be some things that he didn’t want to share with other people. “I think that’s enough for tonight,” Ted suddenly said with a surprising firmness, giving a slight nod to the thankful look that Justin sent his way as Cody turned, gaping almost in shock.

“But, Teddy—“ he started, pouting and falling quiet when Ted gave him a look; Ted was quite possibly the only person who could actually, for want of a better word, control Cody, and Justin was glad since right then he was feeling guilty for divulging even what he had so far. Justin was curling up and preparing to sleep as Cody tried to wheedle Ted into using his questions, Ted refusing to budge. Cody was sulking a little when they all settled in their respective beds but by morning he would have forgiven them both. 

~~~

Just before the main doors of the academy were due to close for the night a horse-drawn-coach pulled up outside, the driver hopping down to help the young, dark-haired gentleman that was inside. The teenager flashed a smile of thanks and paid his fare, picking up his trunk and making his way towards the front doors and knocking.

“Master Bourne!” the evening porter looked surprised to see him, not that Evan blamed him, and Evan moved inside, only relinquishing his trunk because he knew it’d offend the porter if he attempted to refuse his help, “I was told you weren’t to return until the morrow?”

“I wasn’t due to be,” Evan agreed as they made his way towards his room. Evan looked as though he belonged in his first year of the school wherein he was actually the youngest in the senior year, the same year as his cousin and John, just older than Cody, Ted and Justin. “But my aunt was taken ill and so I was forced to return prematurely.” The porter helped him to his room and Evan thanked him both for his assistance and wishes for his aunt’s health, Evan taking a breath before forcing himself to enter his room; the room he shared with the very person he had been attempting to run from.

The light was out in the room, and he hoped that Chris was asleep. He really was tired after a long day of travel and the last thing he wanted to deal with upon his arrival back that the Academy was that man. As quietly as he possibly could, he shut the door behind him, his bags on the floor in front of him. 

Not wanting to wake Chris, he picked up his bags and brought them over to his bed where he set them down on the floor gently to make as little sound as he could. Chris was still asleep, though, which was a good sign. Opting to bypass changing into pajamas, he simply took off his jacket and shirt, eventually stripping down to his undergarments before slipping underneath the covers. 

As his head hit the pillow, all he could think was that, even though he hadn’t had to deal with Chris right then, come the morning he knew that he’d have to face him. There was no more hiding from him. 

It seemed as though he’d barely been asleep minutes when he registered the sensation of the fine hairs on his arms and the back of his neck standing up. Slowly, blearily, Evan groped for his glasses as consciousness started to return to him, the world coming into focus once the lenses were perched atop his nose. And, it wasn’t just the world he now had in focus.

Dressed, looking as immaculate and untouchable as always, sitting atop his pristinely made bed and looking tight at him, was Chris. The Canadian was looking directly at him, those piercing eyes seeming to see right through him. Evan had the distinct impression that the room seemed to have shrunk in size since the night before even though he knew that this was technically impossible. Clearing his throat softly he mumbled, “Good morning.”

“Nice to see you too, Evan.” Chris drawled in that amazing accent of his, Evan feeling his throat closing up slightly with impending nerves. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t do this; how could he have thought three weeks would be enough to prepare him to face what he and Chris had done together?

“How was your holiday?” Chris asked of him. “You know I missed you those three weeks that you were gone.”

“It was… it was nice,” he answered quietly, trying to ignore the additional information that Chris told him. 

“Just nice? You know I hardly got any notice from you at all that you’d be leaving me here,” Chris said. That was the truth, too. He woke up one morning to Evan packing a bag, and then the young brunette was gone before any further words could be spoken between them.

“Well… I found out short notice myself,” Evan replied. That was sort of the truth. He’d known that they would be going away about two weeks before it happened; he just never mentioned it to Jericho for obvious reasons.

Pushing the covers back from his body Evan slid from his bed and moved to get his uniform from the large joint wardrobe each room was supplied with. As he opened the doors though he felt arms wrap around his waist and he froze in place with a small gasp.

The mirrors inlaying the wardrobe doors allowed Evan to perfectly see his own expression as well as Chris’, the Canadian’s eyes fixated on his own. “Chris—“ the small plea in Evan’s voice made him internally wince; why was he so damn weak when it came to Chris? What they had done… they shouldn’t have done it. Boys weren’t supposed to be… _together._

“I could get the feeling that you’re avoiding me, Evan.” Chris allowed his hands to splay over the delicious body that was revealed, usually hidden underneath Evan’s clothing. “You can’t hide from me, Puppy,” Evan’s eyes closed, feeling the blonde’s lips brushing his neck, body leaning back into Chris’ even though his mind was commanding he push away from him.

Feeling Chris’ hand slide up his abdomen to his chest, Evan whimpered. Those hands felt _so good_ on his body. _Too good_. “Chris, please…” he mouthed, but no sounds came out. “Please stop,” he finally managed to whisper.

“But why, Evan?” he asked, his other hand coming up, running his fingers through Evan’s hair. “I know that you feel good right now. You can’t run away from this forever, you know.”

Evan knew that damn well enough. He tried to run. But he couldn’t run far enough, couldn’t run long enough. Because, in the end, he had to come back. And he knew that he’d be coming back to this. To Chris. To the one thing that he wanted, that he _had_ , but just happened to be the one thing that he simply could _not_ have. He’d always been such a good Catholic boy… until Chris came along. Now he was holding his sin with him day in and day out. As Chris’ tongue flicked against his neck, he whimpered again.

“I missed you,” Chris murmured quietly. Whereas he wasn’t exactly a stranger to indulgences with other boys he had never been even _remotely_ serious about them until he had laid eyes on Evan. As soon as he had seen Evan he knew he had to have him for his own.

Although Chris wouldn’t deny keeping Evan by the mirrors was tempting, after a forced three week abstinence by the other’s absence he didn’t think he’d have the patience if Evan grew uncomfortable standing up and so guided the other to bed.

Meeting those dark eyes that he dreamt of every night he murmured, “Tell me to stop. Tell me to stop and you know I will.” Evan couldn’t deny that; Chris had never forced him to do anything that he personally didn’t want to do and that was part-and-parcel of the problem. The protest he knew he should offer though merely came out as a staggered puff of air. The small action was apparently enough for Chris because the blonde leant down and captured his lips and Evan was powerless to hold in a moan that was loaded with multiple emotions as he kissed back with an embarrassing desperation.

 _Why_ could he never resist the blonde man? Over and over he gave into the temptation when he _knew_ that he shouldn’t; he should be stronger than that. One look, one touch, one kiss… that was all it took for him to fall back into bed with the man he wanted nothing more than to escape from. 

“I enjoyed that so much,” Chris said, leaning over Evan’s naked form, brushing his hands over Evan’s hairline. “Didn’t you?”

Evan’s eyes were looking everywhere but at Chris’. Dammit, why was he so _weak_? He gave a small nod; he’d enjoyed that like he’d enjoyed every time in the past. As much as he didn’t want to, he did. And as much as he didn’t want to admit it to himself, he’d longed for such things to happen again once he’d returned from his holiday. Despite the fact that he went on the holiday to escape from this. 

“Come on, let’s get dressed and get you some breakfast.”

As he pulled on his uniform, as pristinely as the guidelines demanded, Evan found himself walking down to breakfast with Chris. Upon entering the dining-hall it took him all of five seconds to locate his cousin, Randy, and about ten more seconds for John to look in his direction and motion him over to them with one of those dimpled grins.

“Meet with me before dinner?” Chris’ voice sounded in his ear and Evan felt shivers run down his spine as his cheeks began to warm up. “I think you and I have to talk,” the Canadian finished and Evan swallowed against the lump in his throat and nodded in silent agreement.

~~~

As three alarms blared simultaneously, three groggy teens rolled onto their sides to turn off said alarms so they could begin readying themselves for the day. “You know you got out of it last night, but tonight it’s open season once again,” Cody said to Justin as he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

“I should go spend the night with Wade just to get away from you two,” Justin grumbled. Most of the time those two could be the best friends that he could ever ask for. But there were other times when he couldn’t help but question his judgment in choosing friends. 

“Oh, how scandalous!” Cody said. 

“It’d be better than showing you how big his cock is,” Justin returned. He still couldn’t believe he’d divulged so much information to those two. He glanced over to Ted who shrugged at him. As innocent as he was, he, too, couldn’t help but be slightly curious about the details of what went on between those two.

They all dressed and moved into the communal bathrooms to wash their faces and brush their teeth, returning to their bedroom to place their toiletries away before they made their way down to breakfast. As they reached the dining-hall Cody couldn’t help but slow a little as he saw John and Randy standing together, talking in low voices.

There were oh-so-many rumours about those two when you stopped and listened, and sometimes, even though nothing ever seemed out of place when they were in public, you just couldn’t deny the atmosphere between them. “Cody, what are you looking at?” he heard Justin ask from behind him.

“Nothing.” Cody turned and sent Ted a small wink before he bypassed him into the dining-hall. When Wade appeared with Professor Lawler, Cody turned and sent Justin a positively wolfish smile and Justin had to resist the urge to slide down in his chair and hide underneath the table. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at Wade after all he’d divulged and so missed when the Headmaster’s eyes lingered in his direction. Ted and Cody saw though. 

“Ooo, Justin, someone’s got an admirer,” Cody whispered into his friend’s ear, causing him to blush even deeper. “You ever think about sneaking up there and maybe sucking his cock under his table?” Cody grinned when he heard a noise escape Justin’s throat. He’d never heard that one before, and that was saying something.

“Will you ever drop this topic?” Justin asked after a while. It took some time for him to regain his composure after Cody’s question. 

“Maybe one day. But as of right now it’s far too interesting to let go,” Cody told him.

“And the dining hall probably isn’t the best place to be discussing this topic,” Ted butt in, a blush on his own face. Justin managed a small smile; Teddy was always the voice of reason. “But we can pick up tonight where we left off last night.” And with that, Justin’s blush was born anew. 

Before anymore could be said on the subject though Joe and Windham joined them, Joe giving Cody a stern look. “I do hope you disinfected yourself last night.” Cody was glad that he wasn’t the only one who was completely non-plussed and rather flabbergasted by what had just been said to him. “I very much beg your pardon, Joe? What on earth is that supposed—“

“Kissing Mizanin!” And just how had he found out about that? Pushing the thought aside for the moment Cody rolled his eyes and waved a hand dismissively, “It wasn’t even a proper kiss.” Not in any disinfectant needing manner anyway.

Recalling their conversation the previous night before Justin had returned to the room Ted couldn’t help but feel rather pissed off about the fact that Cody had to kiss Mike even for play reasons. It was something Cody had no choice but to do, he knew, but what if Cody ended up really liking kissing Mizanin better than him? 

“It doesn’t matter if it was a ‘proper kiss’ or not,” Joe countered. “You still had to come in disgustingly close and intimate contact with him.”

“It’s for the sake of the theatre!” Cody said dramatically. His life practically revolved around the theatre, and he was _not_ going to let his good friend’s rivalry with the man who happened to be playing his male lead counterpart stop him from giving the performance of a lifetime. “It’s not as though I actually _enjoy_ kissing him. I just _have to_. Believe me, there are people I would much rather kiss…” He couldn’t risk giving Ted a wink with so many of their friends around, but his foot touched Ted’s under the table.

Joe just shook his head and turned his attention to Windham to start up their conversation where they’d left off. Heath joined them soon enough, taking a seat next to Joe who asked him what took him so long. They’d woken up at the same time, after all. When Heath shrugged at him, Joe asked if he had taken time doing his hair again, raising a brow as Heath gave him another shrug. 

A few more comments came concerning Heath’s weird behaviour but the man was refusing to engage any of them in conversation and so in the end they stopped asking.

When breakfast was over Justin split off from them to go to one of his advanced classes, Cody commenting that ‘being the Headmaster’s pet must really help’, causing him to blush and mumble something before hastening off because a late mark would ruin his otherwise perfect record… and every blemish on him was a shame to Wade and that never sat well with Justin’s conscience. As he vanished off Cody looked to Ted, “Will you help me rehearse tonight?” since they were having the costume fittings that afternoon there would be no rehearsal with the full cast; the costumes took _ages_.

“I’m not sure how comfortable I am having you getting passionate with me so as to make a convincing performance,” Ted mumbled, sheepish even as the words –carefully and quietly- left his mouth. Cody however merely arched a brow and leant in to the other to murmur, “Who said _that_ would be for the play?” Ted stumbled on a step in surprise, grabbing the banister to right himself as Cody sensually sauntered ahead of him. 

Managing to catch up, Ted said, “Yes, I, uh, I’d like to help you rehearse again tonight.” He knew that whenever he watched the final production, he’d find it strange, knowing that he and Cody had read through those lines, made those movements, then watching Cody do the exact same thing with someone else. 

“Good,” Cody said, beaming at Ted. “I’ll now have something to look forward to all day as I’m getting poked and pricked with needles.” At the top of the second set of stairs was where they had to break off to go to their classes. “I probably won’t see you until dinner tonight,” Cody told him.

“Oh… well… I hope fittings go well, then,” Ted replied.

Leaning in so he was right next to Ted’s ear (not uncommon in the loud hallways between classes), he whispered, “I wish I could kiss you right now.” 

Eyes widening Ted swallowed hard, Cody’s eyes dropping down to watch the interesting movement of his Adam’s-apple, tongue flicking out to reflexively wet his lips. “R-Really?” his voice came out a little hoarsely, but could you blame him? Possibly the most beautiful boy he had ever laid eyes on was telling him he wanted to kiss him. _Before other people_.

“Don’t worry though, Teddy,” Cody murmured into his ear some more as Ted fought to neutralise his expression lest someone see that something was ‘off’ about their exchange, “I’ll make it up to you later, I promise.” God, how on earth was he supposed to sit through class with _that_ promise lingering in his mind?

Giving Ted a smile that was only for him Cody then turned and headed off to his class, Ted barely realising he was standing before his own classroom until one of his classmates gave him a small nudge and playful comment about daydreaming. 

~~~

Attempting not to run towards Randy and John, Chris no doubt going off to join his own little group of acquaintances, Evan helped himself to some of the toast stacked on the table in the racks, looking across to the other teens. “Hullo,” he greeted, unable to help but smile at how enthusiastic John was to see him back—if only for the teams’ sake. Much to his consternation however, Randy’s eyes were on the blonde he had just moved away from.

“Randy…” Evan muttered before taking his lower lip between his teeth. When those stormy eyes looked at him, he glanced down at the table, wanting to hide what he had just done from his cousin. 

“Did you have a nice holiday?” Randy asked, forcing himself to take his mind off of that blonde jackass for the time being. 

“I did,” Evan answered. “I missed you lot, though. And I know I’m not going to enjoy making up the work that I missed here. But, yes, it was quite nice. I needed to get away for a bit, you know?”

Randy _knew_ that there was more that Evan wasn’t letting on. Namely the _reason_ that he needed to get away for a bit. “Well, I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed yourself. You were missed around here…” He paused, then leaned forward, his forearms on the table as he asked, “What were you and Chris talking about before you came over here?”

Evan felt his stomach bottom-out, looking to John momentarily in the hopes that the other would offer some sort of segue to Randy for him. Much to his consternation however that didn’t happen though he knew John was listening.

Randy watched the numerous emotions playing over his cousin’s face and was reassured more than ever that something wasn’t right with the younger man. Evan was not a sombre, serious person, he was hyper and cheerful, always friendly and outgoing… he had become so introverted that sometimes it was impossible to even remember he was there.

“It was nothing serious,” Evan lied as easily as he could; lying to Randy had never been something that he found easy because the other just seemed to see right through him, “He just wants to talk to me about—“ damn it, why couldn’t he think of something? Randy’s brows rose, “About?” he prompted and Evan’s cheeks blushed hotly before he then swallowed and said, “About the work I’ve missed.”

“Oh, the work that you missed… right. Is that why you’re looking so embarrassed right now? Because of all the work that you missed?” Randy asked, fighting to keep his voice from escalating, knowing that Evan was lying to him about something. And he was determined to find out what that something was.

“Randy, do calm down,” John said to him, letting his thigh brush against Randy’s underneath the table. 

“Yes, that’s all he wanted to talk to me about,” Evan told them, his eyes practically staring _through_ the table directly to the floor. 

“Evan… I’ve dealt with many, many people in my short life. And in my time as a prefect and now as Head Boy, I’ve heard many students lie as to the reason they’re out after curfew, so I know when I’m being lied to. I don’t appreciate it. At all. Especially coming from you. Don’t bullshit me, Evan.”

He couldn’t bring himself to look up to his cousin. He’d been carrying around this… this _thing_ with him for so long now, and he wanted to tell someone about what was going on, but he couldn’t. He simply couldn’t. The guilt that it brought him now would only be worsened by the shame anyone he told would lay upon him. 

Evan was going to be sick. Although his adopted guardians (Randy’s parents’) opinions meant a lot to him the one person whose approval Evan couldn’t help but feel off-balance without, was Randy. He hated knowing he’d disappointed his cousin and he was sure that that was what Randy would tell him if he opened up about his… unclean urges.

Pushing his untouched breakfast plate across the table Evan stood up again with a thickly mumbled, “Excuse me,” and had to actively fight fleeing out of the dining-hall and drawing attention to himself. Randy started to follow but John grabbed his thigh under the table.

“Let the boy alone, Randy,” John said firmly, shaking his head when Randy went to protest, “Can’t you see how torn up he is? You jumpin’ down the boy’s throat is not gonna inspire him to talk to you.” Seeing that his lover was looking mad John soothed, “I know you just want to help him, I know—you just need to learn to ease up a little.”

John knew that Evan wouldn’t be able to avoid the subject forever, no matter how much he intervened, and he found that thought reassured when he and Randy finished breakfast and headed to their first lesson to find Evan arriving almost last. The younger man had no choice but to sit by his cousin. Now, he’d usually do this but this time he seemed to have been attempting to avoid doing so. 

“Evan,” Randy said lightly when he took the seat next to him, “I hope you know that no matter what, I’ll always be there for you. You may be my cousin, but you feel like a brother to me.”

Evan nodded, fighting the strong urge to say that there was no way he’d want to be there for him if he knew what happened between him and Chris. “I know,” he said instead.

“And if _anyone_ has done anything to you… I can deal with them properly,” Randy added, his voice still low but his tone was threatening. 

“I know,” Evan said once again, praying for the bell to ring and for class to start so that he wouldn’t have to talk to Randy anymore. He honest to God didn’t know how much longer he could hide his secret from him, and Randy _knew_ when he was lying, so he knew it was only going to be a matter of time before he found out… and he knew that once he found out, he’d be out of his life forever.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame - Oscar Wilde

Ted took his seat in class, took out his pen and notebook and settled in. However, he couldn’t stop thinking about what Cody said to him just before class began. How he wanted to kiss him, but since he couldn’t, he would make it up to him later… Ted had no clue what that could possibly mean… He was certain, though, that he would enjoy it. And he also made up his mind that, later that night, he would attempt to return the favor of the previous night to Cody. 

One particular thought flittered through his mind during class, and that was what Cody might sound like when he was getting pleasured. When they’d kissed, Cody moaned while their lips were connected, and he couldn’t help but think that he’d make similar sounds if Ted’s hand was upon his cock. Although he had absolutely zero experience at doing anything of that nature, so maybe Cody _wouldn’t_ enjoy it… Cody had so much more experience with who knows how many other boys… What was he compared to all of them? 

Still, though, Cody (as far as he knew, anyway) had never told anyone _else_ that he wanted to kiss them in public… or that he was waiting to lose his virginity to them… He certainly _hoped_ Cody had never told that to anyone before. 

By the time the bell rang, Ted had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to have just learned. He didn’t retain a single piece of information during that class, as his mind was on Cody the entire time. Oh, well, he could get the notes from someone else. 

When Cody finished his lesson before his fitting he had been so tempted just to blow the whole day off. His grades were acceptable and his reputation with the school’s board of governors was helped along by his sparkling theatrical input, and so he wouldn’t miss much if he missed a class now-and-then, but he remembered Ted’s words when he expressed the wish to skip before… the expression on his now-boyfriend’s face had been enough to make him go to class, though he nearly sang Hallelujah when it was over.

Inside the dressing room Cody found himself faced with the one detestable piece of female clothing that he had actual reservations about wearing even for the sake of performance. “Mr. Matthews, really!” he huffed, “Why do I need to wear a corset?” He wondered whether it was strange that there was a distinct lack of blush on Mr Matthew’s face for any reason that would follow a straight man regarding the taboo of a woman’s undergarments. “You know why, Cody,” Josh sighed slightly as their wardrobe mistress began lacing the item up around Cody’s lean body; they had this conversation every time after all.

Pouting and sighing Cody merely grunted now and again if it became too tight (how did women go around in these every day in general, let alone when they had to eat?) before she finally deemed it acceptable. They really didn’t go halves on their costumes.

An under-slip, a petticoat, the over-skirt… and that was all before they got to the main dress. “Ok Cody,” Mr. Matthews said as he moved forward to help Cody out of the outfit they had managed, “We have your measurements so we can have your dress started on ASAP.” He chuckled slightly as Cody fake-gasped for air as the corset was taken off. At least, he thought it was fake. 

“Oh, that corset _really_ brings out your figure,” Mike said from behind Cody, startling the other teen as he turned his head towards the blonde. “I arrived a touch early for my fitting and just _had_ to come and see what they’ve got you in this year,” he explained, since his fitting didn’t take anywhere near as long as Cody’s would. 

“Mike, what a pleasant surprise.” Cody turned his head back to the front, rolling his eyes.

“Doesn’t it ever bother you that they’ve got you playing a woman year after year?” Mike asked suddenly, sitting on a stool. “Obviously they don’t think that you’re man enough to play a man’s role.”

“Is that what it is? Well, I would _love_ to see you man up and play the role of a woman on stage before everyone,” Cody countered. He’d gotten that a lot over his years. People found him attractive, yes, but many assumed that he would be easily taken advantage of, or that he would be an easy lay, simply because he often portrayed a woman onstage. But he knew that that was the farthest thing from the truth. 

Mike’s brows rose, “Oh, I’ll bet you’d just like to be the man for once, wouldn’t you Cody?” even though their banter probably meant nothing to the adults around them Cody was _well_ aware of the implications in Mike’s words. There was a part of him who wanted to bristle and almost did, but he prevented himself from showing it outwardly as Mike would deem himself triumphant.

“I can be the man whenever I like, Mike,” Cody said sweetly, “In fact I think I’d be too much of a man for you.” Ok, so Mike didn’t need to know that he was still a virgin in terms of actual intercourse, and that what was going to be said next would probably be complete and utter fabrication since he’d never experienced it.

For a brief moment Mike looked surprised, but then he moved closer to Cody and lowered his voice further so Mr. Matthews and the wardrobe mistress wouldn’t hear him. “I’d like to see you try, Runnels. Once you’d been with me you’d never be satisfied with anyone else.” Cody arched a brow, refusing to be cowed even though he was dressed in the female garments still, “There’s only one person who I am interested in, Mike—and his arse is much finer than yours.” 

“Oh, now, I highly doubt that,” Mike said instantly, though he really had no interest in ever laying Cody. 

“I hate to be the barer of bad news, but it’s the truth,” Cody replied. “You’ve got nothing on him, looks or personality wise. He’s the total package and you could only _dream_ to aspire to his level.”

“Please, you’re only saying that because you’ve never been with me… been with a _real man_ ,” Mike continued to goad him on. 

“Cody, we need you to try this on,” the seamstress said just then, cutting off any retort that Cody was going to shoot at him. So instead he shot him with his best glare before going to the block so he could be pinned up again as they needed to take in the dress to fit his figure in the corset. 

Upon finishing his fitting Cody was relieved to be out of the corset and feminine undergarments, pulling on his own clothing once more and looking as pristine as usual. Mike was now in the middle of his fitting and Cody made sure to throw a mocking kiss and wink at his ‘male lead’ before he headed off to go find Ted for dinner.

He was surprised though to find Ted already standing outside, apparently having been waiting for him. “Teddy?” Cody adjusted his satchel on his shoulder as Ted startled, smiling slightly at the other’s adorableness. “You needn’t have waited for me, I would have met you at dinner—you know the fittings can go on a while,” even though he said this Ted knew from the giant smile that Cody was delighted by his little gesture, “So, how was it?” Ted asked, moving into step with his boyfriend. 

Well, for starters, I’m pretty sure they’re trying to torture me,” Cody replied, swearing that he had felt his ribs cracking as they tightened that dreaded corset around him.

“What?” Ted asked, shocked. 

Cody merely chuckled, though. “They’ve got me in a corset. It’s tight as all hell; I don’t know how women can do it… But it really does add to the character,” he had to admit that at least, despite the fact that he didn’t want to wear it at all. And that was coming from someone who claimed he would do anything for the theatre. 

“A corset?” Ted asked. He couldn’t even begin to picture what Cody would look like laced up in a corset. But he imagined that it would be a glorious sight indeed. 

“Mmhmm. And god, they sure lace it up tight. It does look quite good on me, though,” he said as he leaned in close. “And I’d quite enjoy if it were _you_ taking it off of me.”

“R-Really?” Ted swallowed; he remembered seeing his mother in her corset as a boy, questioning her as to why she wore it. She had laughed as he had pulled gingerly at one of the numerous ties and expressed a fear as to whether he’d be wearing one when he got older—until she had explained they were for women, of course.

“Wouldn’t you like to take it off of me, Teddy?” Cody murmured, wondering (depending on Ted’s response) whether he would be able to steal the item away for a little while. “Yes,” Ted breathed a little hoarsely, mind only catching up to his mouth moments later as his cheeks went bright red, “I mean, that is to say, I—“ he stammered, afraid of offending Cody.

Cody, however, looked as though he had just been declared future King of England, and far from offended. Winking at Ted as they drew into the dining-hall Cody sighed, absently rubbing his side and murmuring, “I hope that this hasn’t crushed my stomach though, I need actual food not nibbles.” Ted listened to Cody’s usual inane mumblings with the same innate fondness he always did. 

~~~

When class did start Evan immediately had to push his own issues out of mind to focus on his classes; it was times like this when he was glad that he was so academically versatile as well as a sportsman.

Randy, meanwhile, was focused, but already deciding that he was going to have to follow his little cousin when he went to go and talk to Jericho later. Now, this would be productive in the two-fold: he’d be able to find out what was wrong with Evan, and he’d be able to kick Jericho’s arse within minutes if he found out that he had anything to do with it.

Seeing the look on his lover’s face John deduced that he was going to have to keep an eye on him; Randy was protective over his family, much like he was over him, and John didn’t want the other to get in trouble and jeopardise his lover’s nearly flawless record not long before they had graduation impending. Each were left to their own thoughts and when the class finally ended Evan gathered up his things as swiftly as he could.

“Why is he avoiding me?” Randy asked of John as he watched Evan scurry out of the classroom. “His behaviour is just far too strange,” he then said, truly worried for Evan now. 

John couldn’t help but be worried, as well. Evan was trying so hard to hide something from them both, and he was acting so strange about it. “Are you sure it’s all because of Chris and not a family issue?” John asked as he and Randy headed out of the room themselves. 

Randy raised a brow at that one. “A family issue? What? Do you think my parents are beating him or depriving him of his basic needs, or something of that nature?” he asked, somewhat insulted that John would even suggest such a thing.

“No, nothing like that. But he’s come back from this holiday and he’s even worse than before he left,” John said. 

“I’m telling you, it’s all because of Chris. I don’t know _what_ about him, but I promise you, I’ll get to the bottom of this.” And when Randy was determined, he was truly determined. 

It was dinner-time when Randy noticed Evan heading in the opposite direction to everyone else, undoubtedly making his way back towards his dorm-room. “Come on, John,” he muttered, giving a jerk of the head in the direction of his cousin. His lover’s brow furrowed slightly, “Randy—“ he really didn’t know whether spying on their friend was a good idea, but there was also something else that John had a problem with, “—we’ll miss dinner.” Randy rolled his eyes slightly, “ _Come on,_ John.”

As John went to protest again Randy said, “We can use my privileges to go down to the kitchen for something if we do miss dinner, so come on!” figuring that it was maybe safer for Evan and Chris if he did go along, John fell into step behind Randy as his lover casually but swiftly scaled the stairs. Chris opened the door before Evan had a chance to even get his key in, seemingly expecting it to be locked. Randy’s eyes widened as Jericho took his cousin’s wrist in hand, tugging him into the room and then swiftly closing the door behind them. “Randy!” John hissed as his lover went to listen at the keyhole.

“Shh!” Randy hissed as he put his finger to his mouth. He had to hear what was going on in there, and John was not going to stop him from doing just that. Turning his head, he attempted to look inside the room via the key hole, and while he couldn’t see much, he could see _something_.

“Evan,” Chris began, placing a hand on the younger teen’s shoulder (which caused Randy’s blood to boil), “is everything ok? You seem so nervous around me,” he said, moving his hand from Evan’s shoulder down his arm… and then back up… and down again, as Randy realized he was actually _stroking_ Evan’s arm. His eyes grew wide as he looked on.

“No, I… it’s…” Evan stuttered, a blush forming on his face as Chris’ hand continued its wondrous path up and down his arm.

“What is it?” John whispered when Randy looked to him. Randy waved his hand, gesturing for John to join him by the door. Sighing, he moved in and placed his ear against the door.

“I missed you when you were gone,” Chris’ voice was quiet but they heard every word since they were both so close to the keyhole, “I missed awakening and seeing your beautiful face…” Randy watched with mounting indignation and shock as Chris’ hands boldly moved down and placed themselves on Evan’s slim hips.

“Having your beautifully nubile body arched underneath me in the moonlight—“ John’s hand on his arm was the only thing stopping Randy from flinging the fucking door open and launching Jericho out of the nearest window by that ridiculous blonde-brown head of his. “Chris, please don’t—“ Evan couldn’t bear to hear those beautiful sinful words, images of their nights together flying to the forefront of his mind.

Randy started slightly as he watched as Evan and Chris both suddenly ended up on the bed, only Chris’ leg visible in the keyhole along with the bed edge. “I’m not going to let you run from us, Evan,” inside of the room Evan was staring up at Chris with wide eyes, stunned to see determination burning in the Canadian’s own, “I’d chase you to hell itself if I had to.”

Stepping away from the door, Randy looked… well he looked many number of things. “That blonde jackass is bullshitting him,” he rumbled as he paced near the room. “He’s using Evan for sex.”

“Randy, that didn’t sound like—” John began, about to say that Chris sounded sincere in what he was saying. 

“ _Of course_ it didn’t sound like bullshit. He’s obviously perfected his ways so that Evan would buy into what he was saying,” Randy argued, once more going back to the door to try and listen in. He still couldn’t see anything happening within the room now that they were on the bed, but he did see that a pile of clothes had formed on the floor next to the bed. 

“Oh, Evan, look at your body,” Chris said as he ran his hands down the lean, athletic form. “You’re such a handsome man.”

“Please, Chris,” Evan whimpered. What he was pleading for, though, he himself didn’t know. He wanted him to stop, because if he didn’t stop now, then they’d soon be doing much worse things, but at the same time, he _didn’t_ want him to ever stop, because it felt _so good_ to be doing something so wrong. 

To Evan’s utter despair though Chris did pull back slightly, “Do you want me to stop?” Randy tensed; if that meant what he thought it meant, that Chris had been intending to do things to Evan against his will, then reputation and future be-damned he would fucking _destroy_ the Canadian with his bare hands—and with a smile on his face at the same time.

Closing his eyes Evan fought back tears at his confusion and anger at his own inadequacy to decide one way or another. “No…” a solitary tear trickled from underneath his eyelid, Chris’ lips chasing it away gently. “But that’s the problem.” He forced his eyes open again and realised that Chris looked almost stricken above him, but determined at the same time, not moving, just as Evan’s body was refusing to recede from the sensation of Chris’ caresses.

“W-We—“ John’s eyes widened as he heard Evan’s next words, “Men are not supposed to be together like this, Chris! It’s a sin—“ Randy’s hand gripped his own and John saw his lover’s anger had melted into a rather horrified understanding. However, Chris’ reaction even had Randy hesitating over his previous assumption, “Whoever would be blessed to look upon our love and yet foolish enough call it a sin is obviously deluding themselves in their own loveless existence. _I love you, Evan._ I’d stand in _God’s face_ and declare it if you asked me, just don’t _push me away_ anymore.”

Randy stood and turned to John, blinking a couple times before saying, “I think we should leave.” John agreed with a nod. Once they were a fair distance from the room, in fact they were making their way to the kitchen to get some food, Randy muttered, “They’re lovers. I… I don’t know how come I never saw it before.”

“I never did, either. I just… I can’t believe how guilty Evan feels about it,” John said. All that time Evan and Chris had been together, and all that time Evan felt he was all alone, living in his world of sin. 

“I can believe it. His parents were horribly religious. My parents are religious people, but it’s nowhere near the extent of my aunt and uncle. He was raised under strict Roman Catholic rules. So being with another man in such a capacity, and finding himself enjoying the act only makes him feel more guilt about it.” He paused in his speaking briefly before saying, “I just wish that he’d come to me sooner. He always tells me everything; why didn’t he trust me with this?”

John reached and placed a hand on his lover’s shoulder, using the advantage of the empty corridor to draw the other into his arms. Randy sought the comfort that John’s embrace always provided him, guilty that all this time his cousin, his pseudo brother, had been suffering and he had been too blind to notice anything of the sort being wrong.

“I don’t know whether he’s really capable of talking about it,” John murmured softly into Randy’s ear as he held him, “Maybe he’s scared of what he believes you might say to him.” He knew Catholics were big on sin and guilt, but this? It was horrible.

“We should try and talk to him at some point,” John said, surprising himself with the determination in his voice, “We need to make him see that what he’s feeling isn’t wrong.” Randy drew his head back from John’s strong shoulder, seeing that Randy was looking at him confusedly. “Love isn’t a sin, Randy; out of everyone you and I know that better than most.” Randy nodded his head, knowing that if someone had told him he was sinful for loving John then he would have told them he’d rather burn with John then experience heavenly bliss without him. 

“I know,” Randy agreed. “Come on, let’s go back to my room,” he said, feeling so many emotions at the moment. He couldn’t help but feel guilty about listening in on the obviously private conversation between Evan and the man that _loved him_. And he still felt horrible that he hadn’t been able to help Evan out in his time of need. For so long he’d blamed in on Chris, but it wasn’t his fault at all. 

“Hey, Ran, we’ll talk to him, ok? You couldn’t have known,” John told him. 

“But I could have tried talking to him! I didn’t even _try_ to get to the bottom of his mood swings. I just said it’s Chris’ fault and left it at that. I mean, hasn’t he heard _any_ of the rumours about us?” he asked in a low voice. There were many rumours going around about them, and they’d heard them all, usually laughing them all off. Surely Evan had to have heard _something_ about how they were together. 

“One would think. But if he did, he probably didn’t think any of them were true, and that he was the only one feeling what he was feeling,” John reasoned as they neared Randy’s room. 

Randy still didn’t look convinced and John pushed the other to sit on his bed when they got inside of Randy’s room. Closing the door behind them John then moved so that Randy was sitting in-between his legs, John’s large hands going to the other’s shoulders and beginning to rub and knead them slowly but firmly. “Randy, you can’t keep blaming yourself for it,” he murmured into his lover’s ear, lips brushing the tender flesh fleetingly.

“You and I never really second-guessed ourselves” how could they? “But even you and I have had moments where we’ve considered letting one another go, haven’t we?” He didn’t like mentioning but it wasn’t something that either of them could especially deny; they had had the odd rather serious argument about it in the past, though they had always returned to one another in the end. Love could make you act ridiculously, but it was always so very worth it.

Deciding to try a different tack John said, “If you’re feeling guilty about not helping him beforehand then you can just help him now,” they all could do with reassuring Evan that there was _nothing_ wrong with what he was feeling, even though society might give the impression that there was something off with it.

Randy’s head hung down as he mumbled, “You’re right.” It was too late to go back and change everything that’d already happened, so he had to accept it as is. “We’ll just help him however we can.”

“Exactly,” John said, kissing Randy’s cheek. “How do you think he replied to Chris when he told him he loved him?” John asked then, still digging his thumbs into Randy’s tense traps. 

“Well… I hope that he was able to get past all his own reservations in order to reply in kind. Assuming he feels that way, anyway. And considering how awful Evan had been looking, I’d say that, yes, he does feel that way. John?” he said, pausing for a second.

“Yeah?” 

Randy turned his head enough to see the older teen’s handsome face. Giving him a smile he then said, “I love you.”

For a moment it was apparent that John had been expecting the other to say something _completely_ different, but as it was he obviously had no qualms at being told such a thing. “I love you too, Randy,” John assured his lover lowly with strong, sincere emotion and the pair exchanged one of the slow, tender kisses that anyone who knew them wouldn’t assume they were capable of at all, let alone with one another.

Flicking his tongue briefly over Randy’s bottom lip as their kiss broke John continued to massage the other’s shoulders, “Ok, so we’re decided? We can go and get Evan later and then have a chat with him.” Even if Evan hadn’t been his friend he would have wanted to help the other out just to stop the sheer despondency and personal loathing that had been present in Randy’s eyes before he had kissed the emotions away.

~~~

“You… you love me?” Evan whispered, looking deep into Chris’ eyes, his hand going to the Canadian’s face. 

“I do. Is that so hard to believe?” Chris asked. 

Evan shook his head side to side. “No. And I _want_ to love you in return, because I _do_. I really do love you. I just can’t,” he shut his eyes tight, trying to hold back his tears as the emotions finally came bubbling to the surface, “I can’t change overnight, Chris. What we have is a sin in the eyes of God.”

“Do you want to walk away from this, then? Is that what you really want? For us to be done for good because somehow our love is wrong? Because if you want me to walk away now, then I will never come back,” Chris told him. It’d be the most painful thing in the world for him to do, to leave Evan and never come back to him, but if he was pushed away one more time then he would live up to his word and walk away for good.

Thankfully, though, he didn’t have to as Evan rose his head up and met his mouth in a deep kiss.

Evan’s fingers curled almost desperately through Chris’ soft hair, accepting the skilful tongue into the depths of his mouth, his own coming to dance and twine with it. When they finally released one another’s lips Evan looked up at the other almost desperately. This time, however, he wasn’t going to comment about what a sin it was. This time he said: “Don’t leave me, Chris, _please_.” He knew his changing emotions confused the other but at the same time he couldn’t _help_ if his feelings conflicted with his stringent upbringing.

Brushing his lips over Evan’s plump ones Chris then extended three fingers towards the appendages. He bit his lip as they disappeared into the luscious mouth that was the focus of most of his dreams, feeling Evan readying them—knowing Evan was willing, wanting, what he was going to do with him. “I’m not going anywhere unless you ask it of me,” he promised quietly, “I meant what I said to you that night, Evan,” that night being the night they gave one another their innocence, “You’re mine, and I am yours. Nothing and no-one will ever take this from us.” Evan’s lips were taken in another kiss as the first fingers breached him.

As Chris slipped inside of Evan’s willing body and began moving his hips, he heard something from Evan that he’d never heard before. He said, “I love you, Chris,” as he wrapped his hands into Chris’ hair.

He instantly returned the words, so happy to finally tell Evan exactly how he felt about him. “I love you.” He didn’t know how it happened, but it certainly did. When they started the year out, they became good friends as they spent so much time in their room talking, Evan asking about Canada, Chris in return asking about England. From there things seemed to escalate to where they were now. And Chris knew that he simply couldn’t return to Canada unless something happened between them. 

Now that Evan had seemingly come to accept what they had, Chris never wanted to leave him again.

The small gasping breaths that emitted from Evan’s plump lips never failed to send shivers down Chris’ spine, and the occasional little mews and groans that Evan gave only fanned the fire of his ardour further. Sure, he had been involved with boys before but never once had he fallen to such the degree that he had for his Puppy.

Usually Evan abhorred the fact that people saw him as sweet and innocent, because even though he was, the context that they saw him in was that of a child and it drove him insane each and every time. “Chris—“ Evan’s amazingly flexible body arched up and Chris couldn’t help but thrust deeper in response; Evan was mind-numbingly flexible, more so than Chris had ever seen before. “Oh, God--!” Evan’s body started to tighten around him and Chris grasped both of Evan’s hands in his own and kissed the other soundly as they came in perfect tandem.

Pulling out of Evan’s body, Chris lay his own spent body down next to him. He placed a hand over Evan’s heart and rested his head beside him on the pillow. “Can you tell me how that can possibly be wrong?” he asked. “How is what we just did wrong? Being with you in every way, not just physically, feels so right.”

Evan honestly didn’t know how to answer that. Everything he ever did with Chris always felt so right while it was happening. And then the guilt at what they did just ate away at him. God was all knowing, he could see what they were doing. He could see how weak Evan was, giving into his body’s urges time and time again. But… but he _loved Chris_. He truly did love him he was coming to realize… and how could love in any form be wrong? Yet, in the eyes of God, it was. “I know, Chris… I know it does.”

“But you still feel that it’s a sin, don’t you?” 

“I… I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “I don’t want it to be. I don’t want to shame God, but I don’t want you to be disappointed in me because I… because I feel the way that I do.”

Cupping Evan’s cheek Chris made sure he was looking the other square in the eyes as he said, “Evan, I would _never_ be disappointed in you. Much like how we love each other you can’t help the way that you feel, if you feel that spiritually you’re conflicted. Just know that I am _never_ going to abandon you, or my feelings towards you, unless _you_ personally, told me to do so.” Evan nodded his head slightly knowing that Chris was being sincere to him, for it wasn’t in Chris’ nature to sugar-coat of change anything if he honestly believed it as such.

“I think we’ve missed dinner,” he commented lightly after they lay together, comfortably, Chris’ hands resting on his body and Evan feeling cherished in the other’s arms once more. “I honestly don’t care,” Chris confessed, “Because you’re more sustenance than any meal.” Evan sincerely doubted that that was true, but it was nice that Chris was thawing a little more in terms of his own emotions. Suddenly, Chris was struck by an idea, “Shall we go to the chapel later?” he requested gently, wondering if maybe just praying would make Evan feel better. The look of understanding he received was unnecessary but he kissed Evan’s forehead gently anyway.

~~~

In the dining hall, Ted and Cody (who was still going on about something or other), grabbed their food and made their way to their usual table where Windham was there with Justin, but Joe and Heath weren’t there yet. 

“Good evenin’!” Windham greeted cheerily. 

“Good evening, Windham, Justin,” Ted returned, nodding to them both before he took his seat. 

“Good Lord,” Cody stated as soon as he sat, “I’m famished! No one seems to realize how demanding the theatre is on one’s body,” he said. “I’ve missed countless meals and spend hours upon hours rehearsing my lines for a show that will only last two. It’s far more challenging than people think.” He began eating his dinner, and it really was quite good. Especially after missing lunch for his fittings.

“Don’t eat too much or you’ll never fit back into your costume,” Ted teased, earning himself a glare. 

“I’m sure you’d help him work it off though, right Teddy?” Windham asked with a deceptive innocence and Ted choked upon the steak that he had been in the midst of swallowing. Cody reached and clapped him forcefully on the back to dislodge it.

Gasping and a little watery-eyed Ted wiped his mouth with his napkin and narrowed his eyes, “Windham…” the warning was clear and the other looked innocently at him, as though silently enquiring as to what he was supposed to have said. “You know,” Heath’s voice sounded suddenly behind them and Ted and Cody both startled.

“—anyone would think you were trying to cover something up with the way you go on about Codes and Ted all the time,” the redhead arched a brow and Cody and Justin both had identical wide-eyed looks as _Windham_ actually blushed. The stocky teen tried to hide it with a scowl however, “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said, haste picking up when he realised Joe was heading their way, having just entered the hall. 

“You know, you’re making it out like you never give these two shit,” Windham said once Heath sat down, waving Joe over to their table (though he obviously knew where they sat by now). 

“Ok, ok, but they are rather easy targets,” Heath agreed, loving the way Ted would blush at anything. Cody, on the other hand, seemed to bask in the attention he received.

“Oh, what, do you think I should raise the bar higher, or something?”

“Maybe I do,” Heath said.

“What _are_ you two going on about?” Joe asked when he joined them at the table, mid conversation. 

“Heath claims that I tease Ted and Cody about being fuck buddies too much. And that I’m only doing it because I’ve got something to hide myself. I claimed that they’re just far too easy to tease. Plus look at the reaction it gets out of Teddy boy. What’s not to love about teasing these two?” Windham explained, chuckling as he did so.

“That’s true,” Joe agreed, though his words were a little absent. Windham regarded his best friend since childhood with a curious look and nudged him, “Are you alright, Joe?” the other blinked a few times, “Sure I am.”

Windham didn’t look totally convinced but then he figured maybe the other was just tired since he had obviously been kept back in class since he had arrived to dinner rather late. Ted looked at their small circle of friends and asked, “Can’t you find something else to amuse your time with?” the foursome opposite them all looked to one another and then shook their heads and answered in an unnerving tandem, “No.”

Whereas Ted gave a world-weary sigh Cody merely finished his meal and then looked to Ted, “Teddy, can you help me with my French homework?” before Ted could assure the other that of course he would help him with his work, Heath cut in with, “I should remind you both now that French Kissing is not on the syllabus.” Once more Windham, Joe, Justin and Heath started to laugh and Ted’s head hit the table with a worrying thud. 

“I don’t know _why_ you’re laughing, Justin,” Cody said, watching him crack up with his other friends at Ted and Cody’s expense. 

Instantly Justin stopped his laughter to glare at him. “Oh, you’re not going to go there again, are you?” he asked, to which Cody raised a brow. Yes, yes he would go there and not think twice about it. “You’re a horrid friend.”

“Oh, please, you love me. Not as much as you love, well, you know, but still.” The other boys at the table, including Ted, snickered at that. All of them knew at least something about his relationship with Wade. 

“I hate you. You see if I ever help you with your homework again,” he said, crossing his arms in front of his chest with a pout. Every one of the students their age came to him at least once throughout the school year for his help in some subject. And he was almost always able to help them. 

“Aww, but you wouldn’t want me to fail,” Cody countered, batting his lashes at Justin, Justin rolling his eyes in return.

“I’m sure I could be persuaded to let you stew for a week,” Justin threatened and for once Cody heeded the other; he knew Justin had the same frustrations of not being taken as a threat much like himself and as such they had a mutual understanding not to antagonise one another… where there were others about who joined in too, as displayed by Cody’s terrier-like-tenacity the night before.

The conversation moved to sports, and then family, with Joe most notably bitching about his father having still given him the cold shoulder over his fight the other day, and then other random things. It was then that Ted came to a realisation: he had never heard Joe, or Windham, expressing an interest in _anyone_ before.

Though he usually made a point of not interfering with other’s relationships as much as possible he couldn’t help but suddenly wonder whether they had all missed something about those two. Sure, Windham was a big buy, but he wasn’t unattractive, and Joe wasn’t unattractive either; and those were purely objective views of course since no one but Cody did anything for him. 

Ted mentally shook himself. Just because so many boys experimented with other boys at the school simply because there were _only_ other boys at the school, didn’t mean that either Joe or Windham were interested in said other boys. They could be interested in a woman. They had a sister school for all girls, and their schools would come together once or twice a year for a large dance, so it’s possible that they had met a young lady there. And their fathers were teachers, and other teachers here had daughters… But, then again, that might not be the case at all. 

“You look like you’re deep in thought,” Justin said to Ted, who apparently didn’t even hear him. “Ted?”

It took Cody elbowing him in the side to finally catch his attention once more. “Huh? Did someone say something?”

“Just that you look like you’re deep in thought,” Justin repeated. 

“I’m sure whatever he was thinkin’ about isn’t able to be spoken of in polite company, though,” Joe said, not even knowing that the subject of his brief daydream had been he and Windham. 

“Since when have you ever been considered polite company?” Windham asked of his best friend, turning the attention away from Ted for the time being.

Eventually dinner ended and the group all decided to head to their year’s common-room since they had a bit of time before curfew. Cody was walking alongside Ted, the pair of them at the back of the group. “Is anything wrong, Teddy?” Cody asked, thinking back to the other’s earlier behaviour and continued lapses of interest, “Hm? Oh, no, nothing’s wrong—I just had one of those strange thoughts wherein you wonder why it hadn’t hit you sooner, and I—“ Cody admittedly tuned out a little, just watching the way Ted’s mouth formed the words, those plump appendages making Cody’s own tingle in need. “Can we perhaps, maybe not, go and spend some time alone?” he requested of Ted quietly, sending the other a pleading look.

When Ted looked confused by the sudden request Cody reiterated, “I can hardly make it up to you with an audience, can I?” Although none of their friends would he shocked he knew that Ted would die if he asked him to kiss him before other people. Ted’s eyes widened in understanding and Cody watched as his throat convulse with a swallow. “We’ll see you guys afterwards!” Cody called ahead, not bothering to wait for anyone’s reactions as he grabbed Ted’s wrist and began pulling him along. He swore Joe shouted something, and from Justin’s exclamation it probably wasn’t a polite thing.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about - Oscar Wilde

“Did you want to go now? I mean… he must have missed dinner, so we can go and ask if he’d like to join us,” Randy suggested, anxious to go and talk to Evan as soon as he possibly could. 

“Well, umm, do you think that he’s had… sufficient time for… _everything_?” John asked. 

“Oh, you have got a point,” Randy agreed. He didn’t want to interrupt anything between the two of them, so he said, “All right, we’ll give them a while longer. But then we’re going to his room and dragging him along with us to the kitchen. Fair enough?”

“That sounds good to me. I’m starving,” John told him. 

“I’m amazed you aren’t still full from _last night’s_ dinner,” Randy said with a shake of his head. 

“Since my eating habits seem to boggle your mind maybe it’d be safer for you to not mention them?” John teased slightly and Randy made some return comment of ‘well now really, John, have you ever stopped just to take stock of what you eat?’ to which John replied with a casual shrug and a, “No, not really.”

Fifteen minutes later Randy couldn’t wait any longer and soon he and John were making their way back towards Chris and Evan’s room. This time though when his ear went to the door it was fleeting, and to make sure that the two inside were not still… otherwise engaged with one another. When it seemed that they were safe he took a breath and then sent John a small look, the other squeezing his shoulder reassuringly as he mustered the courage to knock.

“Thank you,” Evan whispered. “For doing this for me… for putting up with me.” He still felt so internally conflicted about what he was going through, and he was amazed that Chris was so willing to be there for him as he worked through it all. 

“You don’t have to thank me. I want you to be able to really, fully and truly appreciate what we have. If that takes time, then I’ll give you all the time in the world and not think twice about it,” Chris assured him. He’d never thought that coming to England he’d find someone that he truly cared about so much. Yet he did. And he couldn’t even imagine life without Evan. It’d be a dull place, indeed. 

He couldn’t help himself as he once again said, “Thank you.”

Chris and Evan had just finished redressing (reluctantly, trust me) when the knock on the door sounded. Evan froze like a deer in headlights and Chris wrapped his arms around his lover’s waist and kissed his cheek. To his relief Evan relaxed faster than he usually did when someone called on them together in the aftermath of their love-making.

When he saw his cousin standing in the doorway his mouth dropped slightly and he blushed despite himself, babbling a little until Randy merely shook his head and took his hand to pull him out of the room. “Come with me and John; we’re going to go raid the kitchens and I know an appetite like yours wouldn’t turn down free food.” He had been about to just leave when John cleared his throat and Randy reluctantly turned to Jericho.

Meeting Chris’ eyes, Randy said, “You’re more than welcome to come along if you’d like to, Chris.”

He glanced at all three of the men around him, then replied, “It’s fine. You three go along. I’m sure you’d like to catch up with your cousin anyway,” he said to Evan. It’s not that he didn’t want to go, but he knew that he wouldn’t be welcomed at all, and the atmosphere would be so tense that his going at all wouldn’t be worth the hassle. “I’ll see you later,” Chris added, flashing his lover a brilliant smile. 

Evan blushed, and he actually wanted to kiss Chris upon his cheek for letting him go spend time with Randy. He just hoped that things weren’t as awkward between them as it was at lunch earlier in the day. “I’ll see you later,” he said, hoping that their plans for later were still on.

John and Randy both gave a curt nod to Chris, which he returned before the Canadian shut the door and they began walking towards the kitchen. “Good god, I am famished,” John said after a brief while.

“I know you are, John. Do you think you’ll be able to make it all the way down to the kitchen without passing out from hunger first?” Randy teased.

“It’ll be close. You may have to carry me the rest of the way there.”

“Piss off,” Randy said. “I couldn’t lift your fat backside up even if I tried.” 

Evan couldn’t help but chuckle at the teasing taking place between the two of them. He was certainly in a better mood than he was when he had lunch with Randy and John, that was for sure.

When they reached the kitchen their cook made a bit of a palaver about the fact that they had missed dinner, but a sweet smile from John, a charming word from Randy and a totally natural puppy-dog eyed look from Evan was enough to have the woman relenting enough to let them make themselves some sandwiches and to have some of the leftover cakes and pudding from dessert. “I must be dreaming—“ a harm pinch to his thigh made him yip and jump, blushing as Randy innocently maintained he was proving to John that he was awake.

They all ate their fill, the conversation casual and light (food always put John in a jovial mood and John’s mood always affected Randy’s mood) and Evan reflected on how much he had missed his cousin and friend as well as his lover, despite all the time he had tortured himself about what they had going on between them. When they finished and left their plates neatly stacked on the side for the dish-boy, Randy then led the way out again, leading Evan towards his own room this time much to his cousin’s confusion.

“Evan,” Randy sat the other on his bed and sat beside him, looking the smaller man in the eyes. “Why couldn’t you tell me that—“ his voice failed and he looked to John for support, Evan’s eyes widening as John’s hand enveloped Randy’s and his cousin held it tightly. “Why couldn’t you tell me that you were involved with Chris Jericho?” his gut reaction was to lie like a trooper and deny it, but when Randy cupped his cheek and rumbled, “I know you’re in love with him, Evan,” he lost all will to protest the words. 

Evan’s mouth opened and shut several times, no words coming out. Randy knew. John knew. They both knew. He _finally_ managed to squeak out, “How?” And then words failed him again.

“I… I may have overheard some of your conversation,” Randy admitted, looking back to John. It wasn’t often that he showed signs of nervousness, but at that moment, he did. If Evan stood up and left his room, he wouldn’t blame him in the slightest. 

“You _heard_?” Evan repeated. “But…” his eyes grew wide, had Randy also heard the things that followed the confessions of love?

“I thought Chris was hurting you, and I needed to find out the reasons behind your depressed moods,” Randy explained, squeezing John’s hand even tighter. “I just wish you had come to me with this sooner, Evan.”

“So you _intentionally_ listened to Chris’ and my conversation?” he asked, hardly able to believe that his cousin would do that to him. 

“Yes, ok! I did!” Randy shouted, “But I did it because I love you and I care about you, and now I _know_.”

Tears welled up in Evan’s eyes; Randy invaded his privacy, listened in on one of the most intimate conversations he and Chris had ever had, and now Randy was going to tell him that he would burn in hell for committing such a sin against the Lord. “Yeah, now you know… And now you think I’m the most disgusting man walking the face of this earth, don’t you?”

~~~

“So, about that French homework,” Cody said as Ted shut the door to their room behind him.

“You want to... do your French homework?” Ted asked. Cody hardly ever wanted to do his work, he he’d been hoping for, well… a repeat of two nights ago.

“No. I’d like to go off the syllabus with that one,” Cody told him, pushing the blonde against the door as his eyes twinkled with mischief. 

Before Ted could even ask “What do you mean?” he had Cody’s lips pressed against his with the younger teen’s tongue making its way into his mouth. Hands grabbed at one another’s clothing as their kiss deepened, Ted becoming more confident as they went on, pulling Cody’s body close to his. 

Boldly, for Ted, his hands moved to Cody’s backside after the other’s tongue made this interesting maneuver in his mouth and the smaller teen mewed into his mouth and thrust his hips forwards a little on reflex. Ted moaned at the action and Cody’s hands buried in his hair, Ted feeling as though his heart might burst out of his chest as one of Cody’s legs suddenly wrapped around his thigh, their bodies aligning closer than before.

“So,” Cody breathlessly started when they reluctantly broke apart, “How’s my French homework looking?” Ted swallowed and licked his kiss-swollen lips, embarrassed and gratified as Cody’s eyes followed the action. “I think you could do with a little more practice,” he murmured and Cody had no qualms about being pulled in again.

To say they had made some progress wasn’t an understatement in Cody’s eyes; currently he was straddling Ted, and the other had allowed him to remove his school blazer and his silken tie, opening a few of the buttons on his shirt. It was most interesting that even though England didn’t always have the finest weather Ted managed to maintain a light tanned golden hue to his skin all year around. Of course the thought of Ted bearing his skin before anyone else made Cody insanely jealous, lips traversing his smooth jaw and neck, murmuring quiet words of adoration and desire that had Ted’s dazed mind spinning.

“Take my shirt off,” Cody whispered against that tanned skin. He needed to feel Ted’s hands upon his flesh that very instant. 

Nodding, Ted brought his trembling hands to Cody’s front. His fingers fumbled with the first button, and it took a long time (mainly because Cody hadn’t relented in his exploring in the slightest), but eventually he had most of the buttons undone. The last two were on his collar, and he popped those out, flipping up the collar, slipping it from underneath the tie. He pushed the shirt over Cody’s shoulders and it was soon tossed to the side, leaving Cody in his trousers and silk tie. God, he was beautiful, Ted thought as he let his hands make contact with Cody’s smooth skin (which was even more tanned than his own) for the first time.

Cody moaned softly at even the feeling of Ted’s hands on his back (he’d always had a probably unhealthy fascination with Ted’s hands) as the fingers splayed out, palms even hotter than his own flesh. “Cody…” Ted’s voice was breathless and rough and yet surprisingly awestruck at the same time, “You’re… so soft… like silk…”

Whilst the flesh might be soft underneath there was the undeniable masculine heat and strength that belayed Cody’s sometimes effeminate manner, and Ted found that the contrasts excited him greater than he had ever thought possible. The voice in his mind said he should pull back somewhat before he lost control and he panted, “Cody… we need… slow down…” Hearing the lacking of coherence made Cody shiver, hips grinding into Ted’s of their own accord, “We don’t have to go all the way, but let me make you feel good…”  
“Y-You do—“ Ted managed to say, and then almost came in his pants as Cody breathed hotly into his ear, “I can make you feel even better.” 

“Even… better?” Ted repeated. _How_ was it possible to feel _even better_ than what he was feeling already? When Cody began undoing his pants, though, he had an idea of how it was possible. 

Cody continued to kiss Ted as he worked on his pants, and he soon had his cock freed. “Ready?” Cody asked once he pulled out of the kiss. He gave Ted a wink before he scooted down the bed. Biting his lip as he took in the sight of Ted’s gorgeous cock, hard and leaking just for him, he couldn’t help but groan low in his throat. 

“Cody… What are you doing?” Ted raised himself up on his elbow and watched as Cody moved in and engulfed his cock in his mouth. That was all he saw, though, as his eyes squeezed shut as pleasure surged through his entire body at the incredible sensation of that warm, wet mouth around him.

~~~

“I bet they’re fucking on your bed,” Joe said, looking to Justin as he did, giving the South African native a smirk. 

“Joe, you’re disgusting!” Justin replied, absolutely appalled at the very thought. “Just for that I hope someone has sex in your bed,” he then muttered. Everyone else in their group laughed. 

“Do you really think that in the heat of the moment, they’d actually care which bed they fell onto?” Joe went on.

“I hate you. What makes you think they’re even doing anything remotely like that?” Justin asked.

“Why else would they need to rush off into the room unless they were gonna go have a quick shag, right?” Joe concluded. “In your bed,” he added.

“Joseph Hennig!” Justin cried. “You’re a bastard. I don’t know why I’m friends with any of you anymore,” he said. Of course, he found himself saying that at least five times a day. Although usually it was his own sex life they teased him about, so at least this was a slight change in tactics. 

The sad thing was though, that unless he broke his promise to Wade and started fooling around with boys his own age (and how could he do such a thing when he had Wade’s love as well as his lust?) that the only sex that would be had on his bed would be from the new couple. The thought was somewhat depressing for numerous reasons and so he made a point to force the thought from mind, the small group reaching the common room before long.

There was a multitude of other boys in the room, some sitting and talking in pairs or small groups, some were playing chess, doing homework or even just reading for leisure. Unofficially, since the rooms they possessed had been de-facto theirs since they had started school and they had used the same common-room, the choicest table in the room and its accompanying stools were used only by Joe and the entourage, though they weren’t completely beastly to people who sat there by accident… at least not the first time, anyway. “Poker, anyone?” Windham suggested with a smile.

“I’m game,” Joe agreed. They weren’t allowed to gamble as per school rules, not with real money, anyway, so they always used buttons. Whenever one of them found a stray button, they’d pick it up to add it to the pool to be divvied up during their games (once they had a winner, all buttons were returned to the pool to be used again). 

“Anyone else?” Windham asked as he began shuffling the cards. “I’m sure Cody would play if he wasn’t to busy taking Ted’s dick up his arse on your bed,” he added, turning to Justin, who scowled at him. 

“I’m going to go do my homework,” Justin told them, standing from his stool.

“Just don’t do it in your room unless you want to watch those two go at it,” Heath continued to tease. Once Justin left their table in a huff, he turned to the table and said, “Deal me in.”

Justin continued to glance back at his friends. He knew they meant well and were only teasing, but he had to admit that all this talk of Ted and Cody having sex on his bed was making him miss Wade something fierce. 

Eventually Justin couldn’t take it anymore and slipped out of the commons, Heath and Joe arguing with Windham across the room about him sneaking cards somehow, and so missing him leaving—not that they would have expected that he was doing anything more than returning to his room (which would spark comments of some sort of orgy) or going to the library to pick up a book before curfew.

However, once more he found himself walking towards Wade’s office. He knew he was pushing it, but he couldn’t help himself, and at least since it was late the chances were that he wouldn’t be interrupting anyone else’s meeting.

~~~

For several moments Randy didn’t move, staring at the other in disbelief. “What the hell?” he demanded finally, the words exploding from his mouth with such force that even John jumped. “Baby—“ Evan’s eyes widened at John’s words as Randy stood, looking suspiciously glassy-eyed himself, the other standing and obviously attempting to pacify the other, “Do you even really _know me_?” Randy demanded on Evan and the smallest of the trio looked beyond confused by this point. “How could you think I would say such a thing?” Randy’s chest was heaving by this point, breathing hard and looking close to having some sort of episode. “How could you think I would be so…”

“W-What—?” Evan spluttered slightly and then almost choked on thin air as John suddenly kissed Randy squarely on the lips, holding the younger man close to him. Initially his hurt and rage had Randy attempting to resist the kiss, but then the familiar firm warmth of John’s kiss had the fight seeping out of him as he curled into John a little. Evan was slack-jawed and staring; sure he’d heard whispers, but Randy was a good Catholic boy too, so he’d never even paid them much attention—especially not when he had been drowning in his own guilt.

“Calm down,” John chastised gently and Randy exhaled a deep breath before obediently nodding his head and then looking to his cousin and Evan felt intense shame welling inside of him as he saw the hurt in Randy’s eyes. “Why would I tell you that your love is wrong, even if it is for another boy, when I’ve been in love with another boy—“ his eyes moved to John, “—for years before you even considered such things possible?” Evan had right to be angry and upset, but now Randy did too, damn it, and they both had pretty volatile tempers even though Evan seemed sweet and harmless.

“How is it that _you_ expect _me_ to tell you about my feelings for Chris when you yourself never told me about you and John?!” Evan exclaimed. “I heard rumours, everyone has, but I never had reason to believe them!”

Randy couldn’t deny that, because Evan did have a point. “But John and I never had troubles coming to realize that we loved one another. You’ve let it affect everything in your life, and you _know_ that I care about you; you’re my own flesh and blood. You could have told me at least some of the reason that you were feeling so down instead of making me speculate over everything.”

“Is that the only reason that you never told me about you two? Because you never had any troubles, or was it really because you thought that I would go and tell Auntie about it?” Evan asked him. His aunt was far less strict about religious practices than his own parents had been, but he knew that she would never approve of her son being in love with another boy. 

A dark expression crossed Randy’s face and Evan momentarily felt bad before he pushed those feelings aside; Randy might not be as staunch a Catholic but they had the same values, he had every right to have expected the other to do so to him if he knew.

“We don’t feel the need to tell people outright,” this time, much to Evan and Randy’s surprise, John spoke. By his standards he had been unnervingly quiet and Randy forced himself to calm down when John sent him one of those looks that told him he needed to rein himself in before he did himself an injury, “It’s like you said, Evan: everyone whispers and speculates the truth about us anyway that we just let them get on with it.”

“And,” John continued after a moment, “I know you wouldn’t tell your Aunt, because you know what it would do to Randy, and me, to be separated, even if you hadn’t truly been aware of the nature of our relationship… you wouldn’t subject Randy to the suffering you’ve endured unnecessarily.” Before either Evan or Randy could react John pushed Evan into Randy’s arms, the other catching his cousin and then keeping the embrace as Evan clutched at him, curling into him like a frightened child as John murmured, “We can help: we understand.”

Evan nodded against Randy’s chest. He was so happy that Randy finally knew, but above all that he didn’t care that he loved another boy, that he was actually willing to help him along. “Thank you.”

“I am sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner, Evan. Because maybe if you’d known about John’s and my relationship, then you would have had an easier time with Chris. And I never would have had to believe that Chris was doing something terrible to you. I thought he was hurting you Evan, I didn’t know that he loved you,” Randy told him, his large hands pulling his smaller cousin into his body even tighter. 

“We’re here for you now,” John said. “Any time that you’re feeling uncertain about anything, you can come and find one of us.”

Raising his head off Randy’s chest a bit, he told them, “Chris asked me if I wanted to go to the chapel later. He said that we could pray together. Do you… do you think that’s a good idea?”

“If it helps you feel better about everything, then I see nothing wrong with it,” Randy answered. He was certainly no stranger to the chapel.

“Have you two ever…?” he couldn’t resist asking tentatively and Randy nodded, exhaling a breath, “We used to go there quite a bit when we were younger.” It was also like Evan had obviously expected: religious obligations, preying on morals, needing to be assuaged until finally they could _see_ that there was nothing wrong with the love they shared together.

“Can you forgive me for invading your privacy?” If it had been anyone else Randy probably would have neither apologised nor asked for forgiveness, because he usually didn’t believe he had done wrong the scant times such occasions of overhearing things had happened. This was Evan and the other meant as much to him, if not more in terms of familial bonding, than John did. Evan nodded his head immediately, “Of course,” he said honestly.

Every word Randy and John said he knew he could hold true because neither of them had reason to lie to him like this, especially not about something that could have them all in _very_ big trouble if anyone found out. After a few moments Randy said, “Why don’t you tell us how Auntie’s doing?” hopefully it’d ease the atmosphere a little bit.

“Auntie and Uncle are both doing well,” Evan told him. “And they can’t wait for you to come home again, because they miss their little Randal,” he had to add, teasing his cousin.

“And when I get home, they’ll be ready to send me to University in about two weeks,” Randy said with a grin. He loved his parents, really he did, but he managed to get on their nerves every now and again, just as they managed to get on his. However, they adored Evan. It was like the kid could do no wrong in their eyes, which was a fair assessment, really, considering he really was the good Catholic boy. 

“Well, yes, they say that, but you know that they really do miss you when you’re gone.” And they were gone a lot. Summer and winter holidays were the only times they went home. Randy and John had both been at the school from a very young age, and probably had seen more of their headmaster than they had of their own families. 

“Yes, yes,” Randy chuckled softly, looking to John, “You will come and stay during the holidays, won’t you?” sure, they wrote one another more than their parents considered normal (but never commented further than that, obviously) but it just wasn’t the same—and Randy couldn’t stand being away from John for so long, and vice-versa. Suddenly, Randy was struck with an idea, “You should invite Chris to the house sometime.” Evan’s jaw was not the only one that dropped. However, Randy had multiple reasons for why he wanted Chris around in a less stringent capacity and not just because it would cheer Evan up some more.

He wanted to give Chris ‘The Talk’ about what he would do to him if he ever hurt Evan, and he couldn’t do that in the school lest someone came across them. The reason he gave aloud though was, “You’ll miss each other being apart for so long, and you know my mum’ll be chuffed to pieces if you have someone over.” Evan didn’t often invite any sort of friend over.

“You actually think she’d be ok with me… inviting Chris over?” Evan asked.

“She really does think that your only friends are me and John,” Randy told him with a chuckle. “Come on, I have John over every year for weeks at a time. I don’t think she would mind at all if you had Chris come over.”

“Well… I suppose I can. If you don’t think Auntie would mind,” Evan agreed with a blush on his cheeks. 

“Good, good. And she’ll, of course, let Chris sleep in your room, so you won’t even have to worry about sneaking about to go get off,” Randy added, laughing as Evan’s jaw dropped to the floor once again. 

Rolling his eyes John smirked at Randy a little, “I thought you were going to have a tender moment together then.” Randy gave his lover a look and then cracked a bigger grin of his own as Evan spluttered. “You two are awful!” he finally managed to get out, hands covering his blushing face, though he was smiling despite himself.

It’d be so long since he had felt this free and at ease in himself, though that wasn’t to say he was suddenly completely Ok with everything because that _wasn’t_ true… he was just beginning to think now that maybe he’d cope easier, and now that his secret was out he felt as though a weight had been lifted from him and he could breathe easy once more.

“Is that… I mean…” Evan’s voice dropped to a whisper as he asked, “Is that what you do when John comes over?” Had his cousin and John really been together _like that_ for so long now, right underneath his own nose?

Quirking a brow, Randy said, “What do you think?” 

“How long have you two been together?” Evan then asked. 

Glancing at John, Randy began thinking. “Well… I remember back when we were about ten, a few boys one year older than us asked if we ever touched each other’s cocks,” he chuckled as he recalled the story. “I gave them this look like they were crazy, but after that the both of us were admittedly curious what it’d be like. So that was the first time we ever touched one another, when we were ten years old,” Randy admitted aloud for the first time to anyone. Evan was shocked.

“Ten?” Evan breathed and John nodded. He looked contemplative though for a moment before admitting, “The other stuff didn’t come on for about another year or two though.” Even though touching one another had been interesting they hadn’t really been _interested_ in such things until they had reached thirteen in John’s case, twelve in Randy’s.

~~~

 

“C-Cody--!” he convulsed slightly and Cody braced his hands upon Ted’s hips so that the other didn’t get too enthusiastic in his thrusting. Although he knew Ted’s inexperience was the predominant cause of his powerful reactions Cody liked to think he was at least a partial reason that aided that fact.

Even though he hadn’t deep-throated many boys in his time Cody knew that he _wanted_ to do that for Ted. He wanted to feel that beautiful cock all-but suffocating him in masculine musk and pressure. From his vantage point between Ted’s thighs he could just make out Ted’s flushed, pleasure-clouded face, a hand covering his mouth and muffling the moans and cries he was giving.

Both of his hands fisted into double-knots in the covers though, crying out lowly as Cody’s throat suddenly fluttered around him and he popped into a sitting position faster than a champagne cork popped from a bottle, eyes bugging. He was _down Cody’s throat_ , could feel the other _swallowing around him_ for God’s sake! 

Ted couldn’t handle it. It felt too good. Too damn good. “Oh, oh, _fuck_ , Cody!” he whimpered, trying to warn Cody of what was to come. 

Still, Cody didn’t move. Even when he _knew_ that Ted was just mere seconds away from coming, he held strong. He was gagging, but not as much as the first time he ever attempted this, and he’d gotten _much_ better at swallowing now that he knew what to expect when the cum filled his mouth. 

“Cody, I’m- Oh God!” Ted cried. His back arched up as he began to come, his eyes squeezing shut as Cody _continued_ to suck his dick, not once relenting in his actions. His body twitched a few times from the force of his orgasm before he finally began to calm down, and only then did Cody release him. Ted swore that he could come again as Cody grinned at him, saliva and cum shining on his lips. Now he was more certain than ever that he had to return the favour of the other night for him.

It shouldn’t have been so arousing to see his seed on Cody’s lips, but it was, and Ted found himself nearly yanking a breathless and smug Cody up his body almost by his ears so that he could plunder that wicked mouth. God, how was he ever going to be able to do anything ever again with Cody sat there, now that he knew how that mouth tasted and felt? Cody distracted him enough when he _spoke_ , but now whenever he saw him he was just going to imagine him all flushed and swollen-lipped like he was then.

Hoping that Cody was gaining pleasure from his kiss alone –since he really had no idea how his technique for what he was going to attempt next would be like- Ted slid his hand down to Cody’s groin. The younger teen was almost startlingly hard and Ted found himself momentarily apprehensive before his hand then delved inside of Cody’s trousers and wrapped around the swollen, and _lord_ throbbing and leaking cock within. The sound that emitted from Cody’s mouth had Ted shivering with arousal once more even though he’d just cum moments before. 

“Holy shit,” Cody groaned before swallowing hard. He’d been dreaming of this moment for a long, long time now. Yes, he’d received hand jobs from others many times in the past, but they weren’t the boys he fantasized over. Ted was. And now he actually had Ted’s hand wrapped around his cock. He didn’t care how tentative his motions were, all that mattered was that it was _Ted_ whose hand was stroking him. 

“Is it… is it good?” Ted asked, uncertain about everything he was doing. 

“Far better than good,” Cody told him. “Goddamn,” he then muttered, finding that he was enjoying how unsure Ted was about it all. He knew that Ted had never actually touched himself, so all of this was new to him, and he considered himself honoured that he was actually the one that Ted was figuring all of this out on. “Keep going, Teddy, keep going,” he pleaded. 

Eventually Ted had to pull Cody’s pants down further because he just _couldn’t_ get a rhythm going in the small confine of Cody’s dress-trousers. Being confronted by the sight of Cody’s hard cock momentarily had his mind short-circuiting though, and he swallowed and licked his lips reflexively; an image that didn’t help Cody in the slightest because he was imagining those lips wrapped around him. He tried to muffle his whimper of pleasure, of need, but Ted heard him regardless.

Now, DiBiases were logical people (as his father constantly reminded him) and they always thought things through, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t be slaves to their own urges… and Ted’s urge right then was to have Cody inside of his mouth. In his hand had been amazing, but it just seemed so _unfair_ given all that Cody had done for him in terms of their limited sexual experience together. Pushing away his unease and lacking self-esteem regarding technique, Ted then licked Cody from base to head. 

“Teddy!” Cody gasped, watching the sight unfold before his eyes. Teddy was _down there_ and had actually _licked_ his cock. Was he dreaming? He was positive that he was dreaming, because these were the sorts of things that drifted into his mind nightly as he slept. 

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked, unsure that if the use of his name had been a good thing, or a bad thing. 

“No. Not at all. Please, do that again,” he begged, moaning when Ted actually did. He actually felt Ted’s tongue on his cock. It was unreal. And he needed more. “You feel so good, keep going, _pleaseeee_ ,” he encouraged. “So much better than I imagined you would feel.” And, boy, he imagined it a lot. 

~~~

Justin slipped through the halls, knowing that he wouldn’t get in trouble then, because it wasn’t curfew yet, but it would be soon. Still, he _had_ to go see Wade. He reached the man’s office, Ms. Wilson having already left for the evening, and knocked on the large oak door. 

Upon hearing the knock, Wade glanced up. He thought it was Ms. Wilson coming to inform him that she was leaving for the evening, but he glanced at his clock and saw that time was long past. He had been so caught up in his work that he completely lost track of the time. He wondered who it could be at his door at such a late hour and called out, “Enter.” 

Opening the door, Justin slipped inside and shut the door behind him as he greeted, “Good evening, Sir.”

Wade stood and took just a few strides over to the young man. He placed his hand on his cheek and asked, “Is everything all right?” as he stroked his thumb over the cheekbone. 

Uncaring as to how ridiculous he might sound Justin sighed and closed as his eyes at the touch of Wade’s lightly calloused thumb as he responded, “It is now.” Wade’s eyes flickered slightly in concern, thumb stopping its motions as he used both it and his forefinger around Justin’s chin to tilt the African’s head up.

“Justin, what is it? What’s wrong?” the young man didn’t look upset, as could sometimes happen if he was aggravated (Justin was a tender-heart and a people-pleaser, emotions on his sleeve more often than not) in fact, he was actually smiling up at him. The sight of that beautiful smile on those plush lips made him smile back slightly, relief flooding him as he murmured, “There’s nothing wrong, I just…”

Unbidden his eyes flickered down to Justin’s lips as his tongue fleetingly brushed over the appendages to wet them, “Just?” Wade prompted quietly and Justin met those dark eyes, his and Wade’s combined breathing making his wet lips tingle, “I just _had_ to see you so badly that it _hurt_ ,” Justin confessed.

“You know that you shouldn’t be out so late,” Wade told him, though he pressed a quick kiss to those delicious lips anyway. 

“I know, but I missed you. I miss feeling your body against mine, and feeling your hands running all over me, and your lips upon mine,” Justin said to him. 

Wade gave a slight nod. He missed Justin terribly, and they would many times go for days without seeing one another aside from morning assemblies and meal times. But they wouldn’t have the chance to talk to one another, hell, they hardly had the time to look at one another. “I’ve missed you, too… This Friday, will you come here and spend the night with me?” Wade asked.

Justin’s eyes grew wide. In all his years here, he had never slept in Wade’s private quarters. They made use of it, yes, but Wade never allowed him to sleep with him, spend the entire night with him. “Yes,” he answered, his hesitation only because he was so shocked to hear that question coming from Wade.

A small smile of genuine pleasure at the agreement made its way across Wade’s lips, a hand sliding through Justin’s neatly styled dark hair and messing it up. He could never help himself when it came to messing with Justin’s hair; there was just something about the angelic perfection that he needed to besmirch.

Never in a bad way though, never in a bad way. Though he wasn’t exactly rich he was comfortably well-off, both through his own work and inheritance, but Justin meant more to him than anything else upon God’s green Earth and he’d rather slit his own throat than be the cause of his upset. “Will that tide you over until then?” Justin almost snorted but held himself in check; God-forbid he accidentally offended Wade after such an amazing offer.

“Three days on just a promise? I’ll die.” Wade’s brow arched and an almost amused purr took over his voice, “I think I’ve been spoiling you too much… you’ve become greedy.” For a moment Justin looked stricken, but when Wade pulled him closer to his body, taking up all of Justin’s vision with his handsome face, he immediately became relaxed once more, “I like it.”

Smiling up at his guardian and lover, Justin let his hands curl into Wade’s jacket. “You know I can’t help but be greedy when it comes to you. You’re my lifeline,” he said. The both of them knew that was the truth. Without Wade, Justin would have had nothing, would be nowhere right now. But because of Wade, Justin was able to get an education and was now head and shoulders above the rest of the boys in his class. 

“I want to be greedy about you, too,” Wade admitted. “When I see you with your friends, I want to go up to you and snatch you away so that _I_ can be the one spending time with you.”

“Well, right now there’s only you and me.” Justin brought his hand up to cup Wade’s strong, handsome face. “And right now… you can be as greedy as you want with me.” With those words spoken, he raised himself up on tiptoe and met Wade’s lips with his own, groaning as he felt Wade’s hands tighten in his hair.

One of his hands traced down Justin’s back and cupped the luscious backside Justin possessed, cupping a taut cheek through the material of Justin’s pants and lifting him off of the floor. Justin actually squealed into the kiss in surprise before his legs locked of their own accord around Wade’s waist, ankles linked atop Wade’s own backside. A few strides had Justin braced against the door, Wade ravaging his mouth with a fiery, passionate greed.

Justin knew that the door was locked (he vaguely registered the click as his back connected with the door) but that Wade would want to make sure they could right themselves if someone did need to see him. Wade meanwhile was trying hard to rein himself in for the kissing (and admittedly a bit of touching-up) because he was ever so conscious of the fact he could have both of their trousers down with little effort, and that if he did such a thing he would be able to fuck Justin against the door. Again. They still needed to fix the study door at home, actually.

Breaking off the kiss, Wade rested his forehead against Justin’s as he said, “I love taking you like this.” That was no exaggeration, either. Not that he didn’t love taking him in his bed at home, or in his bed here, there was just something he truly enjoyed about holding up Justin’s weight as they fucked. 

“I know you do,” Justin told him. He loved it, too. It showed him just how strong his lover truly was. And that strength and power just attracted Justin to Wade even further, if that was at all possible. “So, what exactly are you waiting for?” he purred into Wade’s ear.

Growling low in his throat, Wade took little time in undoing Justin’s belt to yank his trousers down, exposing that firm ass he’d come to know so well.

Justin braced himself against the door as Wade needed both hands to undo his own belt, freeing himself from the confines of the dress-pants and his undergarments. Wrapping one arm around Justin to support him once more, Wade then growled out as Justin took only two of his fingers into his mouth, “I _was_ going to leave you with the ability to walk normally tonight…”

Releasing the two saliva-slickened digits that were all he wanted as prep, Justin breathed, “Who wants to walk normally when I can go to bed still feeling you inside of me?” Well, _shit_ … Wade made sure that Justin was stretched, but apparently it was rather swift, though Justin didn’t seem to mind. A single roll of his hips later and Justin’s back was thudding dully off of the door, biting down on his own knuckles and tasting blood to muffle a pleasured cry.

“Oh, God, _yessss_ ,” Justin hissed. He welcomed that pain that accompanied the initial entrance, always savoured that ache that would soon turn into the most pleasurable feelings he would _ever_ experience. Everything about Wade felt _so good_. And the man was all his.

Keeping one hand on Justin’s hip, Wade brought the other up and gripped the hand that Justin had been biting. He then slammed their joined hands against the door, crushing their lips together. Thrusting his hips, he managed to rattle the thick hardwood door on its hinges as Justin’s back hit the door over and over. If he wasn’t careful, he’d have to have someone in to repair _this_ door, as well. 

High-pitched moans and whimpers were being swallowed by Wade’s mouth in their kiss, Justin’s hand gripped in the Headmaster’s well-gelled hair as his other reflexively squeezed the larger one that was pinning his own to the door. The wood was smooth and cold, making his own body feel that much hotter.

“Angel, you feel so good—“ Wade couldn’t resist panting raggedly when their mouths separated, Justin convulsing slightly in pleasure at the words and causing Wade to grind his teeth to hold in a low moan. “I… Wade… I—“ Justin tried to get enough air into his lungs to speak, the dull, rhythmic thudding of their bodies continuing as Wade thrust into him. “Oh, God, Wade, _I love you_!” those words incited Wade to thrust harder yet.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last - Oscar Wilde

“You imagined me?” Ted asked, rather dumbstruck, before he returned his attention to what he had been doing and wrapped his lips tentatively around the swollen head of Cody’s cock. “Yessss!” Cody hissed out between his teeth as he arched his back, unable to help thrusting into Ted’s mouth. Mercifully he hadn’t been too far into the other’s mouth so he didn’t cause him to gag, but Ted hastened to hold his hips regardless.

“Oh, God, so often—“ Cody had a feeling his words were feeding Ted’s confidence and tried to keep going as that luscious mouth began to suck on him, softly and shyly, but amazingly. “—I’ve imagined getting detention and having you sneak in, underneath the table and sucking me off even with the Prefect or teacher overseeing it being there, just unable to see you…” 

Ted’s head raised back up as he met Cody’s eyes. “ _What_?!”

Shrugging, Cody gave Ted a grin as he said, “It’s just something that I think about happening… a lot. “It doesn’t mean that you have to ever do that, though,” he made sure to add. They’d only just started together, and he didn’t want to scare Ted off with one of his more innocent fantasies…

“You… you really do that? Think about me doing that, I mean?” Ted asked, looking somewhat awestruck. Cody was the most attractive boy he’d ever seen, and he knew that Cody could have anyone he wanted. So the fact that _he_ was the one filling Cody’s thoughts amazed him. 

“Ted, I _never_ think about anyone else when I think of things like that.” And that was the truth even though he wasn’t trying to overwhelm the other with the knowledge. “It’s only ever been you, and I only ever _want_ it to be _you._ ” He sent up a prayer to the heavens that Ted would believe that regardless of whatever he had actually _done_ in the past because Ted _was_ only the one boy on his mind.

Licking his dry lips to wet them and swallowing hard Ted took the other back into his mouth and began to suck much firmer; they would have to discuss this at another time when Cody wasn’t looking at him like that, so desperate and needy. “Oh, _fuck!_ ” what Ted lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm. 

Ted had _no idea_ what he was doing. But he figured, by the noises and sounds Cody was making, that he was at least doing something right. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do what Cody had done, take the entire cock into his mouth, so he hoped that this would be just as satisfying for him. He didn’t know how he could compare to the other boys that had come before him, but Cody told him that he was the only one for him, so he was bound and determined to prove to his younger friend that Cody was, in turn, the only one for him. 

“Oh shit, Teddy. Oh, that’s it,” Cody moaned, encouraging Ted on further. Goddamn, he needed this bad. To finally have Ted’s mouth around him, _goddamn_! Even though there was no real rhyme or reason to his actions, he knew that this was the first time Ted ever had a cock in his mouth, and that thought _alone_ brought him closer to his orgasm. “I’m so close, Teddy,” he warned. 

He didn’t know how he would do if he attempted to swallow the same as Cody had done to him. And he wasn’t sure if he was quite ready to try that yet. He continued to suck a bit, but soon he resumed licking along the underside and over the head of Cody’s cock, continued mumbles coming from Cody about how close he was. And when Cody finally _did_ spill over, Ted found his face covered in Cody’s seed, a bit of it having gotten into his mouth. Glancing up at Cody, he licked some of the cum off his lips, a nervous look in his eyes, silently asking him if it was any good.

The unspoken question was answered when Cody sat up as much as his sated body would allow, hands cupping Ted’s neck before he leant in and began _licking his own cum_ from the startled Ted’s face. A soft gasp left Ted as he felt Cody’s tongue against his skin, though he wasn’t sure whether it was that sensation alone that was affecting him so or whether it was the knowledge that Cody tasted himself and didn’t seem to mind even slightly that he was doing so. The only sounds heard in the moments that followed were harsh breaths, soft murmurs and rather awestruck whispers.

When Ted’s face was clean Cody murmured, “That was amazing. The best thing I have _ever_ experienced.” Hm, so it appeared his cock wasn’t the only thing that had been stroked by Cody’s mouth that night—his ego was getting its fair share too. Skin sticky, and flushed, but feeling proud and relieved by what he had accomplished that night Ted flushed a little more anew and shyly murmured, “Really?” Oh, please let it be true.

A deep kiss on the lips had him tasting Cody both in his mouth and his lover’s and the taste almost had his eyes rolling up in ecstasy. “Really,” Cody assured breathlessly when their kiss broke. They remained twined together for several long moments before they got up and redressed enough to be decent before the eyes of others as they went to wash, before returning to their room to get changed for bed. There was a smile on both boys’ faces and neither of them could temper the action even slightly, little looks being exchanged both when the other was looking and when they weren’t looking, both generally feeling euphoric. 

~~~

“I love you, too,” Wade told him, not once slipping in his pace. “I love you so much.” He then brought his lips to Justin’s once again, hearing the gasp from his young lover as he thrust into him hard. 

Wade knew that he was close, and the way that Justin was clenching his ass around him, and those sounds that were coming from that mouth, Wade knew that Justin was close, as well. Justin’s hand tightened in his hair and his head dropped back against the door, a loud moan escaping him. 

“Wade!” Justin cried, his hips moving back and forth as he pushed his head and back hard against the wall. “Oh, God!” 

A few more thrusts and it was over for both of them; Justin’s cum coating Wade’s shirt and waistcoat bottom, staining the dark fabric with pearlescent liquid, Wade’s own cum filling Justin so intimately, making him shiver as they both continued to gasp in the aftermath of their high.

“Oh…” Justin sighed softly in pleasure, then whining softly in minor discomfort and severe displeasure when Wade eased out of him and was setting him down. Justin was forced to grab the door-handle when his legs gave way a little, Wade’s gentle, firm hands adjusting his clothing until he was dressed once more. It was only when Justin gained some coherency that he blushed afresh, catching sight of Wade’s clothing, “Oh, damn, Wade, I’m sorry—!”

Chuckling as he looked down and saw the stains on his clothes, he said, “It’s fine, Justin. It’s not like it’s ruined forever. I do have other articles of clothing, you know, and this will wash out.” He paused, reaching out to once more run his hands through Justin’s mussed hair. He then went on, saying, “Besides, you know how much I love feeling your seed on me.”

“But it’s not even on _you_ , it’s on your clothes,” Justin said sheepishly. 

“That doesn’t matter,” Wade assured him with a smile. “You should probably go and freshen up a bit,” he said, knowing that Justin would need to be getting back to his dorm, but there was no way he could walk through the hallways looking like he did. Everyone would know what he’d gotten up to, even if they didn’t know with whom, and that wouldn’t be good for either Justin or Wade’s reputations. 

“I can’t wait until Friday night,” Justin whispered, pressing a kiss to Wade’s lips before he headed to the en suite bathroom (with a slight limp to his walk, Wade noticed with pride). 

When Justin came back his clothing and hair were fixed, although as a testament to Wade and what they had done his hair was nowhere near as neat as it normally was. Moving into the circle of his lover’s arms, Justin leant up for a final kiss, his hands cupping Wade’s cheeks and their foreheads resting together afterwards. “I love you,” Justin murmured again and Wade squeezed his middle, “I love you too,” he assured the younger man, and he meant every single word he spoke.

Eventually they were forced to part-ways, Justin walking with as much spring in his step as he was able with his backside having been so blessedly pounded like it had, a smile on his face. He noted that there was still some time left before curfew and since he didn’t want to interrupt whatever Cody and Ted might be up to yet (Cody would slaughter him and Ted would probably die of mortification) he decided to go and hang around with his friends for a little while longer. If any of them noticed something off with his appearance none of them commented; but that was probably because there were other boys in close proximity.

Noticing that Ted and Cody were dressed and were preparing for bed in the joint bathroom, Justin excused himself from the poker table, where he’d been observing Joe’s pile of buttons grow larger and larger, while Windham’s grew significantly smaller. Heath had been knocked out of the game before Justin even arrived back from his visit with Wade. Heading into the room he shared with Ted and Cody, Justin grabbed his toothbrush and paste and made his way out to the bathroom. “You know you two need to stop looking at each other like that,” he muttered.

“Huh?” Cody asked, looking at Justin in the mirror.

“That look that makes it look like you’re about to pounce on Ted’s cock,” Justin told them, causing Ted to sputter around his toothbrush. “It’s one thing to do it when you’re alone, but you’ll have to work on that in public.”

“Oh, hello, you two,” Windham said, clasping his hands on both Ted and Cody’s shoulders, cheery smile on his face despite losing the poker game. “You two done fucking in Justin’s bed, then?”

“Here, there’s a thought,” Cody pretended to look contemplative and Justin made a sound of alarm before swinging a hand out at Windham who ducked underneath the blow with a big grin on his face. “You utter bastard!” the African boy huffed, resuming brushing his teeth as he glared at Windham in the mirror, seeing that Ted looked equally embarrassed whereas Cody still had that frightening gleam in his eye. Justin suddenly had a horrible feeling that Cody was going to use the threat of fornicating on his bed with Ted if Justin didn’t spill the beans about dalliances with Wade from then on, or if he withheld his homework help.

“’Ere,” Joe and Heath decided to join the little gathering in the bathroom after a few moments, no doubt having been arguing over their buttons, and Joe looked contemplative as he stood beside Justin and looked across to his friends, “Who’s wearing cologne?” Ted was sure only he and Cody were the only ones who noticed Justin twitch and a small expression of panic crossed his face as he just-slightly increased his speed of packing away. “Cologne?” Heath asked, “Not me,” Windham responded in kind, trying to scent the air himself. 

“I’ve no idea what you’re going on about,” Justin said as he grabbed all his things to try and tried to get out of the bathroom.

“Hey, wait a minute. It’s _you_ ,” Joe said as Justin walked past him. “Why’re you wearing cologne?”

“And trying to deny it?” Windham questioned, then smirked as he watched Justin’s face grow red. “Come on then, did you go have an illicit affair with someone?”

“No!” Justin protested. 

“It smells like Headmaster Barrett,” Joe then said. And he’d been to see Barrett on numerous occasions, so he would certainly know. 

“Fine… the last time I had to go and see him, I asked if I could take some of his cologne. He asked if I wasn’t a bit too young to be wearing cologne, but I said that I was nearly an adult and if I wanted to wear cologne I should be allowed. So I put a little on earlier,” he said. It wasn’t a total lie, as he _did_ have some of Wade’s cologne, but he didn’t exactly _ask_ to take it, he just… took it. And he hadn’t put any on tonight, no, that all came from Wade himself.

~~~

Curiously Randy then inquired, “When did you and Chris first do something together?” Evan went redder than before and that made the older boys most definitely interested now. “Well, um,” Evan bit his lip remembering the time he and Chris had happened to be locked out of the school by accident, when it had begun raining, and how they had been forced to huddle in one of the sheds together in an attempt to preserve their warmth, and… “It happened a few months ago…” he started.

He began to recall the story, finding it somewhat therapeutic to actually tell someone about what happened between he and Chris. He thought back on that moment a lot when he was alone, how they had rushed off to the shed, laughing as soon as they got inside. “We started off, you know, just sitting there together, soaking wet… then we looked at one another, and the next thing I know, we were kissing.”

“And is that when you started to feel guilty?” Randy asked. 

Evan shook his head, “No. We did some more _things_ … he, um, he—”

“Sucked you off?” Randy supplied, seeing how Evan was struggling with the words. 

“No! No, he didn’t do that! He touched me and made me come with his hand,” Evan finally managed, his face beet red. 

“You’re so cute, Evan!” John gushed, trying to ease the atmosphere a little bit and to see whether he could make Evan turn even redder than he was already. Evan spluttered slightly and then choked on his own words as Randy asked, “Did you touch him back?” Suddenly sheepish Evan shook his head, “No… I was just so overwhelmed by what had happened that when I—I thought to you know, do something back, Chris said I didn’t have to do such a thing.”

It wasn’t that Chris _hadn’t_ wanted Evan to do anything like that with him it was just that he hadn’t wanted to rush the other. However, from that moment on, Chris’ subtle and continued seduction took place and Evan found himself falling in love with the other more and more. “The guilt came after, but now… a lot of it was, well, guilt towards keeping it a secret, but also…” Randy nodded in understanding; because of what they were taught.

“Evan, Mum always says that all things happen for a reason, right? And that God will always love you no matter what… That’s how I look at things with John. He and I were meant to find one another, meant to be with one another, just like you and Chris were meant to be together. God wouldn’t have put us here if that wasn’t what He intended to happen,” Randy told Evan. 

“You really think that?” Evan asked. He wanted to believe what Randy was telling him, because he loved Chris, yet he had an obligation to God to live his life according to His law. 

“Of course I do. In fact, once I realized that I loved John, I began thanking God each morning and each night in my prayers for bringing us together. Because everything happens for a reason,” Randy repeated, running his fingers through John’s hair.

Crisis’ of faith were not to be treated lightly, that much Randy knew, and that was why he had discussed the change in his spiritual outlook with his cousin. The quiet moment between the three of them was interrupted when the clock on the windowsill began to chime and Evan stood hastily, “I need to get going.” Curfew wasn’t long off and they still had to go to the chapel together; he didn’t want Chris thinking he’d changed his mind.

“Go ahead,” Randy said, then startling only a little when he found himself with a lap-full of Evan as the other hugged him tightly. “Thank you, Randy,” Evan mumbled into his cheek and Randy hugged the younger man tightly in return. “It’s Ok,” he assured, though they all knew those words meant more than just the thanks he had received being Ok. When the door closed behind Evan, Randy sagged somewhat, John’s arms going around him immediately, a kiss being dropped to his forehead.

~~~

“I thought you’d run off somewhere,” Chris said from his bed where he’d been reclining against his pillow up against his headboard, reading. 

“Oh, no, Randy and John just dragged me to the kitchen, then back to his room to talk,” Evan told Chris, though he wasn’t sure if he should also tell Chris that they now knew. He supposed he probably _should_ , since if Chris from out from one of them that they knew, it probably wouldn’t be good.

Smiling at him, Chris said, “Well, it must have been nice catching up with your cousin and friend. What did you three talk about?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Well, umm, Randy wanted to know why I’d been so down recently.” Evan bit his lip and looked down at the floor, deciding that, yes, he would tell Chris. “And they said that they knew about us, but they’re also together, just like we are, and Randy told me that there was nothing wrong with my loving another boy, because he’s loved John for a long, long time now, and he told me that I should be thanking God for what I have with you, because God brought us together for a reason,” he confessed in a rush, finally risking a glance up at Chris, who had a whole expanse of emotions upon his face.

It was rather difficult to consider what he wanted to focus on first: the fact that Randy knew, the fact that Randy and John were a couple and knew about them, and also the rather astute comments that Randy had apparently given. Pushing himself into a sitting position he beckoned Evan forward, the smaller man obeying the silent summons but suddenly looking and shuffling as though he was walking towards and executioner and not his lover. Giving Evan’s hand a slight tug Chris momentarily ended up with the other sitting on his knee, tilting Evan’s dark head to meet his beautiful liquid coco hues, “I never would have pegged Randy as being so profound,” he eventually said.

At Evan’s confused look Chris offered a wan smile, “I knew you would need to talk to him eventually, being that you two are so close and all, but I had just been expecting that Randy would threaten to remove my penis with a pen-knife if I came anywhere near you with it again.” Evan giggled slightly at the absurd statement but Chris personally thought that there was still a possibility. Shaking his head slightly he then said, “I’m not going to rush you in accepting what we have, but whenever you have a crisis and forget what Randy said, what I say to you, then I shall be forced to give you a kick up the backside,” he grinned charmingly, “Shall we go now?” curfew was approaching.

~~~

“You did a great thing just now, Randy,” John told him, a soft smile on his face. “I hope your words can give Evan some peace of mind. He needed that conversation badly,” he went on, moving his hand to Randy’s arm, stroking it lightly. 

“I know… I just hope that it worked. I wasn’t lying, you know,” Randy then said, looking into John’s eyes. “When I said that I thank God every day for you… I really do that.”

“I do the same thing,” John said to him. “My life would be so much duller if you weren’t in it.”

“That would be a shame, now wouldn’t it?” Randy leaned in to steal a quick kiss from John’s lips before sitting back. “I do expect that you’ll be waiting up for me once I’m done my rounds tonight, right?” he then asked. He’d have to be getting out soon, as he always went out a bit before curfew to try and get people into their rooms on time.

“Of course I will,” John said in reference to waiting up for the other before he then paused and grinned, “I am more than tempted though to just pop back to my room and give Phil the impression that I’ll actually be sleeping in it tonight,” he was sure Phil would actually bribe him to get him back out… after he had demanded all of the gossip that he’d imagine would be the cause of John and Randy not sharing a room together in the first place. Alcohol had never been Phil’s vice, but he was a slave to the talk like everyone else.

“I always knew there was a cunning and evil brain in that innocent head of yours,” Randy chuckled softly. Randy remained in John’s arms until it was time for him to get up, finding himself being pulled down into a kiss that most definitely roused his interest. However, he didn’t get to question it before John was murmuring, “If you’re not too tired when you get back tonight I have something in mind that I think will be adequate reward for all you’ve done.” Sadly, his chatty lover then kept mum other than to tell him to get going.

Randy was soon out of his room and starting his nightly patrol. The youngest of the children stayed in a separate building, and then when they reached about thirteen, they moved up into this building. And Randy thoroughly enjoyed giving his harshest glares to the young ones, who would stare up at him with wide eyes. He never had to say a word about curfew approaching to most of them. Some could be defiant, but Randy always won out, telling them that Headmaster Barrett had no issues using a cane on their backsides should they disobey the Head Boy and remain out of their rooms past curfew. 

During his walk, he saw the backs of Evan and Chris, and he began walking rather briskly to catch up. “Evan!” he called, his young cousin and his lover turning around to face him. 

“Hi, Randy. We’re just going to the chapel quickly before curfew,” Evan told him again, even though he’d already told him.

“I know. You two stay out for as long as you need, ok? I’ll vouch for you if someone tells you otherwise,” he said, looking between them both. “However, if anything besides praying happens after curfew, and I find out about it, then I will report you to the Headmaster and not think twice about it,” he then warned. 

“I promise you that we’re going there to pray and nothing more,” Chris told him when he noticed that Evan had turned bright red at Randy’s suggestion. Clearly thoughts of doing anything else hadn’t even crossed his mind. 

“Good to know. You two go on. I have rounds to do,” Randy said.

The pair of them split up after that, and soon Evan and Chris were in the school’s chapel. They took a seat in the second pew, Chris’ hand resting upon Evan’s lap. “Do you have any passages you prefer to read? Or did you just want to say your own prayers to the Lord?”

Evan did have some favourite passages, but he didn’t know if they would apply to the situation. So he said, “I think I’d like to pray right now, no Scripture for the time being,” to which Chris nodded. Bending down, Evan pulled the small bar from beneath the pew before them and they knelt. Evan folded his hands together and rested his head upon them as his hands rested on the back of the front pew. 

Chris merely took a moment to watch Evan pray; although he believed in God to some degree he was most definitely not as ‘God-fearing’ as Evan and his family, or the majority of the boys in his school, which meant that he wasn’t in any rush to make his peace with the Big Man. Eventually though he supposed he should make an effort for that of his faith which did remain and he too braced his clasped hands onto the pew before them and began to say a silent prayer. They mainly kept quiet, though Evan did say one Scripture aloud for the pair of them before they left, luckily not coming across any Prefects on their way.

“Do you feel better now?” Chris asked quietly as they entered their room, Evan lighting the small bedside lamp to enable them to see as Chris closed the curtains, both beginning to undress. “Yes,” Evan confessed, “Thank you for coming with me,” Chris removed his boxers and moved to his bed, pausing as he lifted the covers. “I’d do anything for you, Evan, you know that.” He then motioned for Evan to join him, wanting to just hold the other at least.

Evan remained in his undergarments as he joined Chris in bed, sliding underneath the covers as Chris held them up for him. “Thank you again for everything that you’ve done for me,” Evan whispered as he snuggled against Chris’ chest. 

“Always, Evan,” he assured, his arms wrapping around the smaller man. “Always,” he said once more before pressing a kiss to the top of his head. Reaching over, he switched off the only light source in the room before returning to his previous position, getting comfortable with Evan in his arms. 

It wasn’t often that Evan allowed them to sleep in the same bed together, so he always cherished those moments. Not like he would begin taking these moments for granted, but he hoped that with this new found sense of faith that God wouldn’t have brought them together like this if they weren’t _meant_ to be together like this, that they would have many, many more nights spent together to come. 

Chris hoped that Evan would relax a little more about their situation. Though Evan’s unwavering faith and unnecessary guilt bothered him he would never dream of challenging him on it or becoming angry at the other and belittling him, no matter how much he may want to.

Evan’s faith was a strong part of who he was and Chris adored the smaller man for how he was, and he didn’t want the other to feel as though he had to change just for him. He’d told Evan that he would wait as long as he needed to and he meant it. Shaking his head slightly and attempting to dispel his thoughts Chris closed his own eyes.

Sleep wasn’t exactly difficult coming to him but he found himself awakening long before the alarm was due to go off. The Canadian was momentarily confused before he opened his eyes as to what the warm weight next to him was, but when he saw Evan sleeping peacefully in his embrace still he smiled softly. Evan really was beautiful, but in a masculine way; the best artists in the world couldn’t even hope to come close to replicating his beauty.

Knowing that Evan was still in his arms, Chris let his eyes fall shut once more, his body inching closer to his sleeping lover. It was extremely rare that Evan would allow himself to sleep in the same bed as Chris after they made love. He could count all the times, in fact, including this one, on a single hand. But now he knew why. Now he knew the reason that Evan was always so scared, not while they were together, but after they were together: his faith. But he also knew that together, and with the help of John and Randy (he had to give credit where credit was due), they would be able to get through this. They were going to get through this.

“I love you,” he breathed into Evan’s hair. With that, he allowed sleep to overcome him once more, this time sleeping until the alarm woke them both.

~~~

Even though he knew Evan was in love with Chris, and had heard vice-versa, he couldn’t help but still feel protective of his pseudo-brother, his cousin, as he considered the aloof and often sarcastic Canadian. He hadn’t admittedly had much to do with Chris previously but he had overheard the Canadian on more than one occasion, sniping people down with an unusually-accented aloofness sarcasm that was reminiscent to his own. In a grudging way Randy had gained a respect for him then and there (but he wouldn’t hesitate to tell Chris what was what if he ever got gobby to him) and he supposed he could be civil. If Chris ever hurt Evan though, God help him...

By the time his patrol had ended Randy had handed out two detentions (only for the following day though, whereas when he was in a bad mood he’d hand out multiple detentions for one offence of curfew breakage) before returning to his bedroom. As he drew closer to his room he remembered John promising him a reward for accepting Evan’s situation so well and he bit his lip slightly as he eased his door open; if John had fallen asleep then he couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t wake the other up, knowing that a reward from John was always something that he wanted… and again afterwards usually. John was awake, but shirtless, shoes off and lain across the bed, dozing very lightly.

“John,” Randy whispered as he approached his bed. “John!” he said in a slightly harsher whisper. Finally he was leaning over the bed, reaching down to shake John’s leg to wake him up. 

But then a hand reached out and grabbed him, pulling him down onto the bed on top of John’s solid body. “Welcome back, Randal,” John greeted as Randy pushed himself up into a more comfortable position. 

“That was quite the welcome,” he said, leaning in for a kiss. When he pulled back, he asked, “Did you wind up going back to your room?”

“Not tonight. But I will one of these days. Just to see what Phil does when I walk through those doors as though I’m going to actually spend the night in there. I’d have to be careful, though, so as not to walk in on some orgy.”

“Does he have orgies in his room?” Randy asked, and John though he sounded oddly curious… 

“I don’t know, Randy, you can go ask him for yourself the next time you see him. But would it really surprise you if he did?”

“Honestly?” Randy asked after a moment of consideration, “I wouldn’t be at all surprised,” Phil was just that kind of guy; super-strict when it came to the consumption of any type of alcohol, but he’d never seemed fussed about physical stuff.

“Are you tired?” John asked and Randy shook his head, knowing that even if his body had been begging him for sleep he would have forced himself to remain awake for more time with John. Chuckling softly John then sat up and began to undress Randy, taking his time and actually folding the other’s clothing up carefully much to Randy’s amusement and fondness, John’s hands and lips caressing him gently as John worked.

When Randy was naked John had him settle back on a pillow, the other underneath Randy’s hips to prop them up. Shucking out of his own clothing John then assimilated himself between the other’s thighs and ducked his head down. Randy shivered as gentle kisses were brushed over his strong thighs, John’s mouth bypassing his erection completely and heading down towards his entrance. The first touch of John’s tongue to his entrance had Randy groaning softly, John’s hands keeping him grounded.

John’s tongue flicked over Randy’s hole several times, watching intently as it quivered at his touch. “Do you like when I do this, Randal?” John asked, quickly nipping at his lover’s strong thighs, awaiting his answer. 

“Do you even need to ask?” But when John just continued to bite and lick his thigh, Randy growled and answered, “You know I do.” Truth be told, it was probably his favourite thing that he and John did together. While he _loved_ having sex with John, there was something that he loved _even more_ about having John’s tongue inside his hole. 

“Tell me how much you like it,” John said, once more running his tongue over that tight entrance. 

“So fucking much, John,” he replied at once. “So goddamn much. Oh _God_ , do that again, please, John,” he begged, wanting to feel that tongue inside of him soon, not just lapping over him. 

Teasing the other for a few moments more John then pushed his tongue inside of the tight ring of muscle Randy possessed; turning his tongue rigid as he pressed it inside of Randy’s body as deeply as he was able, strong hands parting the other’s cheeks.

“Oh, _Christ!_ ” Randy always took the Lord’s name in vain when they were together (something John knew that he himself did in the passion of their intimate moments) and it never failed to give John a small wicked thrill outside of his arousal and loving desire for his best-friend and lover, even though religion had never been something that he had been especially focused upon before.

“Oh, John, please, more—“ when that talented tongue, so flexible, rigid and goddamn eager, started to gather a rhythm inside of his body Randy moaned and pressed his face into his pillow, hips rolling to thrust himself back into John’s mouth. It was wanton, vulnerable, a power he’d never give to another, but he thrived when John controlled him.

“Oh, fuck, John! Fuck _yessss_ go deeper,” Randy pleaded. “More, please _more_.” He didn’t care that he was begging. He needed this. He needed as much of John’s tongue in is ass as he could get. No one else would ever see this side of him, just as no one but him would see this side of John. It didn’t matter to him to let his guard down in front of him. He could beg and plead all he wanted before John, because no one knew him like John did. No one had ever been inside him (literally and figuratively) as John had. 

So, John did as Randy pleaded. As best he could, anyway. His face was buried in Randy’s ass as his tongue dove in and out of the still tight, but loosening hole. Hands pulled at the cheeks, massaging the muscles in his palms as he tried to go even _deeper_. Licking at the hole a few times John asked, “Want me to fuck you now?” before he drove his tongue back in.

Shaking his head back and forth, Randy answered, “No. No, not yet. Just keep doing this.”

Always willing to give Randy whatever he wanted John pulled back to take a breath and then thrust his tongue into Randy as hard as he could, fucking the other with his tongue most deliberately this time. Randy writhed over him and John grasped as his lover’s buttocks a little tighter, renting a sound that was almost like a whine from the younger. “Now, now, John, now, please!” Randy finally babbled, his balls tightening with impending climax. Much as he loved John’s tongue inside of him he loved actually climaxing with John inside of him, or he inside John, the most above everything else.

Not needing to be told twice John flipped Randy over gently, the younger man wrapping his legs firmly around John’s waist. Though the entrance could have been smoother the slight burn made Randy moan in pleasure, eyelashes casting shadows over his strong cheekbones as he felt John slowly but steadily sinking inside of him until he was buried within Randy balls-deep. “Oh, John, you feel so fucking good…” John never wanted to lose this feeling, regardless of society’s expectations of those of his family.

“You’re always so tight for me, Randy,” John moaned. “So tight,” he said again, leaning forward to run his hands over his lover’s sweat covered chest. 

“I’m so close,” Randy panted. He was close when John’s tongue was still inside of him, so now to have John’s cock in him and his hands running all over him, he knew that he was just moments away. 

Rocking his hips back further, John then snapped his hips forward harder, striking Randy’s prostate in the process. That action caused Randy to tense, that ass clenching around him as the pleasure from that one little spot was sent through his body. So, naturally, he did it again. Each brush of his cock against Randy’s prostate had him inching closer and closer to the edge. What finally had him falling over the edge was when John bent forward even further and sunk his teeth into Randy’s shoulder, that sharp pain working in contrast to the pleasure he was experiencing elsewhere too much to take as he came with a cry of John’s name. 

The sensation of Randy locking around him had John reaching his own climax, panting out into Randy’s ear, after merely two more thrusts. Groaning lowly as he felt himself filling Randy’s willing passage with his seed John started to gently draw out of the other. However, Randy’s hands stilled him, lips brushing over his faintly since neither had the breath for more, “Wait, just a minute?”

Smiling softly John nodded, keeping himself inside of Randy as long as he could before he definitely had to pull back from the other. Curling his longer body around John’s broader one Randy murmured, “I love you, John,” as he kissed the fading scar on John’s neck which the other had received from a very risky operation after a potentially dangerous accident during a rugby match. Fingers caressing Randy’s spine and dropping a kiss to Randy’s neck John murmured, “I love you too, Rand.” Sleep that night was blissful and deep for both of them, though when the alarm sounded it was hard to tell which one of them was more pissed off with the interruption, alarm turned off and thrown across the room.

~~~

Immediately Cody hastened in his own ablutions as he wanted to catch up to Justin, Ted merely shaking his head somewhat as he remained behind with Windham, Heath and Joe, amused by how the others speculated over the cologne but then veered off onto other topics quickly as they got bored easily when the subject of their talk wasn’t there for them to tease. Upon reaching his, Cody and Justin’s room he closed the door, seeing that Justin was placing his things aside with neat precision the way that he always did, but Cody’s bed was empty. Ted was momentarily concerned and confused until he realised _where_ Cody was.

“C-Cody—“ his cheeks burned crimson as he saw Cody curled up underneath his covers, Justin smirking slightly at his obviously flustered state. Cody sent those big blues at him and Ted knew he wasn’t really going to send the other from his bed. Besides, they were dressed there wasn’t anything inappropriate going to be happening. Still blushing, well-aware of Justin’s eyes on him, Ted set his own things aside and then moved to get into bed with Cody. Almost as soon as the younger man had snuggled into him he asked Justin where the cologne had _really_ come from.

Raising a brow at Cody, Justin asked, “I’m sure you’ve already deduced where the cologne came from?”

“I have an idea or two. But I’d much rather hear it from you,” Cody told him, his head now resting on Ted’s chest. 

“It came from Wade. Those cavemen that we call friends kept going on about how you two were… doing unspeakable things in my bed and I just… couldn’t listen to them talk like that anymore. I had to go see Wade,” Justin told them, a small smile coming to his face. 

“Justin?” Ted asked, his own face now wearing an uncertain look. 

“Yes?” He couldn’t help but wonder what was on Ted’s mind, as it obviously wasn’t him that was constantly hounding him for details about his relationship. 

“How did you… do you ever,” he started over. He then began again, “How did you know that you loved Wade as someone more than just your guardian? Did it ever seem, well, _wrong_ to want the man that took you in and cared for you and raised you in that fashion?” Ted finally manage to ask, hoping that Justin didn’t take offense to his question.

The silence that followed had Ted tensing in concern, worried that he had upset the other. Cody’s hand rubbing at his stomach soothed him slightly but he didn’t relax completely until Justin finally started to speak, sounding confused and thoughtful.

“Well, I’ve never thought of it that way,” he admitted. “I mean, Wade is my guardian yes, but he’s not my _blood_ relation,” he felt horrible in a way for making such a distinction between them, but it was necessary. “He’s done more for me than anyone in this world; without him I would probably be dead on the streets somewhere, or wasting away in some horrible back-alley brothel.” He had noticed that even those with racist attitudes had a strange attraction to people like him, their dark skin and darker colouring making them a source of fascination.

“Even if I didn’t love him like I do,” Justin continued, “And even if he didn’t love me, I can’t deny that I would maybe have tried to instigate something more intimate between us if only to show Wade my thanks as well as how much he means to me,” he hoped that thought came out right; he didn’t want to cheapen what he and Wade did together and he didn’t want to give the impression he was being forced in any manner because that _was not_ true. 

“Really?” Ted asked. “You’d have… have given him your body as a way of thanking him?” He was quite surprised about that. He couldn’t imagine letting someone he didn’t love like he loved Cody touch him and caress him the way that Cody did to him. 

“What other means would I have had to thank him?” Justin asked in return. “I don’t have any monetary goods to give him as a way of thanks. I’m all that I have. That’s not to say that he would have taken advantage of what I was offering him,” he had to add. He had thought about it many times in the past, because if he offered himself to Wade, and Wade didn’t love him like that, he really didn’t know if he would have done anything with him. He honestly didn’t think that he would… 

“So how did you two end up… like this, anyway? I mean, I know that he found you on the streets, or something or other, and raised you, but it’s one thing to raise you, it’s another thing to start sleeping with you,” Ted pondered. He knew it was what Cody asked last night, but he hoped that Justin would be willing to answer him, as he was genuinely curious, whereas Cody was curious _and_ he wanted to hear some juicy gossip. 

Justin looked to Ted and Cody, and asked, “Do these count as two of Ted’s questions?”

“Sure,” Cody replied, more than ready for Justin to finally spill the beans.

“It…” Justin sighed gently, “It was Christmas Eve last year,” immediately he had a feeling the other two might scoff about the coincidental timing of their feelings developing along with the season most credited for spreading joy to the world and good-will-t’ward men and all that, but neither of them commented, merely sat –lay- listening to him. “When we’re home for the holidays together Wade likes to make a big deal out of such occasions.” For his benefit he knew because of his never-having-experienced-any-sort-of-celebratory-occasion pre-Wade, but Wade was like a kid in his own right during the holidays.

“We’d just finished having an amazing Christmas dinner together,” their cook was possibly the best cook in the world, even better than those in the Academy, “We were sitting together before the fire, Wade sipping a Brandy and I with a little bit of wine.” Wade had always been a little wary of letting him near alcohol for reasons that he didn’t totally understand but never thought to question, “Nowhere near enough to be drunk, just enough to complement our meals.”

A tender smile touched Justin’s lips. “Mistletoe, would you believe, led to my first kiss, and not just with Wade?” Cody gasped softly, eyes widening in shock and a slight admiration; sometimes he wished he’d been able to resist his body’s urges completely, to wait for Ted, but he’d waited where it really counted at least, “Has Wade really been your first _everything_?” he couldn’t resist momentarily interrupting the other boy. 

“He was,” Justin admitted. “You’ve known me for a long time now; I’ve always been far more interested in my studies than anything else. Had it not been for Wade, I never would have had this opportunity… if I was still back in Africa, I know I never would have this opportunity. To me, this education is something that I could never replace. Even so, whenever I found myself with Wade, I realized that I had feelings for him that I had never felt towards anyone before. It just so happened that night he and I both stood under the mistletoe at the same time. And he and I both went to kiss one another at the same time, too.”

“So that’s how you both made the first moves towards… whatever it is you have now?” Ted asked, and Justin nodded. “Did you… I mean, that night, did you two…?” he trailed off, blushing fiercely. 

“No, not that night,” Justin answered. “But… it wasn’t much longer until we did. New Year’s Eve, well, the day of I suppose. That was when we first made love, and I couldn’t imagine ever changing a thing about it.”

Resting his head on Ted’s chest Cody couldn’t help but imagine a situation like that, only with himself and Ted sitting before a roaring fire and sipping fine liquors together and just generally enjoying the atmosphere of a holiday as lovers should… but that officially couldn’t since they were both men and all. Running a hand gently over Ted’s chest, feeling Ted’s fingers caressing his shoulder, Cody looked across to Justin, “Do you miss not being around him more, like, intimately.” In the circumstances Justin knew that he and Wade were lucky to be able to set aside so much time with one another, but he wasn’t going to lie as he said, “Yes, I do miss him very much even though we’re in the same place.”

Suddenly though that thought reminded him of what he and Wade had arranged to do on Friday evening. “Guys, would you mind, um, doing me a favour?” Cody’s immediate response (“What’s in it for us?”) was dispelled by Ted sending him a firm look which he heeded for once. “What do you need us to do?” Ted asked in intrigue and Justin sounded almost giddy, voice lowering, “Wade’s invited me to stay in his quarters overnight on Friday. _All night._ ” 

“No! He did?” Cody asked, sounding rather scandalized. Justin was going to be out of their room for the night because he was going to spend it with Wade. 

Justin nodded. “He did. So I’ll be going there a little while after dinner, I think. I can’t go _right after_ , because I don’t want to be seen following him into his office and then not leaving at all that night, but I have to be able to slip out before curfew.”

“So, what is it exactly that you need us to do?” Ted asked.

“Well, I was hoping that you’d make my excuses for me. I can’t let people see me leaving, because then they would know that I never came back for the night.” It would be one thing to slip into someone else’s room, or something, but the rumours about him never linked him to his fellow students, he was always linked to Wade. Of course, those rumours only came about because people were jealous of his academic abilities and believed the only way he could get such good grades was because he was sleeping with the Headmaster. 

“We can do that for you,” Ted assured him, and Cody nodded. He knew that Justin would do the same for them, and after hearing and seeing just how much Justin truly _did_ love Wade, he was more than happy to help. “Is there anything else that you’d like us to do?”

“Not really,” Justin admitted, “I just needed you to be prepared to tell a few fibs on my behalf if someone happened to notice me missing from the dorm or anything like that.” Ted and Cody both nodded, Justin still able to see it thanks to their bedside lamps being on, “Thanks guys,” Justin said sincerely and added, “If you ever need anything from me then don’t be afraid to ask Ok?” already Cody had the idea to use this in future reference when he and Ted needed the dorm for private reasons.

The smile on Justin’s face, Ted thought, was just short of radiant, and he wondered whether other people saw such expressions on Cody’s face whenever he was mentioned; to him every smile that Cody gave –even the ones that he used to mask his true feelings, to fool others- were all radiant in their own way and so he wouldn’t be able to distinguish such a thing. The lights were soon clicked off and the three fell asleep, Ted and Cody still curled together in Ted’s bed and Justin curling into one of his pillows on his own bed, hugging it subconsciously the way he would Wade on Friday.

The following morning, however, Ted awoke with a low groan; he and Cody were pressed together, Cody’s leg thrown over his hip and their groins pressed together, Ted flushing and awakening quicker than he had previously intended as he realised that both of them were sporting very impressive morning erections… and Cody was moving against him occasionally in sleep. He bit his lip, hoping Justin remained asleep a bit longer.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance - Oscar Wilde

“Mhm…” Evan rubbed his eyes with one hand, using the other to swat at the alarm until it turned off. “Oh, thank God…” Evan mumbled as he closed his eyes, pressing his face into the warm body next to him. Sighing in contentment Evan then froze as he realised what he had just realised: he was in bed with someone. As sleepy-mind caught up to over-active body Evan exhaled a deep breath and forced himself to calm down when he realised he was laid with Chris.

Ok, maybe he was still a little wary of his own boldness to lay with his lover even innocently, but he couldn’t deny that he much preferred awakening in a bed with Chris’ warmth and scent surrounding him as opposed to his own bed. “Good morning,” a soft voice spoke in his ear and Evan jumped and gasped softly in pleasure and surprise as warm, smooth lips gently caressed his exposed shoulders and the nape of his neck.

As his heartbeat returned to normal from the brief scare, Evan replied, “Good morning.”

“I enjoy waking up next to you,” Chris told him as he continued to press kisses to Evan’s shoulder. “Your body is so warm… but I don’t know if I should let myself get used to this,” he went on to say.

Evan’s body tensed a little. “Well, I liked waking up next to you, too… I liked it a lot, actually.”

“But?” Chris asked, positive that Evan was going to go on and say that as much as he liked it, they couldn’t spend nights together anymore. 

“No buts. I… I think maybe we could possibly get used to this,” Evan whispered. He’d missed having Chris’ arms around him in any fashion while he was away, and now he was back and had gotten to spend the night in his lover’s bed… and he still hadn’t been struck down by a bolt of lightning. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as he first thought…

“Really?” Chris couldn’t help the hopefulness in his voice even if he had been aware it would come; he had been expecting that even though they had made a lot of progress together as a couple the night before that Evan would draw back from him, out of reflex more than anything, the confidence coming slowly but surely.

A shy smile touched Evan’s lips as he heard the tone in Chris’ voice, “Yes, really,” he murmured softly. “I don’t want…” his lips worked but Chris gently shushed the other with a chaste kiss; he understood, didn’t need Evan to elaborate further in words.

“We’re going to take this at your pace, remember?” the Canadian asked and the dark haired male nodded, resting his forehead against Chris’ for a moment. The pair eventually broke apart and dressed; Evan felt lighter than he had in weeks, his old smile back, and even the aloof Chris had a rather broad grin on his face—though it’d be gone when they left their room Evan was sure.

~~~

“Fucking alarm,” Randy muttered, curling back around John’s solid body after he hurled the clock against the far wall. “I don’t want to leave this bed… it’s so comfortable and warm, and you’re here in my arms.”

“It really doesn’t get much better, does it?” John asked, basking in the comforting arms of his lover. 

“Not at all,” Randy agreed. “I think we should just stay here in bed all day, don’t you agree?” he mused. 

“I would love that. I would gladly stay in bed with you all day to get out of going to class,” John said. 

“Fucking class,” Randy muttered. He did enjoy a lot of his classes, yes, but he enjoyed John’s company a whole lot more. 

“And I really do love you, Randy, but I’m—”

“No, wait, let me guess. You’re hungry,” Randy finished for him. Good Lord, John was like a human dumpster.

“Shall we just grab one of the little firsties to grab some food for us, claiming we’re ill?” Damn it, if Randy could remain in this bed with John all day then he bloody-well would! Their records were impeccable so a ‘sick day’ wouldn’t hurt them.

“They won’t get me enough,” John couldn’t help but point out, ignoring the look that Randy gave him. “Rand, I swear, I’ll twag with you, just, please, can we go and get some food first?” Randy pushed the covers back, grumbling.

Sensing that Randy would sulk for a bit with the interruption of his plans John then wheedled, “If we come back and twag we can take a bath together…” they often didn’t have chance to do because of their schedules and people always happening to need them for ‘an emergency’ whenever they planned to have time together for leisure activities like this. Immediately he noticed Randy’s eyes flicker with interest. “Get dressed, Jonathon.”

“I take it you like my idea, then?” John said, getting out of bed.

“You know, you’re smarter than you look,” Randy teased, pushing back the blankets off himself as he, too, got out of bed. 

“So, are you going to go in there playing sick, or what?” John asked, pulling on a pair of underwear before finding his trousers. 

“I think so. We’ll make sure everyone can see us, yet we’ll have to make them want to avoid us so they don’t also get sick. And then we’ll recover tomorrow from a little twenty-four hour bug.” Randy thought that sounded like a great plan. He worked John hard yesterday with all the homework he made him catch up on, and he was constantly working, not only for his classes but with his Head Boy duties. He thought he deserved a day off every once in a while. 

“Sounds good to me,” John agreed. “Although I might take a touch too much food for someone with a stomach bug.”

“Please, sick or not, you still eat like a pig,” Randy said with a chuckle, pulling his jacket on over his shirt for the final touch.

“You know,” John reluctantly did his tie up, even though he hated wearing the damn thing, brushing invisible lint from his clothing before heading out of the room with Randy, “If I was a lesser, more self-conscious man, then your comments on my eating habits could really hurt,” he pouted at the other, not attempting his sick act yet since they were without an audience.

“If you were a lesser man I wouldn’t have been interested in you in the first place,” he teased and John flipped his lover an inappropriate gesture before chuckling reluctantly; Randy might occasionally joke about how easy it’d be for him to move on from John, but John knew it wasn’t ever going to be that simple… for either of them. The second they came into view of more students John made it seem as though he had an awful stomach ache, slightly doubled-over, Randy managing to actually make himself look peaky and dazed.

“Are you two alright, boys?” Professor Lawler inquired with genuine concern and John almost caved; he liked Jeremy “Jerry” too much to lie to him, since he’d do anything for his students. “Just feeling a little under the weather,” Randy saved him from speaking, though John almost laughed when he saw Randy’s pity-poor-me-but-how-brave-I-am smile appear.

“Are you two sure you’re just a little under the weather? Neither of you look very good,” he stated, trying to get a better look at their faces, but both of them were looking at the ground as though it were too painful to even lift their heads fully.

“We’re hoping that a little food and some juice will do us some good,” Randy told him, letting his eyes flicker up to meet Professor Lawler’s. 

“Maybe you’re right. Go on, then. If that doesn’t help, though, you boys get some rest, ok? We can’t have this spreading through the whole school.” He’d experienced that before. One student got sick, maybe from a family member when they went home during winter break, and when they came back, their roommates got sick, then the rest of the boys in their year, then they got people sick from other years when they sat near them in classes. Next thing he knew, he was teaching a class of thirty students with only four students left. 

“Yes, Professor,” Randy said, pulling out his handkerchief to cough into. With that, they walked on past him and further into the throng of students. Their sickly appearances caused people to move out of their way (which is what normally happened because of their rank within the school, but they never moved _that_ far out of their way) as they neared the dining hall. A few more of their professors asked if they were all right, even Phil, when he saw John and Randy, asked about their health.

Walking alongside Randy back to his bedroom, maintaining their sick airs, John murmured, “I actually feel bad about faking this time; everyone seems so concerned about us,” those who were people who actually had something to do with them, of course, as opposed to people who just knew who they were and so offered their well-wishes out of social expectancy. Randy grinned slightly, when it was safe to let his façade drop a little bit.

Nudging John’s shoulder with his own he cooed, “Oh, Johnny, you’re so sweet and caring!” John nudged his lover back, “Stop taking the piss out of me,” he murmured, but he was smiling slightly himself, “Just because you like to maintain that you’re all uncaring and bad-ass.” They had heard the expression from another of their Canadian exchange students, Christian, and John had adopted it ever since—usually when he was teasing Randy, like just then. Reaching Randy’s room they left themselves in and John kicked his shoes off and removed his tie and jacket.

“It’s gonna seem like a long day, you know?” John mused as he watched Randy strip out of his own jacket and tie, draping both over his desk chair atop John’s own. “It always does when you’re ill.” Randy rolled his eyes with a slight chuckle and arched a brow before smirking, “I could always find you a textbook to read if you end up bored, John?” he offered and John sent the other a look of such horror that Randy actually started to laugh heavily. Pushing the other somewhat John then pretended to huff, rolling so that his back was to the other, “Sod off.”

“If you’re going to act like that, then I guess we don’t _have_ to share a bath together,” Randy mused, which instantly got John’s attention on him once more. “Oh, now you’re interested, I see.”

“Well, you know, a nice warm bath helps relax the body. Which is great when you’re sick,” John said. “It’s also nice when you have someone there to take care of you through your time of sickness.”

“It’s just a shame that that someone is also sick,” Randy said, though he was continually eyeing the door to his bathroom. 

“I guess we’re just going to have to nurse one another back to health,” John told him, beginning to undo his belt. “Does that sound fair?”

“Absolutely. Now come here, let me take care of that for you.” Randy grabbed John’s wrists and pulled him in close, his hands quickly going to the button and fly of John’s trousers. “I can’t wait to take you in the bathtub. God, I want you to sit on my cock and ride me,” he said, sharing his fantasy with John, who appeared to be quite willing to go along with it.

~~~

One rut against his cock from Cody had Ted wondering if the younger man was also awake and doing this to him just to tease him. But he knew that there was no way Cody could be awake, because he hated getting up in the morning, and would always sleep in for as long as possible. When Cody did it again, he couldn’t help but whimper slightly, because it felt _so good_. 

He needed to get away from him. They couldn’t be doing that sort of thing with Justin sleeping in the bed next to them, not when he could awake at any minute. He shifted, trying to scoot back from Cody, but that leg was hooked around him, and he didn’t know if he could move it without waking Cody. 

As the bed began to move beneath him, Cody slowly came into consciousness and realized that there was also a body next to his. Ted’s body. And it didn’t take him long to also realize that the both of them were hard as their cocks rubbed together. He brought his hand up and ran it through Ted’s hair as he opened his eyes to find Ted’s looking right back at him. “Morning, Teddy,” he said, his fingers now gripping into Ted’s hair as he jutted his hips forward again.

“Ah!” Ted bit his lip hard to muffle his loud moan at the sensation of Cody’s hips starting to rub rhythmically, firmly, against his own, though slowly so that the bed didn’t creak underneath them and alert Justin to what was going on. _”Cody!”_ he mouthed at the other, cheeks flushing and his own cock hardening impossibly further in his pants as Cody rubbed and arched against him, hand tight in his hair.

“Yes, Teddy?” Cody whispered, his own cheeks flushing and eyes darkening, parted lips momentarily making Ted lose his train of thought. Another thrust had him shaking himself though to continue and he hissed, “Cody Runnels stop this right now! Justin will wake up soon!” however, despite his protests, his hips were attempting to thrust back.

Shaking his head, nails sending shivers down Ted’s spine when he gently drew them across Ted’s scalp, Cody leant into Ted’s ear and murmured, “Justin could sleep through a thunderstorm, _Theodore_ , so he shan’t be waking until one of us gets him up. Besides—“ another sound left both of them this time as their hips met again, “— _this_ ” he rolled his hips harder, “-tells me that you don’t want me to stop at all.” Ted grasped Cody’s hips helplessly, all-but chewing through his bottom lip in pleasure and to keep quiet. 

Ted rutted his cock against Cody’s over and over, overwhelmed with sensation. Cody’s lips were soon covering his in a kiss, their tongues dancing together as Ted let out a cry as he came. Cody could feel Ted’s body trembling from the orgasm, and he, too, was spilling over. Pulling back from the kiss, Cody looked into Ted’s eyes and said, “Aren’t you happy I didn’t stop when you wanted me to?”

“You know, I may be able to sleep through a thunderstorm in the middle of the night, but if it were to start thundering near the time I awake every morning, I’m going to hear it,” Justin said. He was going to cut in as soon as he heard Cody whisper those words, but he at least wanted to let them finish first. 

“Justin!” Ted yelped as he scrambled to get away from Cody, but he still wanted to keep his modesty hidden from his other roommate, so he pulled the cover up over him up to his neck. And from his neck up, he was bright red. He couldn’t imagine being more embarrassed. 

“Sorry about that, Justin,” Cody said, a devilish smirk on his face all the while.

“No you’re not. You wouldn’t have done that in the first place if you were actually sorry. However… I do forgive you. Just, do me a favour? Don’t have sex on my bed while I’m out on Friday, ok?” he asked. 

“I can’t make any promises—“ Cody started but then Ted immediately cut across him with, “Rest assured, Justin, we won’t do such a thing.” It wasn’t as though he and Cody were going to have sex when Justin was gone, just because they had the opportunity… right? It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but the loss of his virginity was a big deal to him even without considering that he would possibly be losing said innocence to Cody of all people.

Justin shook his head wanly, blushing himself from embarrassment, Cody pouting at Ted and calling him a spoilsport the last thing that he saw and heard before closing the bedroom door. There was a spring in his step as he began heading to breakfast, the smallest of limps visible from a sore lower-back after what he and Wade had done. It was so worth it though.

Ted got out of the bed, his pajama bottoms sticking to him obscenely and he grimaced when he peeled them away, not counting that Cody was unashamedly staring at his nakedness until Ted stripped off his shirt and cleaned himself off as best he could before throwing his clothing into the hamper and sorting out fresh clothing for the day.

“So…” Cody seemed much more leisurely about everything, not even seemingly put off by the way his own seed covered his skin and pajama bottoms before he mimicked Ted’s earlier actions. “About the sex on Justin’s bed?” he asked as they finished dressing, ready to go. At Ted’s look he pouted, following the other to the door, “How about sex on one of our beds?” 

Ted’s eyes were still wide, even at the thought of sex on one of their own beds. “I don’t know,” he answered. 

“But, Teddy, think about it. We’ll know for a fact that Justin won’t be here the entire night. We won’t have to worry about him coming in and interrupting our first time together,” Cody said, wrapping his hand around Ted’s tie. He had a mischievous glint in his eye as he pulled on Ted’s tie to bring him in close for a kiss. 

“Don’t you think that’s rather soon?” Ted asked once he pulled back from the kiss. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to have sex with Cody, he most certainly _did_ , but he didn’t know if he wanted it to happen less than a week after their first kiss. 

“We know we love each other, right? It’s not like I’ve only just met you, Teddy, I’ve known you my entire life. Besides, if we don’t take advantage of Friday, then what? We’ll always be worried about Justin returning, so we’ll have to rush things, or even have him walk in on us,” Cody reasoned. “So why not just use the time that we’re given? Then we know that we’ll be able to take our time with one another.”

“Just… let me think about it, ok?” Ted said as he grabbed the handle to the door and opened it up into their common room. 

Even though Cody had been expecting that the other to turn him down, to avoid the issue with an “I’ll see”, he couldn’t deny that he was somewhat annoyed and hurt by it regardless. Sighing, running a hand through his hair, Cody headed out of the room with Ted, locking it behind him. The common room was rather full and Cody immediately spotted their usual entourage of friends and they made their way across to them. “Good morning, boys,” Cody said, ignoring Justin’s mumble of, “It sure was—for you.”

Windham cocked his head to one side and looked between Justin and Cody before then standing along with Joe and Heath, “Shall we go? If we don’t get some food soon then the decent stuff’ll all be gone!” Heath arched a brow, his longish red hair swaying with his movements as he led the way out of the dorm, “Is food all you think about, Windham?” even though the expression was brief Cody could have sworn Heath’s comment had stung the other.

“Hey, just because you’re still a fucking beanpole even with puberty hitting,” Joe flared, coming to his friend’s defense with a vehemence that surprised them all, “-Doesn’t mean you can go around running your mouth, alright?” Heath held his hands up, eyes wide, looking to Windham, “I was… I was just joking.” Windham nodded, placing a hand on Joe’s shoulder, “Calm down, huh?” Joe looked embarrassed, but then Windham smiled, “Thank you, though.” 

Leaning in close to whisper into Cody’s ear, Ted said as he pointed to the two boys just ahead of them, “ _That’s_ what I was talking about yesterday. When you said that I was zoned out.”

“You were thinking about Joe coming to Windham’s defense when Heath goes and sticks his foot in his mouth?” Cody asked. 

“No, no… well, it’s along those lines, I suppose. But really I was just thinking about Joe and Windham. Is it, you know, possible that they’re… like us?” he asked, his voice dropping even lower. 

Cody stopped dead in his tracks, someone walking behind him ended up walking straight into him, but he didn’t even stop to snip at them to watch where they were going. He simply stared at two of the four boys that had continued on ahead of them. “Oh my god,” Cody said aloud. 

“Do you see what I mean? I just… I mean, I obviously don’t know if there _is_ anything there, of if it’s just me reading too far into things,” Ted reasoned. It was all just speculation in his own mind, and he couldn’t help but wonder if telling Cody was the best idea, considering his pension for gossip. 

Cody had that look on his face and Ted immediately sent his lover a warning look, “Cody, don’t go interfering.” Cody gave Ted a look that said, ‘who, me?’ but Ted wasn’t fooled. Cody meant well but sometimes he lost tact.

“Well, we can always find out if there’s something going on,” Cody said as they resumed walking again, catching up with their friends but still lagging so that they could conduct their conversation in private, “I’ll talk to Joe.” Ted mentally slapped himself; he should have known that Cody wanted to take a hands-on approach with the situation. “Cody…” he sighed.

“No, no,” Cody hushed the other, “I know: but I’ll be careful when I ask him.” If there wasn’t anything between the two boys then he didn’t want to make their close relationship awkward. Much like himself and Ted, Joe and Windham had known one another essentially since childhood, so he didn’t think it was too much of a stretch to say that they may love one another.

“But what if—“ Ted should have known that it was pointless to try and dissuade Cody, because the other seemed to already be planning on what he would say to their friend and when, but just when Ted thought things couldn’t become anymore delicate Cody then turned to him expectantly, “And you can talk to Windham, of course.” 

“Cody, no, I’m not involving myself in their personal affairs!” Ted protested. Dammit, he never should have said a word of his thoughts about those two to Cody, best friend or not. 

“But Teddy, aren’t you dead curious to know? They’re always giving us shit about fucking one another,” Cody muttered into his ear. “Don’t you think it’d be nice if, for once, we could at least get them back on something?”

“You know they’re only joking.” At least Ted hoped that they were joking about them fucking one another. Otherwise, it would mean that he was way more obvious about his feelings towards Cody than he ever realized. 

“So then we could just make it look like we’re joking right back with them. You’re the one that thought there may be something there between them in the first place, so surely you’d like to know,” Cody said to him, trying to wear him down. 

“Cody, can’t you just leave it?” he asked, though he already knew that answer would be a resounding no. 

“No,” Cody answered in a heartbeat. “I promise that I won’t say anything that’ll drive the two of them apart, or even let on that I’m curious to know if they’re, as you said, like us. And it’d be really great if you could talk to Windham,” Cody said once more, looking at him with his large puppy dog eyes.

Irritated with himself over how reluctant he was to oppose any favour Cody asked of him, Ted rubbed his temple before pinching the bridge of his nose as his eyes closed for a few moments. “Fine. Alright. I’ll talk to him, but—“ he held a finger up as he sent the other a warning look, “I’m not promising anything, and you’d best keep your word that you won’t say anything.” By this point they had reached breakfast, ending their conversation momentarily.

They joined the queue with their friends and selected some food, Ted catching the end of the conversation of two teachers not too far ahead of the line, commenting about how the Sports Captain and Head Boy were both taken ill that day. It was always a cause for concern with potential illnesses in the school, but having such influential students taken out by a sickness would no doubt have a disconcerting effect upon the teachers. Ted silently sent the elder teens well-wishes for a speedy recovery.

Settling at the table with his friends when they had all gotten their food, Ted looked to Windham out of the corner of his eye; the other didn’t especially act overly fond of Joe, he figured, but then mentally chided that he hadn’t had even the smallest of inklings that Cody had feelings for him even though he had been around the other years, and he thought he tempered down _his_ fondness for Cody, but to outsiders it could be just the opposite. 

Picking up a forkful of scrambled eggs, Heath looked across the table to Windham and said, “Ya know I really didn’t mean to offend ya, or anything.” He then glanced nevously to Windham’s side where Joe was seated, hoping that he would also accept his apology.

“I know,” Windham replied, cutting into a piece of his sausage. “Don’t worry about it, Red… just don’t do it again,” he said, grinning as Heath grimaced at the use of the nickname. “Deal?”

“Deal… can we make a deal to not call me Red anymore?” he then asked, knowing that he was probably pushing his luck. 

“Heath’s too long a word to say,” Cody cut in, laughing as Heath went to protest that there was no difference in the number of syllables in his own name and in ‘Red.’ Of course, none of them were having any of it. Even Justin was agreeing with them that Red was far easier for them to say than Heath.

“Every one of you is a bastard,” Heath muttered. 

“We know. We hear it from at least one of us every single day,” Joe said. 

Their conversation went on, all of them chattering away until the morning bell rang and they had to head off to their classes for the day. “Don’t forget, Teddy,” Cody whispered to him as they stood from the table to go and drop off their trays, “talk to Windham.”

“Yes, Cody,” Ted sighed slightly, knowing that if he didn’t then his lover would probably cold-shoulder him for a few hours, maybe even days, because he hadn’t gone along with his intentions. Though Cody was not nearly as bratty as he had been in his childhood he could have his spoilt moments now and again. And, well, Ted hated when the other was mad at him, regardless of whether it was minor irritation or one of their rare full-blown arguments. “I’ll talk to him when I get the chance to.”

When it came to it though the first opportunity Ted had was during their morning break, in between first and second lesson. The other boy was riffling through his bag (bemoaning homework that he _swore_ he had done, but currently couldn’t find) and Ted cleared his throat slightly before steeling himself, ensuring that he and Windham were well away from any potential eavesdroppers. “Hey, Windham, can I ask you something?” the other straightened up, clearly surprised by that.

“Um… sure thing, Teddy, what’s up? The little woman wearing you down already?” he teased upon recovering and Ted quirked a small wan grin before shaking his head. “It’s not about me, or Cody. Actually, I was…” he flushed slightly, hoping this didn’t all blow up in his face. “I was wondering about you. I mean, do you have a love interest?” gah, that sounded even worse out loud than it had when he’d thought it in his head. 

~~~

Sitting in the first class of the day, Evan kept glancing over to Randy’s empty seat, tapping his fountain pen nervously against his desk. The constant tap, tap, tap of the back end of the pen, however, was slowly driving Chris insane. While their professor was lecturing, he moved his hand, covering the pen to stop Evan from tapping it anymore. “What’s wrong with you?” he whispered.

“John and Randy are both sick. They were fine yesterday,” he whispered back. “Do you think I’ll get sick now? I just got back from my holiday, I’ve missed enough class as it is,” he continued all in a rush. He saw them this morning, neither of them looked very good, but yesterday they were perfectly healthy. Whatever they had obviously came on pretty quickly. 

“You’ll be fine. Now just _please_ stop the tapping,” he said, finally releasing Evan’s pen. 

Smiling sheepishly, Evan apologized and promised that he would stop the tapping. And he did. For all of five minutes, anyway, before it picked back up again, much to Chris’ annoyance.

Eventually (because he was going to throw the pen if Evan carried on and that would not be a good thing to do for many reasons) Chris slid his own free hand underneath the table and placed it gently but solidly upon Evan’s thigh and squeezed. The smaller man startled rather adorably, eyes widening in realisation, but mercifully he didn’t blatantly look down to Chris’ hand otherwise that really would have given the game away.

“Even if you do happen to get sick,” he spoke quietly, eyes on the professor to make sure that they didn’t turn around and catch him chatting, “I would make sure that you were kept up to date with all of the notes, so on that score you needn’t worry. And the chances are Randy and John will have just caught a temporary bug; I’d heard there was something going around not too long ago.”

Knowing that the other wasn’t being uncaring Evan sighed and took a deep breath. Releasing it he then looked to Chris and nodded his head, “I understand.” Little things were things that Evan would torture himself over, even on top of the larger things that _did_ merit concern, and Chris was always telling him such strain wasn’t good for him.

After a few minutes of simply listening to the professor’s lecture, Evan then leaned over to Chris and worriedly whispered, “I hugged Randy yesterday. After we talked, and everything, I gave him a hug. Do you think I—”

“Evan,” Chris said, looking slightly amused… for the time being… “you’re going to be fine. And I told you that I’d take care of you. So stop worrying, ok?”

“But what if I manage to get you sick because he got me sick?” he asked, biting his lower lip in concern. 

“That doesn’t matter. Now listen to the professor, else you’ll have missed all the notes from a class that you’re actually attending,” Chris told him. “You’ve got a pen in your hand, use it to write.”

Evan wanted to stick his tongue out at the other but knew that Chris was right, and he hastened to focus his attention back on the book before him and the lecture that was currently being given. When the bell went though he found himself almost unnervingly glad about the lesson coming to an end—and this was unusual because Evan was pretty much a bookworm, as Randy so happily reminded him as often as he could.

When they were outside Chris groaned in relief, “Oh, thank goodness…” he was very much enjoying his English education but it couldn’t half get tedious now and again. “Oh, Evan,” he lowered his voice, “I was wondering if you wanted to come to the market with me this weekend.” At weekends they were allowed into the town. 

“You want to go to the market with me?” Evan asked in return, slightly surprised by the invitation.

“Yes. I mean, it’s not like we’re going to go there holding hands as we walk down the street or anything, but I would quite like your company,” Chris said as he muttered his words lowly. He hoped it wasn’t asking too much of the young man. He did actually want to go to the market, with or without Evan, he’d just much rather go there _with_ him. 

“I… I think I would like that too,” Evan agreed with a blush.

“So, that’s a yes, then?” Chris asked hopefully.

“Yes. I’ll be looking forward to it,” he answered. Changing the subject, he then asked, “Is it terrible that I’ve already missed so much class, but have no interest in attending this one right now?” He adjusted his school bag on his shoulder as they continued to walk towards the lecture hall in which their next class was held. 

~~~

“Hmm… We’ll get water on the floor again—“ John lifted his hips to allow Randy to get his trousers and boxers off, his own hands working on getting his shirt buttons undone, John being stripped naked in mere moments.

“Fuck it,” Randy murmured, “Better yet, fuck _you_ ,” John groaned slightly at the arousing lewdness, then grasping at Randy’s shirt, “Your turn,” the lover’s lips met in a kiss as Randy’s clothing soon joined John’s on the floor.

The walk to the bathroom was rather interesting given that they were making their way there with hands on one another and lips together, only breaking apart so that John could move to the tub, placing the plug in and turning the hot tap on. Randy groaned softly, molding himself to John’s back. “Tease.”

“Patience is a virtue,” John said throatily, feeling Randy’s growing cock pressing against his ass, hands gripping at the porcelain of the bath-tub. In the time it took for the bath to be filled somewhat, and with decent temperature, Randy was solid and aching, much like John was, thanks to his lover’s wandering hands. “Get your fine ass in that tub, Jonathon,” he purred in John’s ear.

“As you wish, Randal,” John returned, stepping forward a bit so Randy was completely plastered to him. Turning to face his lover, he then extended his hand, which Randy took as he stepped into the tub. With John’s hand still in his, Randy then stepped into the tub, watching as John lowered himself to be seated. 

Lowering his own body down carefully (his hand on the edge of the tub and John’s hand on his back to guide him down so he wouldn’t end up sitting _on_ John, not yet anyway), he managed to sit between his lover’s open legs. He dropped his head back and tilted his head to the side to take in John’s profile as he then used his hands on the sides of the tub to give him the leverage to push his ass back into John’s cock. “It’s a shame that you and I can’t bathe together more often,” Randy whispered. 

“You can say that again,” John groaned. He was thoroughly enjoying the feel of Randy rubbing himself against his hard cock. 

“It’s a shame that you and I can’t bathe together more often,” he repeated teasingly, knowing that John would roll his eyes at him, even in a moment of such pleasure. “You know,” he then went on, “I do still plan on fucking _you_ in this tub, not the other way around.”

“You seem to be enjoying yourself well enough there,” John teased through a groan, and though Randy wouldn’t deny it he gave John’s nipple a teasing tweak, making the elder teen jump. “Don’t get cheeky with me, John-boy.” John sent Randy his best innocent look—the expression not as convincing as usual since his eyes had darkened in pleasure.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Rand.” John reached for the bar of soap on the small dish resting on the bath-side, dipping it into the water and then beginning to rub his hands together around it to create lather. Although there was a probably redundant quality in getting clean before they got dirty mere moments later, but washing one another that first time was always like foreplay for them; getting their bodies even more keyed up with regards to one another then they were from their initial activities. However, there was a tender, intimate undertone to it too.

Allowing John to wash him for a few minutes, Randy then caught John’s hands with a slight smirk, leaning in and catching the other’s lips with his own; the sensation of John’s sud-free body sliding against his own was very enjoyable indeed, and Randy wondered whether the soap would be a safe aid in their preparation... somehow he doubted that water alone would be enough to ready John so that he could ride Randy like a Grand National winner.

“Do you know how badly I’d like to be inside of you right now?” Randy asked, his lips still against John’s. 

“I don’t think I do, Randy. Why don’t you show me?” he suggested, raising an eyebrow at his lover. He couldn’t wait to feel Randy moving in and out of him as he himself rose his hips up and down his cock. 

Turning his body around in the tub, Randy maneuvered himself so they were facing one another, his legs resting atop John’s as he spread out. He took on sudsy hand and wrapped it around his cock as he began jerking himself off. Slowly his hand worked, and he watched as John’s eyes followed the steady path that he was taking. “C’mere, Johnny,” he whispered.

Raising himself up onto his knees, John walked himself forward until he was right in front of Randy. His legs straddled Randy’s and their hard cocks brushed together as their eyes met. “I’m here,” he whispered in return. 

“That you are,” Randy murmured softly, stormy eyes locking on baby-blue, hands moving to John’s hips to offer his lover guidance as John took him in hand. Randy didn’t realise at first what John was intending to do, because he was much too interested in the kiss John bestowed upon him—but when tight heat started to surround the head of his cock he stopped.

“John—“ he hadn’t prepared the other and he was concerned that the soap and hot water wouldn’t be enough. However, his lover merely gave him one of those knee-weakening dimples appearing, “Hush up, Randal, I know what I’m doin’. Just keep still for me, alright love?” Randy’s chest gave that funny tight tingling sensation he always had whenever John called him pet-names, the younger man forcing himself still with a nod.

With a small grunt, and working very slowly, John began to lower himself down upon Randy. The soap helped, but just a little, his muscles still tight enough to cause an unhelpful drag sensation. “Oh, sweet Jesus…” Randy groaned as John enveloped him fully after what seemed like an age, “John…”

“You like that, Randy?” John asked, biting his bottom lip, eyes squeezed shut in pain as he tried to adjust to the large cock filling him. 

“Oh god _yes_ ,” he moaned. But even through his own pleasure, he still had enough sense to ask, “Are you ok, baby?” He brought his hand up to John’s face, on which he could see his pain. 

“I will be,” he was quick to assure his lover. “Just give me a moment,” he whispered. He knew what he was getting into, taking Randy into him so unprepared, but the raw feel of Randy’s cock inside of him was like nothing else. 

Leaning forward, Randy placed a kiss upon John’s cheek. And then he gave him another kiss. He continued dropping kisses on his lover’s face, and he was determined to keep going until there wasn’t a single sign of pain on John’s face. 

Closing his eyes as he felt Randy’s lips moving over his skin John concentrated himself on taking deep breaths to allow himself further adjustment time.

Finally, John felt the pain ebbing down to a dull ache and experimentally rocked his hips. As Randy was still kissing over his features the movement drew a surprised moan from his lover which vibrated against his lips.

Reclining back on the tub edge slightly Randy placed his hands upon John’s hips as John’s hands rested on his shoulders, the younger man still determinedly forcing himself to keep still to allow John to control the pace and depth until he as sure the other was really alright.

The water rippled gently around them with John’s initial motion, caressing their skins and increasing their sensitivity, Randy’s eyes hooding as he watched John move atop of his aching cock, said appendage throbbing just from the mere sensation of being in John once more.

“That’s it, Johnny… slow and steady,” Randy said, easing John along with his low, rumbling voice. “You’re so tight, baby,” he whispered into John’s neck, his hands moving up to wrap around John’s back. 

John groaned as Randy spoke. He loved when he paid particularly close attention to his neck. Whether Randy was kissing it or licking it or nipping at it, it always managed to drive him wild. Now the softness of his breath combined with the slight vibrations of the words against his skin was doing it to him once more. “Just for you, Randy,” he moaned in return. 

He couldn’t imagine doing such a thing with anyone else. He knew there were boys in the school that slept with nearly anyone (from boys in their school to the girls that came over from their sister school for their annual dance), but from his first time with Randy, he knew that he could never have anyone else. Not like this, anyway. 

“Yeah, just for me,” Randy said, his eyes falling shut, heightening his other sense, swearing that, as he sat there now with his eyes closed, John felt even tighter, even hotter, if that was even possible. He gently raked his hands over his lover’s back, sure that the growl that John let out was even deeper, more possessive than usual, as John’s hands soon moved to mirror his own.

Randy’s back arched as much as possible underneath John’s hands, his hips shifting underneath the other with the tiny amount of movement he was afforded with their position, John seeming to take a moment just to absorb the feeling of Randy within him before he brought his hands back to Randy’s shoulders. Shifting his legs slightly so that he could get leverage without hurting himself on the hardness of the porcelain tub John then gently drew himself off of Randy before sliding back down again. The two of them moaned in tandem, the sound seeming to echo off of the bathroom walls back at them.

The water rocked dangerously close to the tub top even though they hadn’t filled the bath far; their combined toned, rather muscular bodies providing enough mass to get the water rising. “Oh, God…” John groaned in pleasure, eyes attached onto a droplet of water that had splashed up and landed against Randy’s neck, leaving a shining trail as it dripped down him.

Unable to help himself John leant down and licked the drop away, the action causing Randy’s throat to vibrate with the sound as his large hands squeezed John’s taut buttocks, the action making his lover tighten around him impossibly more. “John… Ah, damn baby…” he nuzzled the other’s throat once more when John pulled back from teasing his own and Randy chose an easily coverable spot to leave his mark behind. 

“Oh, _fuck_ , Randy,” John moaned, rolling his head to the side as Randy kissed and sucked and nibbled on the spot. So long as John didn’t have to change in front of anyone in the locker room of some sports practice, his mark would go unnoticed by everyone. No one would ever imagine that the head boy was leaving his possessive mark behind on to body of the sports captain, because though there were rumours, no one could ever really definitively prove them. 

John’s hips rocked back and forth, his angle and motions allowing Randy’s cock to brush over his prostate again and again. And damn, it felt so fucking _good_. Randy continued his attention on his lover’s neck as he lowered his hand beneath the water’s surface to take hold of John’s cock. As John rocked, his hand stroked, and eventually they built up a steady rhythm. Both men were moaning as the sensations in both their bodies heightened as they brought more and more pleasure unto one another. “I love you,” Randy whispered into John’s neck. He couldn’t believe that he’d gone so long without ever saying those words, because now that he had, he realized just how good saying those words actually felt.

~~~

Windham stared at Ted blankly for a moment before then laughing heartily. “Teddy, you’re asking me if I have a love interest? Why, are _you_ interested?” he teased, laughing even more when Ted turned bright red. 

“No! I’m not interested… not that you’re not a fine looking young man,” he quickly added. The last thing he wanted was to offend the big guy. “I was just, you know, curious, that’s all.”

“Oh, just wait until I let on to Codes that you’ve taken an interest in me. He won’t be happy at all, will he?” Windham went on. 

“You can’t do that!” Ted yelped frantically. And then he grew even more embarrassed when he realized that Windham had no intention of telling Cody such a thing, and that he’d only been having him on. 

“You worry too much. Now, to answer your question… I just might have my eye on someone. I’m not going to tell you who, though, if there even is someone to begin with, seeing as you can’t keep a secret from Cody, and he can’t keep his mouth shut to anyone,” Windham told him. 

“What do you mean I can’t keep a secret from Cody?” Ted asked, feeling mildly affronted though he knew that there were past examples that credited Windham’s comment completely and utterly, without any chance of him refuting them. “It doesn’t concern Cody anyway!” he lied.

Windham gave him the patented, ‘Do I look like I’ve just met you two?’ look and Ted tried not to quail underneath it. However, he managed to keep upright and Windham merely gave him that amused and unwavering smirk as he clapped Ted on the shoulder. “As I say... I may have an interest in someone, and that’s all that you need to know.” _No, it wasn’t!_ Ted thought.

As Windham started heading off Ted asked hastily, “What about Joe?” he didn’t know _why_ he had asked such a thing considering Cody was going to attempt to talk to Joe, but now the words were out he couldn’t call them back. For a moment he had thought that Windham had either not heard him, or chose to ignore him, but the other faltered in his steps somewhat so Ted knew he _had_ heard even though he didn’t respond. Groaning softly Ted hastened to catch up with the other; this was going to be harder than he’d first thought.

After recovering from the initial surprise of Ted’s question, Windham went on to ask, “Joe? Why’re you concerned about Joe? You got a thing for him now, too?” he questioned, quirking a brow. “Cody, Joe and me? You’re quite ambitious, I must say, Teddy.”

“No! God no, it’s nothing like that. I was just curious, is all…”

“Why?” Windham went on. This whole subject really came out of nowhere, he thought. Maybe Ted was just trying to get some dirt on him so that he and Cody could begin to tease him the way that he and the rest of their group of friends did. He really didn’t know, but he did know that he was not going to share with anyone the name of the person that he did feel something for.

“No reason,” he said sheepishly. He’d never really been good with lying, so he hoped that he wasn’t blushing too badly, or anything… 

“Never mind, just forget I said anything,” Ted muttered as he hastened towards their next lesson, Windham lengthening his stride to catch up to the other, “Ted, you can’t do that!” he insisted, wondering why the other had been so determined and yet was now attempting to back off so fast. However, he was without the ability to press further because they had reached the classroom and Ted had taken the easy route and hidden inside.

Cody, meanwhile, was currently hiding out in some alcoves in a primarily unused part of the school wherein he and Joe always went whenever they fancied skipping one of Professor Cole’s lessons. The man was forever trying to get them for it, but they ensured not to make their twagging trips too frequent. “So, Joey-boy,” Cody grinned at the other somewhat, “Now you know that Ted and I have taken a step in the right direction I think it’s only fair if you tell me which direction you’re headed.” 

“Well, I hate to break it to ya, Cody, but me and pretty much everyone else already thought you _were_ going in the right direction. Hell, we thought you had already arrived at your destination, so to speak,” Joe informed him.

“Really? So you all actually thought that Ted and I were sleeping together?” Cody asked. He just told Joe that he and Ted kissed and were progressively moving forward in their relationship with one another in hopes that the other would spill what he was doing with Windham. 

“Yeah. I’m pretty shocked that you haven’t been… but that’s Ted for ya, right?”

“Right, right… so, I told you about me, now it’s your turn. C’mon, man, don’t be shy now,” he encouraged.

“There’s not really much to tell,” Joe told him.

“Oh, there’s got to be _something_ ,” Cody said, trying to get even the littlest bit of information out of him. 

Joe hesitated for a moment, then said, “I’ll tell ya, but only if you come have a ciggy with me.” He knew that Cody wasn’t about to give up, and he’d been having a hankering for a cigarette for a while now (a habit he’d picked up about two summers prior when he stole one from his uncle when he went for a visit). They had to be extremely careful when they snuck out for a smoke, but if he was going to talk to Cody, he figured he’d need something to calm his nerves a bit as he did.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her - Oscar Wilde

John’s hand cupped the back of Randy’s neck tenderly at the words, the kneading motion of his fingers indicating his pleasure as they continued to move together. “I love you too, baby,” he assured breathlessly, words low and impassioned. Pulling back from John’s neck so he could look the other in the eye Randy murmured, “Tell me again.” Much as he’d felt as though he’d opened something inside of him making the admittance to John, he felt as though he could take on the world whenever John said them back to him.

Meeting Randy’s eyes with his own John tried to stifle a moan as he spoke the words again, “I lo-love you—“ his breathing hitched mid-word because Randy’s hand had suddenly started to move faster yet and John found himself helpless but to move atop Randy with an equal increase. Their breathing was laboured, faces flushed, bodies glistening with water and sweat. “Cum for me, Johnny,” Randy ground out, gritting his teeth he as he fought the urge to let go.

A small sound almost like a whine left John, his body convulsing and arching; his cum splashing against the top of Randy’s chest and his neck, Randy grasping John closer still as he erupted inside of his lover with a hoarse cry of John’s name. Sagging against the bath-side Randy drew John into his embrace, a soft grin curling his lips. 

“You never fail to make me feel incredible, Johnny,” Randy muttered, nuzzling his lover’s cheek lightly with his own. He ran one hand down John’s back and ass, then eased his cock out before taking the same trail back up. “For being sick today, you’ve got quite a bit of energy.”

“Well, it’s pretty amazing what the right prescription can do for an illness,” John said before moving his head just enough to give Randy a kiss. Their tongues entwined in a slow dance as they continued to kiss, John’s hands moving to cup Randy’s neck. 

Pulling back, Randy then said, “Baby, we’re sitting in cold, cum filled bath water… maybe we should get out, dry off and take this elsewhere?”

“Mmm, they say that bed rest is the best way to recover, isn’t that right?”

“Sounds right to me, anyway,” Randy agreed, and the pair of them stood up and stepped out onto the floor mat. John grabbed towels as Randy pulled out the stopper to allow the water down the drain.

Randy checked that they had indeed locked the door behind them (although everyone knew it was on pain-of-death that someone just barged into his room at all) since visitors would be very unwelcome right then, John then moved to Randy’s bed after discarding his towel into the laundry hamper, settling down.

“I’m feeling quite tired now,” John admitted as Randy got into bed with him, settling his head atop John’s chest. Listening to John’s heart beating was something that Randy loved to do and the rhythm soothed him on a level that even he barely understood. “Aww, you’re becoming such an old man, John,” Randy teased good-naturedly, John giving a small huff of protest.

“I am not old,” he mumbled, arms going around Randy as the covers were pulled up over their naked bodies. Their boxers and shirts had been left nearby so that they could grab them at short-notice if needed –like if someone came to the door- but both of them knew they would not be rushing to get out of bed unless it was crucial. “We should be ill more often.”

“John, you know we can’t miss too much class, especially at the same time,” Randy said, much to John’s disappointment. “And I’d hate to play sick and not have you here with me,” he then added, pressing a kiss to John’s forehead. 

“That would get horribly boring. If I played sick without you, I’d have to lie in bed all day, probably my own bed, at that, and most likely jack off to thoughts of you when Phil isn’t around,” John mused. It was difficult for them to slack off or play hooky because _everyone_ in the school knew who they were. They weren’t just normal, everyday students; they were students that the others looked up to. It was made even more difficult by the fact that they always wanted to be together on days they took off, but it wasn’t _too_ far a stretch to believe that one of them got sick from the other because they were almost always together anyway. 

“That’s so sweet of you, John,” Randy said with an amused grin on his face. “I’d do the same thing, only I wouldn’t have to worry about a roommate.” He did love rubbing it in that, as head boy, he got a room all to himself. He didn’t know how much he’d enjoy his single room, though, if John didn’t spend the night with him as often as he did.

“Actually, on that note,” John said somewhat reluctantly, “I will need to sleep in my own bed again soon…” the last time he had had a chat with his room-mate the other said that a prefect had almost cottoned of, Phil saving him by claiming he’d been in the bathroom.

“Why?” Randy pouted at the other, arms subconsciously tightening around him, John’s hand caressing his arm in a tender motion of pacification as he responded with, “Phil saved me from being caught out by a prefect, but the kid apparently lingered about for a while and almost found out that I wouldn’t be returning all night.” The Head Boy rolled his eyes slightly; sure, the Prefects de-facto worked for him reported to him and were controlled by him on a basic level, they irritated the shit out of him. Some of them were alright, knew the way the system worked and just got on with it, whereas others were complete brown-nosers who were trying to establish their own dominance by taking subtle digs at him when they could.

“Well, warn me when you’re going back to your room,” Randy murmured, eyes closing as he merely concentrated on the feel of his lover’s body nestled with his own. He was going to need some serious time to sulk and pout and curse the Prefects during the day before John returned to his own room. John chuckled softly, “Don’t you still have that teddybear I brought you back to keep you company when I can’t?”  
“… maybe. Somewhere.”

“You do. I know you do. Come on, then, where is he?” John asked. God, if only people knew that hard as nails Randal Keith Orton, Head Boy, slept with a teddy bear when his lover wasn’t with him at nights… Of course, no one would ever know that, of that they would make certain. 

Knowing that if he didn’t tell John the location of the bear, he would get out of bed and go search for it himself until he found it. And since he didn’t want John to leave his arms, much less the bed, he whispered, “Inside my night stand in the bottom drawer… right next to my Bible.”

“Is it really?” John went on.

“Don’t you believe me? Would you like me to take it out for you, too?” Randy asked. Without a word from his lover, he rolled his eyes, then reached over to open the drawer in question. Pulling the stuffed bear out, anyone could see that it had seen a whole lot of love in its time with Randy. “There. See? I still have him. Have you still got yours?” 

~~~

“You worry far too much about everything,” Chris said with a chuckle, placing a companionable arm around Evan’s shoulders and giving him a small squeeze; the action was completely and utterly innocent, something no-one could dispute as odd, but it was still enough to make Evan’s heart pound in his chest. Oh Lord… Was it warm in here or was it just him? He made no move to shrug the other off though, however casually, and for that Chris was profoundly grateful.

When they reached their next lesson Chris was forced to relinquish his hold on Evan, regretting the sensation almost immediately. As they settled down Evan bit his lip a little, chiding himself to stop being so ridiculous at the prospect of touching Chris, and on that note he placed his hand atop Chris’ thigh quickly before taking it away again. He appreciated the other wanting to spend time with him outside of school and he wanted to make sure that Chris understood that.

The touch upon his thigh was so fleeting, Chris had to tell himself that he wasn’t imagining things. It seemed like something he would imagine, though, because until that point, Evan had never touched him in public, not even in a friendly, casual way like he’d done when he’d put his arm over his shoulder. He wished that Evan’s hand would stay there throughout the entire lesson. 

The professor walked in just before the class bell rang and he settled himself in, arranging his notes for the day’s lesson. Evan was still blushing slightly from his, what he considered to be a bold move, and Chris had no idea how he’d be able to think of anything but Evan. At least Professor Lawler liked them both, hell, he liked a majority of their class, which wasn’t a surprise considering he’d known most of them since they started at the school. 

As Lawler had his back to them as he wrote notes upon the blackboard, talking about something irrelevant, Chris slipped his hand under Evan’s desk and quickly laid his palm upon his thigh.

Evan startled just slightly underneath the touch although he made no motion to push the other away. He swallowed slightly and bit his bottom lip, shivering slightly at the warmth that shot through his body as Chris’ hand gently began to rub his thigh in small circular motions. There was a part of him that was concerned that someone would see, but the other part of him was getting an undeniable enjoyment from it.

“Now then everyone,” Professor Lawler started to talk and Evan did his best to tune in, though he was looking out of the corner of his eye at Chris. The other, damn him, seemed so damn casual whereas Evan felt as though his heart was going to burst from his chest, but then he looked back at him and sent him a wink… Evan was going to die. Or jump on Chris, one or the other. His hand tightened around his pen, startled by his own thoughts; he’d never thought himself so amorous before Chris.

Oh, Evan was going to kill him, Chris thought as he watched those little whites nibbling at that lusciously soft bottom lip once more. Chris wanted to lick it, to catch that sweet mouth in a kiss and feel Evan trembling in his arms… he doubted that was what professor Lawler meant though when he spoke about practical demonstrations.

Finally pulling his hand away, Chris turned his head back to the front, but continued to watch Evan out of the corner of his eye. God, he was just the cutest thing. He considered himself lucky to know him at all. At times he couldn’t even fathom the fact that he was actually his lover. He loved Evan, and Evan loved him back. It was the most amazing feeling in the world knowing that. 

Evan could still feel the ghost of Chris’ hand on his leg, the only thing telling him that the hand was actually gone was the cool air hitting him where they was just warmth. He missed the hand already. He didn’t know if he should try it again, try slipping his hand atop Chris’ thigh once more. The last thing he needed was for someone to see what they were doing, although people did generally tune into Professor Lawler, as his lectures were actually quite interesting. 

Returning to his notes once he’d taken his hand off Evan’s warm thigh, Chris found himself surprised by his lover once more as the hand from before slipped onto his thigh once again. He looked to Evan, who bit his lip before sliding his hand up even higher before then removing his hand as quickly as he placed it on there.

~~~

“Alright,” Cody said as he ducked off of the ledge he had been sitting on, falling into step besides his friend after checking his pocket-watch. “We’d best get a move on though—we’ve got two minutes until break’s over, and if any of the Prefects catch us out when we’re supposed to be in lessons then we’ll both be for it.” And he couldn’t afford to get a detention in the evenings now that his theatre rehearsals would be picking up again in frequency.

“Aye,” Joe nodded as he and Cody casually slipped into the main stream of students and then snuck their way out onto the grounds. The bike sheds were a well-known, and yet the easiest spot to hide in, because you could see the Prefects coming either way and hide yourself in the nearby trees to get away from them before they could cotton on to who you were. Once they were behind the shed Joe pulled his cigarette tin from his breast pocket and Cody grinned, “Your dad still doesn’t know then?”

Lighting his cigarette Joe sent the other an ‘are you mental?’ but then took a deep drag before he exhaled a breath of smoke. Another puff and Cody was getting impatient, “Joe!” Joe winced slightly and nodded, “Ok… Right. Well, there is someone. Sort of. A little bit. I mean, I’m not with ‘em, but I’d like ta be.” At least, he was sure he did, though the thought of crossing such intimate boundaries with this particular person was enough to make him hesitate. “I like him…” his throat closed up as he admitted a gender, “But I don’t think he likes men too.” 

“Well, come on then, who is it?” Cody asked. He’d be shocked if the name that Joe said wasn’t Windham, though. He really didn’t know who else it could be. It could be Heath, he supposed, as they were good friends. It’s just that he and Windham were the best of friends, and had been since childhood. Plus, they both shared the pressure of being sons of teachers in their school.

However, Joe didn’t give a name, not yet, anyway. He just shrugged and took another drag. 

“Give it here,” Cody said, wondering just how long it was going to take for him to give up a name. 

Passing the cigarette over, Joe watched as Cody took a drag and let out a puff of smoke. He took one more before he passed it back. “I should just give it up… I don’t know if I even have a chance with him… and the last thing that I want is for our friendship to come to an end over this.” He took a deep drag this time, blowing a large puff of smoke out as Cody spoke.

“Don’t give it up. You just need to try harder. Like I told you earlier, I just had to up and kiss Teddy before anything happened between us. I’d give you more advice, but it’d be real nice to know just who it was you were going after,” he said, wiggling his brows at Joe teasingly. 

“Try harder,” Joe scoffed weakly, “I don’t know whether it’s even worth attempting to try at all considering that, as I said, I don’t know whether he even likes men. For all I know he could have some sweetheart tucked away in a high-rise suburb.” Cody sincerely doubted that was the case if the man in question was Windham because the other hadn’t ever made any indication that he had some interest—and any boys who had lady’s favours couldn’t resist but to show them off to their peers even though it was cold-hearted to those without sweethearts.

“It’s Windham…” Joe murmured quietly and Cody was about to give a little victory punch to the air, because, well, he had known, because he was just that clever, but then Joe said, “But, well, it’s not _just_ Windham.” Joe’s mouth worked as though he was experiencing some great pain and Cody couldn’t help the way his jaw dropped slightly. Joe liked _two_ boys? Christ-- and people had always said that he was ambitious in his romantic interests. Joe stubbed his cigarette out on the ground.

“Who… who’s the other boy?” he asked, leaning in towards the other. Joe shook his head; he felt as though he had betrayed Windham’s friendship already by professing his hidden feelings for the other aloud, but if he dared be so greedy and fickle as to have the same feelings for another at the same time, he wasn’t worthy of any affection Windham might bestow upon him in some unknown future. 

Taking out another cigarette from his tin, Joe lit it and took a deep drag, holding the smoke in his lungs for as long as he could before blowing out. “I’ve already told you way too much,” he said after a bit. 

“What? Please, you haven’t told me enough! Look, I’ve fooled around with other boys, I don’t really know how many, but I’ve only ever _liked_ one of them. And that’s Teddy. Now you’re telling me that you’ve got feelings for not only one, but two boys. One of them being Windham… Do I know this second boy?”

Joe shrugged, taking yet another deep drag. Once he blew the smoke out, he looked to Cody and said, “Maybe… maybe not.”

Snatching the cigarette from Joe’s hand, Cody took a puff and looked at his friend, annoyed. “You can’t tell me something like that and not elaborate. Have you ever done anything with another boy before?” he asked as he handed the cigarette back. Once again, Joe shrugged, and Cody rolled his eyes and said, “What the hell kind of answer is that. It’s either a yes or a no. So, have you?” Joe shrugged again.

~~~

“Yes,” John responded without preamble, “He’s in my wardrobe on the top shelf where he stays safe until I need him.” The silken rabbit that Randy had brought him had been a rather sweet gesture because John had been mourning the loss of his own childhood rabbit, and so Randy had brought him ‘Flopsy’ as a memento of his old companion.

There was no shame to them about their cuddly companions; they substituted their lovers, and they had both been gifts bought with genuine love and sincerity. If anyone, by chance, ever happened to spot them, they claimed they were gifts from their sisters and no-one questioned that they had still kept them then.

“Paddington’s eye’s coming loose,” John commented, touching the small bead gently and Randy nodded, “I know… I was thinking of bandaging over it if it fell off—make him look like a war hero,” he joked and John chuckled softly. It was a small link to their fast dimming childhoods that they could talk about doing things with the stuffed toys aside from cuddling them, just acting like children that little bit longer. 

“He’d be quite a brave looking bear, then. I bet you your sister could fashion some medals of honour for him, too,” John said, his finger poking at the center of the bear where the stuffing had sunk in from Randy holding him. 

“That would look quite handsome… am I going to be sleeping with him tonight, then?” Randy asked as he watched John continually poke his bear. 

Looking to Randy, John sighed. “Possibly. I’m sure that Prefect is dying to get me for being out of bed again. What a bastard. Can’t you cover for me, or something? Don’t you have any clout around here? God, what am I sleeping with you for?”

“Yes, I probably could get you out of trouble, but that doesn’t mean that I would,” Randy teased. Of course he’d do anything to get John out of trouble… unless his punishment was detention, and then he’d do everything in his power to be the one to run the detention.

“Tch, honestly, some gallant gentleman you are,” John pretended to huff, though sighed and held Randy a little tighter as he considered that he probably would need to get Flopsy out that night. Another plus of Flopsy? He smelled like Randy’s favourite cologne, though John knew he’d need to have Randy give the bunny a touch-up of the scent before too long as it was fading with each passing evening. “I’ll miss you tonight.”

“Don’t mention that now, John.” Even the mere mention of John leaving his room depressed Randy, and such feelings led to him considering the time when they would not be in school together every day, but living on their families estates once more. _It’d be hell._

“Sorry,” John absently caressed the worn old teddy, “One day I may need to buy you a new one…” that would be a good long time away though, when the teddy was beyond repair. “Stay tonight,” Randy suddenly said, “Word’s out that we’re ill, so Phil can just claim the Prefect can’t go in to check.” 

John gave Randy a soft smile, leaning in to kiss him before agreeing. “I’d be happy to stay here tonight. It’s always so nice to have someone to cuddle with when you’re sick, and since both of us are ill, it would only make sense.”

“Thank you,” Randy whispered. “Tomorrow, when we’re feeling better, I’ll let you go. But until then you’re staying right here with me. In bed.”

“What about lunch?” John asked. He didn’t even need the bells to tell him when lunchtime was, as he always got hungry around the same time every day (no matter what sort of morning activities he and Randy got up to), which was about ten minutes prior to the lunch bell. And he was starting to get hungry right then.

“This time can we please have someone fetch it for us?” Randy asked. He knew that he could scare just about any of the younger students into going to get lunch for him and his sick best friend. “I really don’t want to have to get dressed again.”

“Ok, you bully younger students into doing your dirty work,” John teased good-naturedly; Randy might put the fear of God into the younger students for fun, but he had outgrown the old adage of having them do his bidding all the time; now he only did it for times like these, and they were far and few between. Randy decided he’d stick his head out at the bell and collar the first kid that he saw to go and fetch them food.

“Since I’m the one who’s securing your stomach its regular feed—“ he ignored John’s mumbled, _Don’t talk about my stomach like it’s a separate being_ and continued, “I think you owe me.” Brow arching, John quirked a brow and smirked slightly up at Randy as he found himself being pushed down underneath the younger man. “And what do I owe you, Randal?”

“I can think of a few things,” Randy joked, “But for now—“ he ducked his head and took John’s lips in a slow kiss that deepened gradually, exploring John’s mouth, desire in the kiss but no intent to physically stimulate the other, John’s hands spanning over his back.

As Randy pulled up, John smiled his lazy smile at his lover and said, “I’m happy with this.” With that, he raised his head up and met Randy’s lips with his own once again, initiating another deep, slow kiss. 

They continued to kiss until Randy heard the bell ring. He didn’t want to leave the bed, but he knew that if he didn’t he’d have to listen to John’s bitching until he managed to get some food into him. Pushing back the covers, Randy rolled over John and stepped out of bed, grabbing his robe and slipping that on before he went to the door. He could hear people passing by, so he quickly secured his robe and put his sick face back on before opening the door. “You,” he said, reaching out to grab the shirt of one of the younger children as they walked by.

The kid looked as though he may piss his pants as he looked into Randy’s face (he noticed that his mouth was all swollen and his cheeks were flushed and his eyes were saggy… he just didn’t look well at all). “Yes?” he asked quietly. 

“I want you to get me and John Cena some food. We’ve quarantined ourselves and we don’t want to go to the dining hall, so you can do it for us. Don’t skimp on the food, either,” he added before pushing the kid along and shutting the door.

The door closed and Randy turned back towards the bed, arching a brow with a small smirk as he noticed John had burrowed under the covers, “Oi, Cena, get out from under there. Now I’ve secured you lunch I deserve a reward.”

The top of John’s head poked out from underneath the covers, those heart-warming baby-blues twinkling at him, “More of the same?” Randy undid the sash of his robe with one hand, shrugging it off and tossing it carelessly over his desk chair as he sauntered back towards the bed, “Do you even need to ask?” the covers were lifted and he slipped underneath them with his lover, taking John’s chin in hand and bringing their lips together once more. Again the kisses were slow and relaxed, hands wandering but merely because they wanted to. They parted when a tentative knock sounded at the door.

Sighing in irritation he disentangled himself from John once more as he shrugged on the robe and tied it, opening the door—he and John should get Oscars for their performance that day. “Ta,” he said in a hoarse but brusque voice, the kid obviously having roped his equally terrified friend into coming with him as they both held generous plates of food. Taking them both Randy then said, “Ten house points each—now sod off.” Too terrified of the elder boy to be mad (and thrilled they got house points) they turned and fled and Randy nudged the door shut.

Pulling the cover down so Randy could slip back into bed, John sat up eagerly, ready to dine in bed with his lover. “Those were some well earned house points,” John said as he took his overflowing plate from Randy. He then took Randy’s plate as he untied his robe, hanging it back up behind his door before joining John in bed, taking his plate of food back. 

“Are you really that hungry?” Randy asked, glancing towards John, then back down at his food, wondering where he should start. 

“Being sick takes a lot out of you. Plus, if I don’t eat it all right now, I can always have some to snack on later,” he reasoned as he shoved a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. He then ripped off a piece of turkey, placed it atop his mound of mashed potatoes and ate them both together. “I’d offer to feed you, but I don’t think potatoes are the most romantic of all foods,” he then said to Randy just after he swallowed. 

~~~

The bell rang and Professor Lawler bid them all his usual cheery goodbye, asking them to finish the assigned questions for homework that they hadn’t completed in class, and Evan gathered his things up. He headed outside with Chris, and then found himself slightly startled when Chris’ hand enveloped his own and he found himself being towed down a hallway. “Chris?” he queried, cheeks pinkening somewhat from embarrassment.

The nearest bathroom seemed to be Chris’ destination and the Canadian gave a cursory glance around before he then ducked into a cubicle, pulling Evan inside and then pushing the door closed and locking it. Evan’s back connected with the door quite firmly which made the hinges rattle, but Evan didn’t have much time to ask his lover what on earth he was playing before a set of lips covered his own. Shock rendered him immobile for several long seconds but his body seemed to soon catch on to what was happening even if his mind didn’t.

“You sweet tease,” Chris breathed against Evan’s mouth when their kiss broke enough to let them both gain some breath back, Evan’s looking a little swollen but nowhere near as much as he wanted them to, “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” Evan’s mouth opened to respond and Chris used the opportunity to slip his tongue into the smaller boy’s mouth as he pulled his body in close, a hand sliding into his hair to keep him in place.

“Chris, what are you doing?” Evan panted when they finally broke apart in need of air. Not that he didn’t want Chris all over him, because, well, he _did_ , but they were in the _bathroom_! And they were between classes! Anyone could come in at any time and spot them. Of course, that wasn’t exactly a new thing for anyone to walk in on, but that thought did little to ease Evan’s nerves. 

“I’m kissing you,” he answered, peppering kisses all over Evan’s face before returning to his lips. “I wish I had time to suck you,” he added once he pulled back and began nibbling on Evan’s ear, grinding his hips forward at the same time, rubbing their hardening cocks together. 

“Chris! You—!” Evan exclaimed, but was cut off when Chris’ hand made its way into his trousers and boxers to take Evan’s cock into his firm grasp.

“I’ll be quick, I promise,” Chris muttered, bringing his lips to Evan’s once again.

Evan knew he should be mad, but it was hard to be mad when Chris’ mouth, hands, mere _presence_ made him feel _so good._ He’d get mad later though, just because he had to make some show of dignity over his lover accosting him as such in the bathroom. Chris’ hand was pumping in a swift, steady rhythm and Evan was helpless but to rut into the palm, pre-cum making the motions easier with each passing second between them.

The sweet sounds Evan was releasing into his mouth, the way he throbbed underneath his hand, was enough to drive Chris to the point of distraction but he knew that he wouldn’t have the time to care of himself as well as his lover, so he made a promise he would give himself gratification later. And, as Evan started to shudder in his arms with his impending climax, hands clutching desperately to his back, Chris knew that he would be thinking about this moment as he did to himself precisely what he was doing in that moment, enjoying every second of it.

As Evan began to come, his cries got lost in Chris’ mouth. His back slammed into the door, rattling its hinges once again. Soon he stilled and Chris broke off the kiss. “Good thing we wear black pants,” he whispered, removing his cum covered hand from Evan’s trousers. 

Glancing down, Evan couldn’t see a wet spot, but he could feel it. A lot of his cum seemed to be on Chris’ hand, though there was some that was on his underclothes, which made him want to change, as now it was wet but it would soon dry to become scratchy… and he would obviously smell of sex. “Chris, I need to go change,” he said, his eyes growing wide as he finally looked up at Chris and saw what he was doing.

“You don’t have any time for that,” he replied with a wink as he licked his hand clean of Evan’s cum.

“Oh sweet Jesus…” Evan gulped hard as Chris’ tongue flicked around his fingers again, hand cleaned of Evan’s seed, “Chris—“ Chris cocked his head at the other, the picture of innocence, despite what they had just done. “Let’s go,” Chris unlocked the stall door, pulling Evan out with him. Moving to the sinks Chris washed his hand, the flustered, post-orgasm Evan following dazedly and copying his actions.

Before they exited the bathroom though Evan caught the strap of Chris’ satchel, making the other lean back into him some more, “I’ll… Later, I’ll take care of you.” Chris almost fell over in shock, eyes wide as he watched Evan’s back as the other hastened to class. Shaking himself somewhat the Canadian hastened to hurry up and catch him; the other wasn’t a selfish lover, not at all, but he rarely ever broadcast his intent to do something with him along the lines of physical intimacy. _God, how was he supposed to concentrate on class now?_

Chris found out that it really wasn’t a very easy task. His eyes kept wandering over towards Evan. Not that that was unusual, as he did that quite often. But now he was doing it even more. He was hardly looking at the blackboard at all. In this class, he and Evan didn’t sit next to each other, but in between Randy and John. Now Evan was sitting there between two empty seats and Chris wanted nothing more than to go and fill one of those seats. 

Evan was back to tapping his pen. Each time that he wanted to glance back to Chris, he had to tell himself that he couldn’t, and would start tapping his desk with his pen. Normally he would lean over and say something to Randy, or he’d have to lean back so that Randy and John could whisper to one another. He wished that they were allowed to move around the seats here, because he wanted Chris next to him. 

The class was a slow going one normally, but after Evan’s words, that was all he could think about. Thoughts of Evan taking him into that mouth of his were what got him through the class. Of course, he didn’t actually know what Evan had in mind, but he could certainly imagine. 

The bell rang for the end of third lesson and Evan painstakingly finished his sentence before securely capping his pen before placing it into his pen-tin and then tucking it into the school-supplied satchel every boy in the school carried, each only distinguishable by the name and class inscribed on the tag underneath the top. Chris mused that he was nowhere near as genteel when it came to putting his own things away, and that Evan’s adorable attention to detail was another of his innumerable positive points.

When the other straightened up Chris did the same, having been using the desk to lean against casually as Evan readied himself. “Lunch?” he asked, unable to help but hope if they finished lunch early then they would be able to call in somewhere private for Evan’s promise. Evan, however, merely blushed a very fetching shade of pink and bit down on his bottom lip—the action drawing Chris’ eyes down to the appendages and he fought a moan in his throat.

“Come with me,” the smaller man murmured, hand brushing Chris’ as he ducked out of the room, the tips of his ears red (much the same way his cousin’s went) as he rounded the corner. Almost like a hunting beagle to a rabbit Chris made chase, though he knew his prize would be more satisfactory than the thrill of a hunt. 

They passed by the bathroom they had made use of earlier, so Chris knew that they weren’t stopping there. Maybe Evan was leading them back to their room. While it wasn’t exactly adventurous, he certainly wasn’t going to complain about being alone with Evan anywhere. He continued following him, moving in the opposite direction of the rest of the crowd as they headed to the dining hall. 

However, Evan stopped well shy of their room. There was a janitor’s cupboard before they reached their room, and Chris had muttered _once_ before that he wanted to take him in there. Yes, he mentioned it once, and that was quite some time ago, before they actually slept together. And Evan remembered. When Evan saw Chris watching him, he ducked inside after glancing around to make sure that no one was behind him to see him. 

Chris was there with him in a matter of seconds.

Dropping his satchel to the floor (and praying it wasn’t too dirty) Evan then slid to his knees gracefully, oozing the same reverent grace he used when he was kneeling before God—only this was a whole ‘nother level of worship. Chris’ breath caught, hands grasping for anything in the almost-darkness of the cupboard, hands gripping tighter at whatever purchase he found when Evan’s hands found his fly, “Evvy, you don’t need to…”

“I know,” Evan cut his words off. He knew Chris would never _expect_ him to get on his knees for him, but Evan _wanted_ to make Chris feel good. Being so open was still a little daunting and he had to remind himself of Randy’s words concerning God and being so accepting of love before he freed Chris from his trousers. The other already felt rather hard but even as he took Chris in hand he felt him getting harder and harder still; the Canadian shoving his hand into his mouth as Evan’s delicate tongue first met his crows and circled it.

“Oh, God,” Chris muttered around his fist, biting into his own flesh. It wasn’t often that Evan did this for him. In fact, he could probably count on both hands the number of times that Evan had gone down on him. But he could guarantee that it had _never_ happened in a public space like they were in right now. 

Evan continued licking at the tip of Chris’ cock, hoping that the reactions he was getting from Chris were good ones. He knew that Chris loved him, but he was still so uncertain about his skills, so to speak. He hoped that he was good enough for him. Chris mentioned before that he had been with other boys in the past, whereas he himself had no other experience. Everything he’d learned he’d learned with Chris, or from Chris, or just by trying things out on Chris (not that he was horribly adventurous, or anything). Finally he opened his mouth wider and took some of his lover’s cock into his mouth. 

“Shit!” Chris cried, still biting down hard on his hand so the word was practically unintelligible. But it got his point across.

~~~

Cody was starting to get annoyed now; sure, Joe’s situation was a delicate one but he wasn’t a fool—he knew when to use discretion after all, and if the other wanted help then he bloody-well needed to be more forthcoming with the info!

“I did a little bit,” Joe eventually conceded. “I kissed him, and we jerked ourselves off, but that was it.” He hadn’t touched the other boy intimately like that and vice versa, even though he knew the other would not have turned him down if he made such an advance upon the other, because… “Why didn’t you do more?” Cody cut through his thoughts, and Joe knew it was a genuine curiosity as opposed to scoffing or piss-taking about his masculinity. Another drag and a puff of smoke resulted from the question.

“Because I felt guilty.” The words were so loaded with emotion that Cody kept his mouth shut for once instead of blurting in with his newest thought. “I felt guilty, like I’d be cheating on Windham if I went further with the boy, and then I felt like I’d be cheating on him to some level too because I can’t give him all of my affection.” In its own way that made sense and Cody placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder, squeezing, “Tell me who is it, Joe.” 

“It was Heath,” Joe finally admitted once he finished off his second cigarette. It felt somewhat relieving to actually be able to tell someone about what happened, even if that person was known to spread gossip. With this, though, he trusted that Cody would keep that information to himself. 

“You and Heath, then? And you two are always giving me and Teddy shit. God, you’re hypocrites, the lot of you…,” Cody mumbled. “How long ago was this, then?” he decided to ask. 

“Umm… not long ago at all,” he said, not wanting to get into specifics. “It just kind of happened. We were coming back from class we have together and I had to take a piss, so we went into the bathroom. I finished pissing, then the next thing I know I’m looking over into Heath’s eyes and we start kissing.”

“Really? Well, I must say you two have done a really superb job of keeping everything under wraps,” Cody said. “But if you’re so certain that you’re never going to get Windham, why not just settle on Heath. He’s a good guy, really.”

“He’s still no Windham, though,” Joe confessed. “I just don’t know _how_ to go about doing anything with him… I don’t know if he’d approve of me going up to him and kissing him at the urinal, or something of the like.” Joe sighed and tried to fight the urge to reach for another cigarette. They were rather hard to get a hold of, and he didn’t want to go through an entire pack right then and there, even though he knew that he could have at that moment.

Sensing his friend’s struggle Cody took the tin from his hand and snapped it shut firmly, placing it inside Joe’s pocket and keeping his hand on the other’s chest as he ensured Joe kept his attention on him. “You need to tell him.” Joe went to protest but Cody placed his free hand over his friend’s mouth and shook his head.

“Joe, you can’t go on like this. It’s obviously causing you a great deal of confliction and because you are so uncertain you’re denying yourself the possibility of actual happiness. If Windham is indeed your closest friend on this earth then even if he doesn’t return your feelings he should still be your friend, and he should then support you if you do turn your attention elsewhere.” It was times like these when Cody’s often down-played intelligence and not-utilised-often-enough-sensitivity became known to people once more and Joe stilled.

“But…” the boy looked so downtrodden that Cody was almost tempted to draw him into a hug, but refrained since he’d bet Joe would use the contact to change the subject or not finish his thought. “He’ll hate me, Cody. I couldn’t bear it if he hates me, and not just because of my intimate affection towards him.” Cody exhaled a breath, giving what he hoped was a supportive smile, “I know it’s hard, J, but you need to do it. Do you know I actually thought the same about myself and Ted?”

Joe blinked at him, “Really?” Cody and Ted had always just seemed made for one another, even when they had been mere children and hadn’t even begun to contemplate intimacy with another person, boy or girl, and it seemed ridiculous that Cody would have had doubts about himself and Ted becoming something more than friends. 

“Yes, really,” Cody assured him. “With Teddy being the religious type, I had no idea if we could ever actually be together. But I would have waited forever to be with him, gladly, even if it never happened. Hell, I thought after I kissed him when we were running lines that he was going to run away from me.”

“But he didn’t because he liked you back,” Joe pointed out.

“Well, I didn’t know that he liked me back. I had a hunch, but I never knew for sure. I mean, I know that now, but for the longest time, I never had any idea that he felt the same for me that I did for him. With Windham, though, I wouldn’t say just up and kiss him, though, that probably wouldn’t be the best plan of action. But do try to talk to him about it, see how he feels…”

“And what if he _doesn’t_ feel the same? Don’t you think it’d be a bit awkward between us after that? We’ve been best friends forever, our fathers, somehow, are the best of friends… I couldn’t stand ruining that,” Joe told him.

“If Windham truly is your best friend, then he’ll let it go and you two can carry on being friends… even though he may tease you about screwing around with Heath should you and Windham not become an item,” Cody told him, earning him a swat on the shoulder from Joe.

The bell rang across the grounds, reaching them faintly by the sheds and Cody checked his own pocket-watch (most were school issue, though some students had ones as gifts from relatives) before sighing, “Well, lesson’s over and we’ve gotta make an appearance at the next one. Let’s go.” Joe nodded his head and sighed, falling into step with his friend, a perplexed expression still covering his features.

“Just… think about talking to him, Ok?” Cody suggested gently as they made their way indoors, “You can’t keep restraining or limiting yourself, you need to learn to be a little more selfish.” Joe thought that that was easy for Cody to say but he didn’t say anything because he knew on some level that the other was right. Even though he had offered genuine advice, Cody was also giddy about the fact he had information for Ted.

They headed back into the main school after spritzing themselves with their colognes to hide the scent of cigarettes; whilst they were not illegal at their age to smoke, the cigarettes were considered contraband by the school rules and you got absolutely massacred if any of the teachers caught you with them… Cody could only imagine how his father would take the news if someone claimed that he had been caught smoking; he’d probably be locked into his room and refused the permission to leave for months on end, strict as his daddy was. 

Then, Cody decided, that whatever his punishment would be if he was ever caught smoking, it would be about a thousand times worse for Joe. Cody himself didn’t smoke regularly, nor did he have any cigarettes in his possession. Joe, however, did. On both accounts. And his father would be pissed if he ever found out about it. 

Soon they were at their third class of the day, one that they also had with Heath and Ted. Taking his seat next to Ted, he noticed the other giving him a stern look. “What is it?” he asked.

“You reek of cologne.” Ted dropped his voice low and said in a harsh whisper, “You were out smoking again.”

“I only did it so I could get some information,” Cody replied, low enough so that Joe wouldn’t hear. “I didn’t go into it with the intention of smoking,” he added. He knew that Ted hated when he smoked, as he said it made him smell revolting, and when he put on cologne to hide it, it only made him smell like a wet dog. The professor walked in and Cody quickly said, “I’ll tell you later.”

Even though passing notes in class was one of the highest-punishable offence one could commit in the classroom Ted couldn’t have held himself back then; he abhorred Cody smoking (his father did the same, but with expensive cigars, and he hated them just as much) and the other had promised him that he was going to cut back. Ensuring the teacher’s back was turned Ted then swiftly ripped a page from his spare journal as quietly as possible.

His pen flew over the page, neat writing appearing and shining for several long moments as Ted let it dry. The blonde then folded it into two and passed it across the table casually, Cody’s hand closing over it as subtly and swiftly as possible—and not a moment too soon because the teacher turned around to enunciate a point.

_You promised me you wouldn’t take up that filthy habit anymore!_ Cody read and he couldn’t help but rile Ted when the other got firm with him, and as such his response was, _/It was just a puff or two, no harm done. Why, are you going to punish me, Teddy?_ Ted’s cheeks did pinken as he read the note but the frown marring his handsome face didn’t diminish at all, _I would, but not in a manner you’d enjoy I’m sure._

When Cody read the note, he turned to Ted and raised a brow as if to say, “Oh, really?” Below Ted’s note, he wrote _Why don’t you try me, Teddy?_ The frown on Ted’s face deepened even further when he received Cody’s reply. _I’d rather just have you quit all together._ Rolling his eyes when he got Ted’s note back, he quickly wrote _I already told you, I didn’t do much._ He slid the note under the cover of his notebook hastily when the professor turned around and continued his lecture, and Cody had to begin taking actual notes for the time being. 

When the professor turned around once more, going to town on the chalk board, scratching it once much to the dismay of the students, Cody pulled the reply back out and continued on _The information I got will be worth it_. Ted read Cody’s note and shook his head writing, _You could have said no when he passed it to you._ Cody read it and bit his bottom lip, he didn’t need to tell Ted that he _asked_ to be passed the cigarette. 

Cody wanted to write back, but the professor turned back around and began asking people questions about what he’d just been talking about, meaning that he didn’t have the opportunity to write back. It wasn’t that much longer until the end of class, anyway, and he thankfully managed to avoid being asked one of the dreaded questions he wouldn’t have known the answer to even if he had been paying attention. When the bell finally rang, Cody hoped that he could talk to Ted during lunch, but wasn’t going to bank on it since the subjects of the conversation would be right there with them.

Catching Ted’s arm when they were outside Cody then sent their friends his best smile, “We’ll catch up with you both in a minute.” Windham turned around and smirked at them both, “Sneaking for a quickie in the bathroom? Might wanna up the skills, Codes, I think Teddy’s attention is wandering from you,” he winked, joking, causing Ted to turn bright red as he recalled what Windham had been saying earlier when he had tried to find anything out from the other. Cody looked confused but then merely rolled his eyes and gave a playfully haughty look before flipping the other off. Then, he began pulling Ted behind him, away from them.

There were a few catcalls and whistles following them but they were so used to it they barely reacted. Though the hallways were empty Cody didn’t want to chance them being overheard… and he just wanted to be alone with Ted. “So,” Cody closed the door behind them once they were inside the empty room, grimacing as he noticed a light layer of dust covering most of the items in said room. Oh well, it would serve its purpose for now. “I found out from Joe who he likes—what did you find out?”

“Aside from the fact that you’re a cheeky minx who should get put across my knee for indulging in filthy habits?” Ted said, Cody’s mind going to the gutter almost immediately at his lover’s words, missing the annoyed look Ted sent at him. Then, the other sighed and seemed to deflate somewhat. “Windham said he might like someone, and that was it, but he wouldn’t tell me anymore, or gender, because he said I couldn’t keep something from you and you can’t keep a secret from anyone.” He was both apologetic and not, because he had expected that nothing would come of them getting involved; they had to sort these things out themselves in the end.

“Really, Teddy? That’s all you manage to get out of him? You’re hopeless, aren’t you?” Cody asked, though he was teasing, obviously. He was quite honestly surprised that Joe gave him as much information as he did, considering he had a bit of a reputation for starting gossip. 

“Gee, thanks. See if I ever do anything for you again,” Ted huffed. 

Rolling his eyes, Cody pressed a quick kiss to Ted’s lips, which did help the other to calm down just a bit. “So you better be happy knowing that I can weasel information out of anybody. Even if it did mean I had to have a puff or two of his cigarette. Turns out, he _does_ have a thing for Windham, _but_ he’s also fooled around with Heath!”

“Heath?” Ted repeated. “Let me get this straight. Joe has a thing for Windham, but has done things with Heath, yet they’re all giving _us_ a hard time about…” he trailed off as he remembered something else about his earlier conversation. “You know, I said Joe’s name when I was talking to him and he had a funny reaction. I don’t know what it meant, exactly, but I thought it could possibly mean that he did actually, you know, want Joe in a similar fashion,” he concluded with a shrug.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A man who does not think for himself does not think at all - Oscar Wilde

“At least you considered the option,” Randy pretended to sniff in upset, taking some of his own food; their love-making from earlier and scant breakfast was catching up to him it seemed, and his stomach was more than happy to receive what he was giving it. “’Ere,” John grinned suddenly, “Do you remember New Year’s last year?” John had gone to the Orton Estate, his parents having been visiting acquaintances abroad.

“Of course,” Randy’s lips curled into a slow grin, “Whenever I see strawberries now I’m reminded of it… ol’ cook at home thinks there’s something wrong with me when I see them, because I can’t help smiling.”

Even though New Year’s was a pretty important social occasion Randy was never expected to make more than a passing-showing at balls that were hosted by his parents and so he and John had retired as soon as they possibly could to Randy’s bedchamber. They had had some strawberries and some chocolate, as well as champagne, and had watched the fireworks in Randy’s garden whilst sitting on his window-seat, feeding one another the fruit and sweets and sipping the bubbly alcohol, before exchanging a kiss as midnight rolled around.

“That was the best New Year celebration that I’ve ever attended,” John said, his dimples out in full force as he smiled at Randy. “I would love to do that again with you sometime,” he added.

“You’ll just have to come to my house during winter holiday when we’re in Uni, then,” Randy told him. “I’ll have cook prepare us a nice basket filled with chocolate dipped strawberries and a bottle of champagne. And we’ll sit and watch the fireworks just like last time until it’s time to properly ring in the New Year.”

“And how exactly would you define properly ringing in the New Year?” John asked, shoveling some potato into his mouth. 

“Do you care to venture a guess or two?” Randy returned, quirking a brow, small grin on his face. 

“As long as it involves the both of us naked, I’m good,” John quipped, hoping that was at least somewhat along the lines of what Randy had in mind.

“Hm…” Randy pretended to heave a long-suffering sigh, “I want to do romantic things with you and all you ever want to do is get into my pants.” Had John not known the other better he would have thought that was serious.

“It’s only so I don’t mess up your clothes when I pour some of the chocolate on you,” John added on innocently as he finally set his plate aside, a good portion left on it, stomach momentarily sated, seeing that Randy had stilled a little besides him when he turned back. “Pouring the chocolate on me?” he repeated slowly, wanting to make sure he had that right.

“Yep,” John said, tone as casual as if he was discussing the weather with the other, having had this idea in mind since their strawberry themed evening for New Year’s last time, “I’d pour it on you and then lick it off. Don’t worry though, darling, you’d still have enough for your strawberries. And who knows? All being well we may end up with not just strawberries and chocolate, but also with _cream_ to enjoy.”

“John, you’re awful,” Randy said with a smirk. “However, I wholly approve of this idea. So long as you don’t get chocolate all over my sheets, a stain like that will never come out,” he added. 

“We can make use of your immense floor, then. No sheets to worry about there,” John suggested, already imagining Randy’s gorgeous body spread out on the floor while he poured warm chocolate over him, just to then lick it right off. Maybe even dip a strawberry or two into the chocolate on Randy’s body, one for him and one for Randy. “What do you say, Randy? Do you approve?”

“I most certainly do. Just don’t try and practice with your mashed potatoes,” he teased. 

“Oh, but why not?” John asked. 

Randy laughed, setting his plate to the side to then pull John in close. He rested his forehead against John’s temple and whispered, “I love you.”

Smiling softly John then wrapped his arms around Randy in turn, murmuring, “I love you too.” How Randy ever struggled to comprehend the idea John had _no_ idea. No one would ever come close to Randy in his heart.

They remained lain together for a while just letting their minds wander and their food settle. “I’ve been in need of this,” John admitted after a while, hand rubbing small circles over Randy’s abdomen the way that he liked, and that John swore made the taller purr like an overgrown kitten. “In need of what?” Randy asked, feeling like another nap would be quite prudent at that moment in time. John smiled indulgently down at him.

“A day off. Especially when it’s a day off with you,” John added and Randy smirked lazily, the expression jokingly serious, “Well, of course—you can’t enjoy yourself when I’m not there.” John stuck his tongue out playfully, “I wouldn’t go _that_ far.” They playfully sniped at one another until their lips met in a light kiss.

Pulling back from the kiss, John gave Randy a smirk and said, “In fact, I’ve _enjoyed myself_ numerous times in the past without you around.”

“But you’re still _thinking_ of me, aren’t you?” Randy asked, raising a brow.

“Maybe. Does enjoying the presence of someone else count, as well?” John questioned. It had been weeks since his last fling with someone other than Randy, though (that being Dupree).

“Nope. Completely by yourself without me there. Physically _or_ in your thoughts. So, can you enjoy yourself without me around?”

“From time to time, but only when I’ve got a deck of cards and I’m playing solitaire, then I don’t think of anything but the cards,” John answered truthfully. He really did think about Randy quite a lot. 

If Randy looked smug right then he felt he had a lot of right to; he knew many a boy and girl who was after John’s affection, and out of the numerous people he knew John had interacted with socially he was the one who the other kept returning to in serious terms.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Randy confessed quietly, “A good book is the only way I lose you from my mind.” Well, yes, that did make John feel slightly less pathetic about his love-sick tendencies concerning Randy.

“You mean I don’t leave your mind even when you’re with Samantha?” Randy groaned; the mention of the woman his parents’ intended for him to marry making him push John down onto the bed, hovering over him, “Must you, John, really?” John reached up, cupping one of Randy’s cheeks with a small grin, “I just like rilin’ you up, dear Randal.” Randy shook his head, muttering, “Minx… your sense of timing sucks.”

~~~

His gag reflex was something he had always struggled with (and he would not admit under pain of death that he had practiced against it with bananas at home in an attempt to combat it) but on this occasion he actually managed to take Chris down into his throat. The sounds Chris made were high-pitched, a cross between pleading and desperate… wholly empowering.

 _He was inside Evan’s throat_ , Chris thought dazedly to himself as his free hand threaded into the smaller male’s dark hair, merely steadying himself and not attempting to guide or force Evan because the other would not thank him for that at all, and would probably leave him with colossal blue-balls. “Evan, Evvy, oh, puppy…” at first Evan hadn’t been sure of that final nickname, but he had grown used to it, and the affectionate manner with which Chris applied it.

Evan could feel Chris started to throb in his mouth, the laboured breathing filling the small confined of the cupboard seeming to get louder. Pulling from Chris momentarily to take a deep breath Evan then steeled himself as he took the other right down into his throat—and then took a page out of Chris’ book and began to hum around him. 

“Evan!” Chris cried as the vibrations were sent along his cock through his entire body. That was what did him in, that humming. Oh _god_ , it felt so good. And he certainly hadn’t expected Evan to try that out on him, especially not here in a random storage closet. But he did, and oh it was amazing. “I’m gonna come,” he managed to say just in time. 

It gave Evan just a second or two to try and prepare himself, but he didn’t pull back as Chris expected he would. He remained right there, the cock in his throat as Chris began to come. He gagged; it was a tough sensation to fight through, but he would be damned if he didn’t at least try. 

Chris had to fight the urge to grip into Evan’s hair in order to hold him in place. He needed to let Evan do this at his own pace, so he fisted his hands into his own hair. Evan’s hands were placed gently on his hips, but the grip tightened as Chris new the younger man needed to breathe. 

Finally Evan pulled back having swallowed everything. His lips were wet with saliva and cum, but Chris thought he was the most attractive sight one could ever be blessed enough to behold.

Legs giving out on him even before he had even managed to right his trousers, Chris threaded a hand through Evan’s hair and gently drew the other in; Evan’s already laboured breathing catching as Chris’ tongue swept over his lips, cleaning the swollen appendages, uncaring that it was himself that he could taste there, since the flavour was mixed with Evan. “You… are incredible, Evan.”

A darker blush stained Evan’s cheeks, managing a breathless and embarrassed chuckle, “You’re just saying that because I made you…” Chris shook his head, Evan making out the motion because of the light filtering through the gap in the bottom of the door. “No, Ev, it’s because you’re amazing you can make me feel this way.”

“Really?” Evan couldn’t help but query, hopefulness in his tone as they both got up off of the floor and Chris righted his clothing once more. Placing his belt back into the correct placement Chris then caught Evan in his arms and drew him close, their foreheads resting together as he held the other with a firm but tender grip. “No one has ever made me feel the way you do,” Chris promised, “And I don’t just mean physically.” They exchanged a final kiss before slipping out of the closet together (no pun intended) to go for lunch.

“I hope there’s some food left, I’m starving,” Chris said to Evan as they walked into the dining hall. 

Evan blushed at that, knowing that he had made them late to lunch. He didn’t think that Chris objected to what they did, though. “Sorry,” he muttered.

“No need to be sorry. I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Chris told him, smiling at him. “I’d go without lunch completely if I could do that again with you.”

Evan blushed even deeper. “Are you ok, dear?” one of the ladies behind the serving buffet asked when she saw Evan’s face. “You’ve not caught that bug that’s goin’ around, have you?” 

Shaking his head, Evan squeaked out, “No,” before moving along down the line, Chris chuckling behind him.

“I’m glad you find this so very funny,” Evan scowled embarrassedly at Chris as they sat down. Chris poured them both a drink, handing Evan his as he fought chuckles, “I’m sorry… you just look so adorably startled whenever you’re embarrassed.” Evan sighed and started to neatly tuck into his meal. There was something strangely elegant in the way he handled his cutlery that Chris had never seen from another person before, and he had seen a lot of people eat.

“My cousin will be visiting during the holidays,” Chris commented casually and Evan cocked his head curiously, “Your cousin?” Chris nodded, “Christian—you know the one, in the picture.” Evan had seen the picture of the two blonde’s, only about ten, standing knee-deep in snow in Canada. “That’ll be nice for you—“ Evan started but then Chris shyly, but determinedly, cut across him, “I want to introduce you to him.” 

“Oh,” Evan said, quite taken aback. “You… want to introduce me to your cousin?” That he wasn’t expecting him to say. 

“I do. I want him to meet you… you’re an important part of my life here, after all. He was here the last semester of last year, which is why I decided to come here. I know that if it hadn’t been for him, I never would have met you. So now I need to introduce you to him properly,” Chris told him. 

“I would like that,” Evan replied with a shy smile. 

“I want to introduce you to him as my lover,” he then whispered into Evan’s ear. When he sat back up straight in his seat he took in Evan’s features, wondering if he’d maybe asked too much too soon.

“But—but what if he--?” Chris had anticipated this and he shook his head in a reassuring manner, “He already knows where my inclinations lay.”

Christian was possibly the most important family member he had, in terms of closeness, and he wanted to introduce Evan as what he truly _was_ , not just as a _friend_ , which was what he’d have to do when he introduced the other to his parents. “If you don’t want to—“ he started, but the look in Evan’s eyes silenced him.

“I’d really like to meet him,” Evan said softly, blushing in that little way he did, “I really appreciate that you want to take such a step with me.” Oh, if only Evan knew Chris would willingly, happily, do so much more if only society and the law would let them.

“You’re ok with it, then? Me introducing you to Christian as lovers?” Chris asked, needing to hear confirmation just one more time.

Evan smiled and nodded. “Yes. If you’re sure that he won’t… be angry with you, or anything, then yes, I’m perfectly ok with it.” He wondered how it would be to let even more people know about them. His own cousin and cousin’s lover just found out about them (as he and Chris found out about them), and he found that it was a relief to finally let someone else know. Now, though, it was going to be someone he didn’t even know that was going to find out. It was nerve-wracking yet exciting at the same time.

“I promise you, he won’t be angry. In fact, when he came back from his own stay here, he confessed to me that he had a lover or two while at school. Believe me, Evan, there’s a lot going on behind closed doors, and while it’s certainly hush-hush, if you open your ears enough, you’ll hear the talk. And I don’t see anyone here that’s been stricken down by God’s wrath, have you?” Chris asked as Evan’s blush turned even deeper. 

~~~

“We should—“ Cody started, only stopping in shock when Ted cut across him with a firm comment of, “No, Cody, we shouldn’t do anything. If they want to make a go of things, if indeed there are things to make a go of, then that’s their decision. Our interference will not help anyone in the end,” and this he truly believed.

A pout crossed Cody’s lips and he leveled Ted with his best puppy-dog expression, but Ted had always been irritatingly unmoved by the expression unless he caught him off-guard with it… and right then didn’t seem to be one of those times, much to his consternation. “Oh, fine…” he huffed, internally deciding he would try and work his conversational abilities on Windham at the first chance that he got. “So…” Ted said jovially, ignoring the look Cody was sending him, “Let’s get to lunch before all the good food is gone.”

As Ted reached the door Cody suddenly called lightly, “Oh, Theodore?” and Ted found his feet stopping as suddenly and swiftly as though they had been nailed to the floor. Turning slowly on the spot he found himself almost chest-to-chest with Cody. “Yes, Codes?” he swallowed, those devastatingly long-lashed eyes enveloping his vision. “I don’t want lunch just yet,” Cody responded and Ted’s brow furrowed slightly in obvious confusion before he cocked his head, “So what do you--?” he was cut-off mid-question as Cody’s lips found his. _Oh!_

Ted was glad to return the kiss. Cody’s tongue slipped between his lips to deepen their kiss, his own moan getting lost in his mouth. His hands rose up as he placed them upon Cody’s cheeks, seemingly drawing him in even closer. 

“Are you sure that you’ve never done that with anyone before?” Cody asked when they finally broke apart. At Ted’s blush and stuttered attempt at a reply, he went on to say, “I’m only kidding. It’s simply better with you because you’re _you_.” He said it as if it were the most logical thing in the world, at, well, to him it was. He’d always wanted it to be Teddy, so nothing or no one could ever compare. 

“Well… kissing you is pretty nice,” Ted managed to say, his blush firmly in place. 

“It is nice… I’ll bet sleeping with me will be even nicer,” Cody said, leaning in close to Ted’s body. “Justin will be out all night tomorrow,” he added in a whisper. “Who knows when we’ll have the chance to be alone again for that long of a time period. What do you say, Teddy?” he asked, knowing what he wanted to hear, and knowing what he would most likely hear. Still, he wanted to ask the question anyway.

Oh heck… “Cody,” Ted sighed, looking at the other, feeling Cody pressed so perfectly against him. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, Cody had to know that, he just didn’t want such an intimate and spiritual moment being something that they may end up regretting

He wanted it to be perfect, for both of them, and he was determined that it would be. He’d never done anything like it before though so he wasn’t too sure how the form was meant to go, as it were… and it wasn’t as though he could write to his mother and father and ask them! Sighing once more Ted gently let his hands move from Cody’s face as he then gently eased the other back, “We can talk about that later,” was all he could think to say.

Cody was pouting, Ted knew it already, but much as he loved and wanted the other he genuinely could not make that step unless he was sure the situation was perfect for them. This time Cody was the one to sigh as they left the room, making their way for dinner. “Justin won’t be able to stay with _him_ overnight very often you know,” he couldn’t help feeling slightly petulant even though he had sensed that Ted was either going to say no or avoid answering the question in any clear form, as demonstrated just then. 

“I _know_ ,” Ted told him. “But I don’t just want to… I think we need to wait a bit longer.”

“But why? We both want it,” Cody reasoned. He had to whisper into Ted’s ear the whole while, but dammit, he wanted to sleep with Ted, and he wasn’t going to drop the issue, even if Ted wanted to. 

“I know we do! But I just had my first kiss this week, I don’t think I’m ready to sleep with you yet, ok? You said you wouldn’t push me,” Ted reminded him.

“I also didn’t know that Justin would be out tomorrow night when I said that… Please, just think about it. Who knows when he’ll be able to leave again for the entire night,” Cody said, pouting. 

Ted sighed. “I’ll think about it. But if I say no, don’t go storming off on me. This is a lot to take in in such a short time. Try and put yourself in my shoes…”

“If I was you,” Cody couldn’t help but sulk a little bit, “Then I would have jumped me years ago.” Ted spluttered a little bit and flushed darkly, sighing and refusing to comment anymore on the matter as they walked into the dining-hall. Joe’s voice sounded even over the din, the boy waving at them to indicate where they should sit.

Grabbing some food (and weren’t they lucky that they had caught them just before they began closing up the warm serving area?) they then made their way over to their friends. As they sat Windham held a hand out to Heath, “They didn’t have a quickie—they both look far too pissed off; pay up, ginger.”

Giving a small huff Heath handed over a coin or two, Cody arching a brow, “In future Ted and I deserve a cut from whatever funds you make on our behalf.” Windham snorted at the very idea of sharing his winnings and even Justin chuckled at that; as if anyone else could take it so well that their friends placed bets on what they did in private. 

~~~

“It’s a fair question, though, isn’t it?” John asked, running his finger down Randy’s cheek and neck until it had trailed down his chest. “When you’re fucking her, I’d like to know if you think of me.”

“I haven’t fucked her,” Randy told him, pushing down harder on his shoulders.

“You haven’t?” John’s eyes grew wide. Randy and Samantha had known one another for quite some time (she went to their sister school and was Head Girl over there), so he’d always assumed that they’d at least have done something together.

“No,” Randy said with a smirk. “She insists that we stay pure until we’re wed, whenever that may be. Of course I told her that I would expect nothing less.”

John actually chuckled as he spoke his next words, “She actually believes that _you’re_ a virgin?”

“It certainly seems that way,” Randy answered with a full on grin as he bent down to take John’s mouth in a kiss.

“I feel rather smug,” John admitted when their lips parted (“So would I if I was sleeping with me, I mean, look at me!” Randy spoke until John gave him a small poke to quiet him) “I mean, I’ve had something of yours she won’t.”

“And I have something of yours that Elizabeth won’t get,” Randy returned, John pulling a face at him momentarily, “Randy, I’ve only met her three times, my parents haven’t mentioned anything about me getting married to her.” Randy snorted lightly, giving John a look that said he was being deliberately naïve, “Don’t be daft, John, they loved her!”

Randy ought to know: he had been present at the party, alongside John, wherein she had been introduced to his friend. He had seen right away that she was interested (and why wouldn’t she be?) and he hadn’t liked it. John’s obliviousness didn’t help and that night Randy hadn’t let John get much sleep. “I have something else of yours she’ll never get too,” John said quietly, hand resting over Randy’s heart, feeling its steady beating.

“But of course. No one but you, John,” he whispered. “And I have yours,” Randy added. He then smiled down at John and said, “Who ever would have thought that this day would lead to so many revelations?”

“I know. We should have done this yesterday, though. Or waited until tomorrow,” John mused. “That way we could have had a mid-week break, or had a three day weekend. Because I already know that I won’t want to go to class tomorrow.”

“If you had said that this morning, I may have gone along with that. A three day weekend would have been lovely. Three whole days to spend in bed with you,” he said before leaning in for a quick kiss. 

“That would be paradise for anyone,” John then said. “You’re just the lucky one that gets to do it. I love you, Randy.”

“I love you too, John,” Randy assured, arms around the other firmly. Samantha his apparent intended might be, but if Randy had his way he wouldn’t be marrying her for a long time yet and even then he wanted to keep John too.

The thought of giving John up, for anyone, didn’t sit right with him—and the fact that John had brought Samantha up told Randy that his lover had been thinking about said situation and was not happy about it; though he seemed the most prone to jealousy John had his moments without a doubt wherein he was the same, if not worse.

“Mhm—“ Randy grinned and shifted so that he was straddling John, the covers resting over John’s lower-body and bunched around his back. “And, you know, because you love me I think you should permit me some play next time.” Play referred to the numerous out-of-bounds locations they utilised for their intimate moments. “Where did you have in mind this time?” John said, recalling their last time in the sports equipment lockers.

“Hmm, well, where _haven’t_ we fucked yet?” Randy asked. In their many years together, they’d made use of _many_ public places all over their academy. “I do still want to bend you over a desk and fuck you in the middle of a classroom. Or on some professor’s desk,” he added with a smirk.

“Oh, you do? Tell me, Randal, how do you envision that one playing out?” John asked him, quirking a brow. 

“You know I’ve got access to a classroom, since I get to run detentions from time to time. What do you say, John? Do you want to sneak into a classroom with me?” Randy hoped that John would say yes. They were in their last year and they only had a few more months left, and they’d yet to fuck in a classroom. 

Grinning, John answered, “Yeah, I think I’d like that. Could be fun, sneaking around with you. When would you like to go on this little adventure?”

“Well, I have detention duty on Sunday night,” Randy considered, “So if you stop by around the half way through there, if I happen to have anyone, then I’ll hoof them out for a moment, and you can come in.” No one would ever believe that John had detention; he was one of the school’s golden-boys after all, so even though it wasn’t spoken about lenience was given to those in that unofficial clique. Randy, of course, was the top member of the little group as Head Boy.

“What time will detention end on Sunday?” John asked. Randy took a moment and said, “Eleven, and it starts at seven once dinner’s over, so if you don’t have anything on before then you can eat with me and we can get their first.” They’d have to get a move on though to get John hidden somewhere since the younger the student with detention was the earlier they were there and hoping to be released sooner rather than later due to good behaviour. Not that Randy did such a thing… not unless he wanted to go too.

“That sounds good. Which room is your detention being held, anyway?” John asked. Randy was always being shuffled from room to room whenever he had detention duty, and John had no idea how he managed to keep track.

Smirking, Randy said, “You won’t even believe this one.” John raised an eyebrow and then Randy went on to answer with, “Professor Cole’s room.”

John’s interest was certainly piqued at that. In all his years, he and Professor Michael Cole had never gotten along. And he got along with _everyone_! Cole didn’t like Randy, either. Hell, he didn’t like most of anyone. “He’s giving up his room for detention? He’s actually letting _you_ use _his_ room for this?”

“It’s the school’s decision, not his,” Randy told him. “So… will you be joining me for detention?”

“If you promise me that we will fuck on his chair, on his desk, on the floor _around_ his desk, then yes, I will happily join you in detention,” John answered. God, now he couldn’t wait for Sunday.

~~~

“It can’t be that common, surely?” It was beginning to shape up that way, but Evan couldn’t believe that true love, not just assuaging physical needs, was so easy to obtain.

“You’d be amazed,” Chris shook his head slightly as they began making their way to class, “Christian, for instance… he had a thing going on with a Spaniard,” Chris’ lip curled as he spoke and Evan realised he had _never_ seen such abhorrence on Chris’ face before, curiosity peaked even more than it had been, blush dying now the focus wasn’t on him. “—and when he left to return to his home country it all but killed him.” The callous ‘prince’ had left Christian with an envelope of money as a farewell… Christian had burned it all, Chris having watched him do it.

“You didn’t think much of his lover then?” Evan asked tentatively, since it seemed to be a touchy subject. “Not at all,” Chris said without preamble, “It was good when he left. I didn’t like seeing Christian so upset, but it was better for him. That boy was no good for him, not at all.” He gave Evan a smile then, and a subtle wink, “Whereas you seem to be very good for me, and I’m a positive influence on you.” His blush returned as he sent Chris a shy grin, unable to totally deny that statement.

“I never would have thought that… so many people would have, you know, found lovers in an all boys school,” Evan whispered. “I, for one, never expected to… to find you here,” he said before biting his lower lip. 

“Well, not everyone is so lucky as to find someone like you. I know some of the other exchange students are simply looking for something to pass the time,” he said. Being an exchange student himself, he kept in close touch with the others, no matter what their country of origin. 

“I couldn’t imagine merely ‘passing the time’ in such a fashion,” Evan said. His religious upbringing was making itself known once again. He, at least, had strong feelings for Chris. He couldn’t fathom jumping from one boy’s bed to the next just for fun. 

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that, do you?” Chris asked, happy to be talking about _them_ and _not_ about the man that Christian had taken a liking to. The less he had to talk about him, the better. 

“And why is that?” Evan was only teasing of course since he knew he was not like that personally, but he was interested into what response he would receive from Chris. The Canadian looked amused before leaning in to his ear a little as they walked.

“If I find that another boy has so much as dared look upon you with unworthy eyes, let alone touch you with commoner’s hands, then I shall be forced to do some very ungentle-manly things to them in terms of violence before coming to find you so that I could whisk you away and ravish you until you beg me to stop.”

Evan’s ears and cheeks were both bright red at the end of that and Chris’ cheeky expression turned a little tender, using the momentary freedom they had from fellow students to caress Evan’s cheek in a fashion that spoke of the tender, intimate knowledge he carried of the other male.

“I care for you so deeply, love you so strongly, that I am afraid one day my territoriality will be peaked.” Silently, throat oddly tight, Evan shook his head to disprove such a thought. Chris’ returning smile was almost dazzling, wiping Evan’s mind of what he was supposed to be doing.

Evan was close to leaning in and quickly kissing Chris’ lips, but a bell sounded and his eyes widened in shock. “Oh, shit,” he exclaimed, “we’re late! Come on,” he said, running down the hall to get to their class. He hated being late. Some of their teachers would close and lock the door as soon as the bell rang, and if you had the unfortunate fate of being late, you couldn’t come to class. Thankfully, their French professor didn’t do that, but everyone _did_ stare at him as he walked into the room, trying not to breath heavily from his sprint, though his face was flushed, both from running and embarrassment. “Sorry,” he muttered, making his way to his seat. 

Following behind, calm as always, Chris strolled in, giving a smile to the professor. “Sorry, my watch is slow. I thought I had more time,” was the excuse he gave, pulling out his pocket watch and shrugging. As he headed to his seat, he spotted Evan and he couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. His face was still red and little beads of sweat had formed on his forehead. And he was attempting to glare at Chris, which made it even _more_ amusing. 

As soon as Chris took his seat, their professor began chattering away in French. No one spoke English in that class, not at the level they were at. All lessons were given in French, so everyone needed to pay attention at all times (which didn’t happen all that often).

By the time the lesson was halfway through Evan had just managed to calm down; his attendance record overall, from his first year to that current one, his final, was impeccable and each potential discrepancy had the power to send him into a frenzy. Chris’ laughter wasn’t helping, but even the Canadian was forced to stop sending him teasing looks as the lesson progressed since a moment’s lapse would find you on the receiving end of the French teacher’s ruler… and though that little ruler didn’t look like it could do much damage it was like hell on earth when she managed to land a shot squarely upon your knuckles. Wincing lightly at the mere thought Evan folded his hands into his lap reflexively.

French wasn’t his best subject but it was far from his worst and he always made sure to have a special effort with the lessons because his Auntie adored hearing him speaking in foreign languages. One or two he had looked into for the sake of personal interest but French had been obligatory. They had a Spanish programme in the school but that was on a totally separate day and wouldn’t have fit into his time-table without clashing as one considered that which he was already studying.

Now and again, though he rarely seemed to slip from an outsider’s point of view, Evan let his mind wander to the boy in the photo on Chris’ bedside table. Christian… what was he like? Evan prayed that he approved of him since this person meant a lot to Chris and he didn’t want a negative opinion affecting their relationship when he was just starting to loosen up over everything.

He couldn’t stop that little voice in the back of his head, though, the one that was saying ‘What if?’ What if Christian didn’t approve of their relationship? Obviously Chris would pick his closest family members over his lover of less than one year, wouldn’t he? Of course he was, Evan reasoned with himself. Then again, he didn’t know what he would have done had Randy disapproved of what he and Chris had. Would he have been ready to pick his lover over his own flesh and blood? 

Shaking his head and closing his eyes tight, Evan tried to forget all those negative ideas that were flashing through his mind. Christian had a male lover, too, of course he wouldn’t be disproving of what was going on between he and Chris. Unless it was _him_ that Christian didn’t like. He didn’t know if he could stand that. He knew at a time, Randy didn’t like Chris, and he hated that he wasn’t able to actually tell him the true nature of their relationship. 

Flicking his eyes between the teacher and Evan, Chris couldn’t help but notice the gears turning in his lover’s head. “Hey,” he said quietly, nudging him in the arm, “quit thinkin’ so much.”

~~~

“What are you laughing for? It is our lives that you’re betting on. How’d you like it if we all started taking bets on who you were fooling around with?” Cody asked, his eyes darting quickly to Joe, then back to Windham.

He didn’t seem to notice the little side glance, though, as he replied, “Go for it. What’s stopping you?”

“Oh, come off it you two,” Justin said. “You people are just too much. Can’t you just leave well enough alone?”

“No. I quite enjoy giving those two a hard time,” Windham answered. “And they’re such good sports about it, too. Aside from wanting some of my take, which isn’t going to happen. Although maybe if I’d lost this round, I would be encouraging you to take some of Red’s winnings.”

Ted sat through the entire conversation with a blush on his face as he attempted to eat his meal.

Cody and Windham kept at each other for the rest of the meal, Cody only stopping when Ted put his foot down—and even Windham listened because it sounded as though, for once, Ted was reaching the end of his tether with them and their games.

Of course, mere moments later Ted was apologising to everyone there for snapping and several amused grins were sent his way before Justin reassured him that if Ted hadn’t gotten mad then he sure as hell would have, so he wasn’t the only one thinking as such.

Joe sighed as they were all exiting the hall, “I really don’t want to go to class.” Heath arched a brow at him, “I think you’ve skipped enough, don’t you? I mean, if your daddy gets wind of it—“ Joe frowned at the other slightly before sighing heavily and giving a small wince at some private consideration, “I know, I know… I’m gonna go, I just don’t want to.” They could understand that feeling at one time or another. 

“I bet your daddy’s already heard about you skipping,” Windham said, walking alongside Joe. “And he’s gonna be pissed.”

“I’m hoping that no one will tell him.” He _hated_ being the son of one of the professors, especially one as overbearing as his father was. He was constantly being told what to do, what not to do and he found that he could never live up to the standard his father set for him. Of course, his father always insisted that was because he didn’t apply himself properly. “If you put as much effort into your schoolwork as you do into slacking off, you’d be a straight A student,” was something he heard often. Thankfully he got to live on campus, as that was his only relief from his father. 

“Well, as long as you go to the rest of your classes today, maybe you’ll be able to claim that they just happened to miss you while doing attendance,” Heath reasoned. The teachers didn’t call roll at this point in the year, but they did take attendance by scanning the heads of the students in the room, so from time to time, it was possible to be looked over.

“Maybe. I’d just much rather be, you know, doing something practical, not just sitting in a room taking notes on something I don’t give two shits about,” Joe told them. 

“Believe me, I would much rather spend my day in the theatre than in some classroom,” Cody chimed in as they now stood in front of the door to their next class.

“Yes, well, you can’t,” Justin chided gently, ignoring the way Cody stuck his tongue out at him. “So let’s go.” On that note the group walked into the room and settled. Justin seemed clueless as to the scrutiny he was under from Ted, the other suddenly being reminded of his and Cody’s earlier talk at the sound of the South African’s voice.

Cody was determined; if there was one thing Ted had learnt about the other in all their years together, outside of his lover of the theatre, was that he was very, _very_ , determined. Actually, he could get borderline bull-headed if he let himself settle upon an idea… and he seemed pretty damned set upon the thought of having intercourse with him _that_ very night. Physically Ted was more than ready, had been ready for a good long while, but emotionally he wanted the moment to be perfect. He owed it to Cody and himself for it to be just that.

Cody arched a brow and frowned slightly when he noticed that Ted seemed to be looking, no, _staring_ at Justin, before he realised that Ted was almost in fact looking _through_ Justin; as though there was some secret mystery answer inside of their dark-skinned friend’s soul. “Ted…” Cody whispered, elbowing the other lightly to gain his attention, “What’s wrong with you?” Ted shook his head several times and shook his head a final time before leveling a smile at Cody, answering the unspoken question that he was fine. And he was. Sort of. Maybe. Ok, not quite: he was fucking terrified if he was honest. Cody would be angry at him and he hated that.

Though Ted was trying to play it off, Cody could see that there was still something wrong with him. And the way that he had been staring at Justin… that was so odd. Maybe he was thinking about tomorrow, when they would actually have the room to themselves. He hoped so. “I’ve got theatre practice after this, but we’ll talk later, ok?” Cody asked, leaning over to whisper into Ted’s ear.

Nodding his head, Ted gave him another forced smile. He should just flat out refuse Cody right now. Tell him that he couldn’t do it. The time wasn’t right. It was too soon. But his body wanted it, that he couldn’t deny. He had denied himself for so long of any pleasure, and now he had the one person he ever really wanted, and that one person wanted to give himself to him. 

But he wanted to do it tomorrow night. Less than a week after they first kissed! But, hadn’t Justin said that he and Wade had gone to bed with one another a week after their first kiss? Dammit. 

Needless to say, he didn’t take much out of the class that day. God, he’d been a much better student when he and Cody _hadn’t_ been together. 

Justin, as he and Ted headed off for their advanced math class and Cody went off with Windham and Joe for whatever timetabled variation they had (Joe heeding the earlier comments to attend his afternoon lessons) whilst Heath excused himself to head to the bathroom pre-class, turned towards Ted, “What’s wrong with you? You’re wound up tighter than the French professor when Dupree argues with her in French.”

Jumping slightly in a manner that highlighted all too clearly that he was guilty, Ted then sighed and bit his lip; after his earlier experiences with Windham he wasn’t all too sure whether he wanted to get into gossip then, and the incident in question was private between he and Cody, but he _really_ needed some advice then, and… well, with one man only, true, but Justin was more experienced in such matters.

“Cody wants to have intercourse with me,” he whispered, face flushing. Justin, by contrast, looked strangely unmoved and Ted would have been offended had Justin not said, “Ted, he’s been pining for you for years, of course he wants to show his love for you like that. What’s the problem?” squirming a little, hand squeezing his bag’s strap reflexively, Ted mumbled, “I think it’s too soon, but I don’t want to accidentally offend him by telling him so.” 

“I’m sure he’ll understand. You are rather innocent,” Justin said.

“I don’t know. He wants to do it _tomorrow_ ,” Ted confessed. “You know, when you’re… not around. I just think that it’ll be too soon for us…” he paused then asked, “How did you know that it was the right time?”

Justin smiled and answered, “I knew that I loved him. I knew that I’d loved him for a long time. When New Years rolled around, and he and I were there, alone in our home… everything came together so perfectly and it just felt like the right time.”

“But what if we think the time is right and then we end up regretting it in the end?” Ted asked, and Justin could see the nerves in his friend’s eyes. 

“Ted… you’ll _know_ if the moment is right or not,” Justin tried to assure, though the feeling he could still remember as though that New Year’s before the fire had happened yesterday, was difficult to put into words. “Trust me when I say you’ll know… and following that instinct, whether to stop or proceed, will mean that you don’t regret it happening.”

Though Ted was far from reassured he appreciated what Justin was trying to say, to make him feel better, and so managed to give a small smile. The other’s hand went to his shoulder momentarily and Ted placed his own Justin’s for a moment in a light pat to silently acknowledge the unspoken comfort, giving him the small push he needed to determine that he was just going to tell Cody he wanted to wait. He might be mad for a while, Cody, but Ted knew he’d thank him in the end. 

~~~

“No, no, no! That’s not where you’re supposed to go!” Professor John Matthews hollered from his spot in the front row, dead center as he watched the stage. They were attempting to work on blocking out the final scene of the play, and several of the cast were still going to the wrong places. He stood and headed up on stage, grabbing the students by their shoulders to physically move them to their correct spots. “There. You go right there. Now take it from the top!” 

As the scene was set up from the beginning once more, Cody remained backstage, his character not making an appearance until later in the act. He kept looking to Mizanin, thinking of how much better it was kissing Ted than it was him. Good God, if Ted was into the theatre, the scenes that they could have had together could have been absolutely smouldering. He grinned to himself as he thought of just what he and Ted may very well be doing the following night, too. Now _that_ will be smouldering, of that he had no doubts. 

“Will you focus, Runnels?” Mike drawled behind Cody as he watched Cody falling into one of those daydream phases that he was often prone to whenever he wasn’t on stage. Drawing himself from dreams of Ted’s lips, and what the other could do with them (on top of other things) and sent Mike a haughty look, “Jealous because you’re not adequate fantasy material, Michael?” he deliberately called Mike by his complete first name because he knew that it pissed the other off to high heaven, and he loved doing that to him.

Mike scowled lightly, “You wouldn’t be able to keep up with me, Runnels—I’d be so good you’d never want another.” He had no interest in sleeping with Cody (well, nothing past the obligatory he’s-attractive-I’d-do-him point, of course) but he didn’t like his attractiveness being called into question; it was harder to tell sometimes which of them was the biggest diva even though Cody was the one who wore the dresses. “Please-“ Cody snorted softly, moving close to Mike and leaning in to whisper seductively, “You’re not man enough for me,” before pulling away and sashaying onto stage in time for his cue.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us - Oscar Wilde

Much as he didn’t want to, Mike let his eyes follow the sway of Cody’s hips. The way that he moved… he would probably be amazing to bed. He shook his head slightly, putting that thought away as he focused on listening to the lines everyone was delivering, waiting for his cue. They were working on the final scene of the show, the one where he and Charlotte make up for the final time to go on living happily ever after, one would assume. 

Once it was down to he and Cody on the stage, all the other characters having left, the energy on the stage changed. Both of them wanted to outshine the other; it was like two moose rutting against one another, neither one about to give in or back down. Cody recited his lines with passion, his movements and words able to captivate anyone listening. But then, so did Mike’s. No one could deny that they were made for the theatre. 

As soon as rehearsals wrapped up and everyone had gone down into the auditorium to collect their things from the seats they rested them upon, Mike said to Cody, “You weren’t too bad out there. Maybe one day you’ll even be up to my calibre of acting.”

Cody raised an eyebrow at that one. “Please, you wish you could be as good as I am. But no matter how hard you work at it, you’ll never have the kind of natural ability that I was simply born with.”

Collecting his things up Cody found himself relieved that he had a free lesson coming up; his curriculum, though still challenging, was a lesson or two lighter than it had been last year since they could choose exactly which lessons they wanted to take for their last two years. 9 out of 10 the boys in the school were all going to go into family businesses and so for most of them lessons didn’t even matter… though university was even more specialised.

Cody didn’t know _what_ he was going to do as of yet. He could go to university or he could go on to work. There were no furthering programmes for theatre studies or drama so if he wanted to continue on with that it would have to be a hobby and he would need to audition for the local theatre. Ted, coming from one of the richest families in the country, was going onto university. Cody had the feeling he was looking into theology… and that made him uneasy.

Ted was religious, and Cody knew all about what religion said about men with men. He hated it all; love shouldn’t be bound by gender, and even though he and Ted couldn’t be together the way a man or a woman could he intended to remain with the other, somehow, forever… if Ted started to become indoctrinated by all that sort of thing then the other may abandon and disown him as a friend, not just as a lover. He shouldered his bag, shaking that thought off. 

His free time was usually spent dawdling around, not doing much of anything (unless he had work he had yet to do for an upcoming class in which he would use his free period for that), but today he found that those thoughts of what would happen in his and Ted’s future kept creeping back into his mind. And, dammit, he didn’t want them there! He tried to tell himself that if Ted already had his mind made up, he wouldn’t have given into temptation in the first place. 

~~~

“Sounds like a plan,” Randy jokingly held his hand out to John and they shook before Randy leant in and murmured, “Though I much prefer when we seal our deals like this,” before kissing him chastely but pointedly. John was grinning back at him when they broke apart, looking to the clock. “They’d only just be starting afternoon lessons now,” he mused, “The time between lunch and dinner is always longest.”

“Is your stomach all you think about?” Randy shook his head with fond exasperation and John sent him a dimpled, cheeky smile, “No… I also think with my cock. Very often, as you should well know.” Nodding his head for a moment the head boy then pretended to get suspicious, “I do hope that you’re only thinking of me with that.” John nodded immediately.

He knew Randy was kidding, knew Randy knew the answer, but John tried to tell him that (how much he desired him and how much he loved him) as often as he possibly could because he didn’t want _anything_ to _ever_ cause Randy to want to stray from him and to try and graze in other pastures, as the old saying went.

Play around with others though they may do, but Randy knew that _no one_ would ever be able to fill his mind or his heart… or his body, for that matter, like John did. Someone may temporarily catch his attention, but that was all they had: his attention. For about twenty minutes tops. “Maybe that’s why you don’t do as well in lessons as you should… neither your stomach nor your cock can retain the information the professors give you,” Randy teased. 

John chuckled. “What can I say? My body obviously relies more on its natural instincts than all this classroom learning. Food and sex. That’s all a person really needs, don’t you think?”

Nodding his head, Randy couldn’t help but agree. “Food, sex and sleep,” he added. “That sounds exactly like our day so far, doesn’t it?”

“It does,” John said with a smile. “I’ve enjoyed today so much, and we’re only halfway through. I don’t remember the last time I was naked for so long while I was actually awake.” Even on the weekends they were never able to stay in bed like this, as Randy still had his duties and John sometimes held practices. He knew that this weekend, he’d be assembling the list of students for rugby tryouts and coming up with what they would be doing in said tryouts. Lifting his head up, he met Randy’s lips with his own, wanting to enjoy the rest of the day with his lover, not wanting anything else to enter into his mind except thoughts of Randy.

Randy returned the kiss before pulling back, “Oh, did I mention? There’s a new boy transferring into our year.” John had been about to ask why the hell the other was talking about _another boy_ when he was kissing him, but the sheer weirdness of the action had him forestalling his irritation, “Transferring? So late? That’s unusual isn’t it?” it was very rare for someone to have to change in their final year at all, let alone with only about seven months left.

“That’s what I thought. I meant to tell you when Wade called me aside and told me; he’s starting on Monday and Wade wants me to take him around a bit.” It wasn’t unusual for the Head Boy to be placed in charge of watching over new students for a while considering the newbie received an unspoken immunity whilst they were in Randy’s company and this would allow them to settle down sooner and assimilate themselves.

“Do you know anything about him?” John asked and Randy shook his head; he hadn’t been told anything other than the boy’s age and when he arrived. “Hm… you may have to introduce him to me,” John grinned at his lover and Randy pouted playfully before drawing him in for another kiss—John was always teasing him about how polite he acted, how he was so prim and proper, when he acted in his official position, and he never failed to take any chance he could to subtly tease the other as such. “If I must,” Randy drawled with a heavy sigh.

“Mmm, oh yes, you must. What if said new student wants to join a sports team? He could be a star player from his old school, for all we know,” John said. 

“He may be. I do wish I’d gotten at least a surname when I was told about him,” Randy replied. “Now, I’d say that’s enough about him, don’t you think? It’s been a few hours since we last fucked, and I don’t know about you, but my cock is stirring once again.” From above John, he ground his hips down, rubbing his cock against John’s.

“If it wasn’t before, it certainly is now,” John rumbled, happy to have the focus off this new mystery student (though he was certainly curious as to the circumstances surrounding this transfer) and back onto his and Randy’s coupling. 

Needless to say, they kept themselves quite content until dinnertime rolled around.

“Randy… I don’t think what’s left over from lunch is gonna be enough to fill me up,” John responded a little muzzily from where he had awoken from his post-coital nap.

“John…” Randy murmured into his lover’s shoulder, body still spooned against John’s from where they had settled after their last bout of love-making, “Please tell me you didn’t wake me up to complain about food.” Turning his head enough to be able to look at his lover, John then pouted at him, “But I’m hungry!” he was a big boy, had a big appetite, and sex was always conducive to hunger!

“I’ll bully a firstie into getting you some more afterwards,” Randy murmured, making a sound of protest then when John started to wriggle away from him to sit up to eat. Sliding forward a little to keep himself in contact with John’s warm body Randy was merely contented to remain settled for a little bit longer, his hunger not making itself known yet.

“You’re just going to lie there, aren’t you?” John asked as Randy remained in close contact with him despite his protests of hunger. 

“I think you can wait a little bit longer,” Randy muttered, still somewhat sleepy despite just taking a nap. He blamed it on being woken up too soon. “We can sleep a little bit longer.”

John knew that Randy wasn’t going to budge, so he had to hunker back down under the blankets with his lover, not like that was a bad thing. Still, he was hungry. “How much longer is a little bit.”

“For every word you speak from this point on, I’ll add on five minutes. So I’d suggest you shut the hell up and let me sleep. Don’t worry, Johnny, I’ll make sure you get proper sustenance. I won’t let you go hungry,” he said, pressing a kiss to John’s chest, right over his heart, before he let his eyes fall shut once again, hoping that John would let him get just a bit more rest. 

Sighing heavily, a sound of long-suffering misery, John pouted but fell silent and allowed Randy more sleep. Randy had promised that he would have some proper sustenance when the other awoke, and he supposed the longer he prevented Randy sleeping the longer he would have to wait to eat.

~~~

An apology was on his lips, hearing Chris’ words, but he merely sent the other an apologetic look; Evan was so conscious about his conduct in lessons and he was terrified of being caught out talking or passing notes, anything of the sort. The brunette pulled at his collar a little bit, exhaling a breath and trying to shake his anxiety off. He had nothing to worry about until he actually met Christian, and they would have to cross that bridge when they came to it. If he kept thinking about it then he was only going to drive himself insane with it.

The French lessons ended and Evan realised that although he hadn’t been paying attention to the lesson he had in fact been writing… well, that was handy. He hated having to copy notes from other people unless he knew for a fact they took adequate ones. Leaving the room with Chris, Evan jumped when Chris suddenly asked, “What’s going on in that cute little head of yours?”

Evan blushed in both embarrassment and minor irritation at the compliment… and from the grin on Chris’ face and the way in which he’d said it Evan knew he’d chosen that word deliberately. “It’s nothing,” the smaller male responded, not really wanting to get into the complicated issue when he was trying to calm himself down.

“Really? Nothing’s got your face all scrunched up in a look of deep thought and concentration?” Chris asked. He may have only known Evan since the beginning of the year, but he had learned how to read his expressions pretty quickly. Evan was the type who wore his emotions on his sleeve, and he found that horribly endearing. 

“Really, it’s nothing,” he tried to assure Chris, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t work. “At least nothing that you need to worry about. Just me thinking silly thoughts again, that’s all,” he said, giving him a smile. 

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” 

“I know. And I thank you for that. I think I just need to work this one out for myself, though. _Really_.” The last thing he wanted to do was let Chris know that he was worried about his cousin’s reaction to what they had together. He shouldn’t be worrying about it in the first place, really, considering everything Chris told him about said cousin, but he couldn’t help himself. That’s just how he was. 

Slowly nodding, though not altogether convinced, Chris then began leading the other out of the room and towards their next. He knew that something was going on in Evan’s head and he wished that he could know what. Actually, he sometimes wished he could see into Evan’s head because he wanted to know whether the other was always as truthful as he seemed.

Oh, he didn’t lie, don’t misunderstand him, but Evan was just _so_ polite and _so_ conscious of not offending or upsetting people that he often thought very hard before he spoke… and Chris was sometimes concerned that he did the same to him, even though he’d rather the other was just totally honest with him.

After a while though Evan seemed to relax and he relaxed in turn; the other really did have an effect on his moods and his feelings, as evidenced by how lost and almost angry he was when the other was gone, and also how easily the other could arouse him and take him to such indescribable heights without half as much effort as others in the past had attempted. He was in love, truly and utterly.

“I never thought that I would be happy going to an English class,” Evan said when they entered the room. It was so much easier concentrating on English than French, even though sometimes he did still have French on the brain at the start of the lesson.

“At least it’s not literature,” Chris muttered. No one in the school enjoyed literature classes, unless they were lucky and had one of the few classes _not_ taught by Cole, which was probably about two of them, at most. Their English professor, Matthew Striker, was strict when he needed to be, but he was also quite reasonable with his students. It was a gentle balance. 

“Quite true,” Evan agreed. They took their seats and took out their work before the bell rang for the start of class. “These classes have been so strange without Randy or John here,” he mused, quickly reviewing his papers. 

“Hmm, you’re right. It’s not often I get you all to myself,” Chris muttered, enjoying the shy glance Evan gave him and the rosy colouring that was developing in his cheeks. 

“You make it sound as though you’re constantly competing with others for my attention,” Evan giggled shyly to continue their conversation upon English ending, their last lesson for the day, dinner being their next point of destination then. “Oh Evan, if only you knew…” Chris sighed.

His sweet, naïve lover really had no idea just how popular he was with the general male populace. Though he might be a bit more of a shy wallflower in conjunction to his cousin Randy, Evan was still incredibly popular and much desired by certain people… and Chris would be lying if he said he hadn’t nearly engaged in a round of fisticuffs now and again with a boy who’d made a comment that he had no right to.

Evan looked curious about his words but Chris merely smiled and didn’t elaborate further. “Goodness, I am hungry,” Chris confessed, “And thank heavens it’s Friday tomorrow; the older I get the more I appreciate weekends.” Evan laughed softly at that one, thinking there was some truth in it, their workloads meant that their breaks really were needed now. Entering the dining hall Evan fell into the queue with Chris behind him.

“I know I just got back from a holiday, but I’m ready for another one,” Evan confessed. Even though it was hard being away from Randy and Chris, he really did enjoy his time away from school and the world in general. 

“Not much longer until winter holiday,” Chris said as they moved along in the line to finally get to the food. “That’ll be nice to have a few weeks to not worry about class work.”

“That was the biggest downside to my holiday; I still had all that work to catch up on!” Evan declared. Taking their now full trays, they headed to their usual seats and sat down, both ready to dig in. “I think I’ll go and check on Randy once we’re done, see if he wants something to eat,” Evan then said. He was worried about how quickly this illness had set in, and he hoped it was nothing serious. 

“Is that why you grabbed so much food?” Chris asked, taking a glance at the plate with enough food to maybe even fill John Cena’s stomach. Maybe. 

~~~

After what seemed like an age (but was probably about fifteen minutes in reality) Randy roused himself again, that small nap added on to his sleep making him feel even better and rested. Yawning, he opened his eyes and then looked up to see John watching him.

“Hullo,” he greeted with a charming smile, John sending him a bitter look for a moment—when Randy leant up and gave him a kiss though the expression faltered somewhat and he returned it. Before he could even open his mouth to ask about food though, there was a knock on the door. Both teens froze, noses touching, Randy resisting the urge to growl: someone had to have real balls to be interrupting them.

Getting out of bed, Randy pulled on his dressing-gown and put his sick-face back on before then moving to the door. Opening it a mere crack he looked through it, “Who is it?” when Evan moved into view Randy arched a brow and stepped back, “Hello cousin.”

Evan seemed to dither, but then moved inside the room when Randy backed off and opened the door enough for he (and Chris, who was carrying a second plate of food) to pass, “I was so concerned,” Evan was saying, “I heard you and John had both been taken ill and—oh!” he blushed scarlet as he caught sight of John lain out in Randy’s bed, chest on display.

The covers were over his lower-half, thank goodness, but Evan had the feeling John was naked. Randy made sure the door was closed firmly again before moving to sit beside his lover, Evan still frozen in place and staring. Chris was the one who spoke instead, voice shaking with efforts to try not to laugh, “I take it you’re not sick then?” John looked to Randy and then back to Chris, “Does sick of school count?” he asked seriously.

Chris shrugged and nodded his head lightly, “It’s a fair enough excuse to me. In fact, that’s a genius idea,” he said. 

“Isn’t it?” John asked not daring to sit up, since he didn’t want anyone to see anything. “You should try it sometime. All you have to do is make sure you’ve got a good sick face and see to it that a fair amount of people see you looking so horribly ill.”

“We can say that we caught the bug from you,” Chris said with a chuckle. “Wouldn’t that put the fear into everyone that there’s a serious illness going around? If two more of us fall to it?”

“Could you imagine? Everyone would make themselves sick over the fact that they believe something’s going around. It’s been such a nice day, though,” Randy told them. “Not only did we not have to go to class, we’ve gotten food delivered to us on two separate occasions, and we also got to spend… quality time with one another,” he added with a smirk. 

“I particularly like the room service,” John said, grinning, which earned him a gentle smack on the arm, to which he muttered, “Hey, it’s not every day I get waited on.” Leaving out the fact that it _was_ every day he got to spend quality time with his lover.

“Are you all right, Evan?” Randy asked, turning his attention from John to Evan. His cousin was still blushing and hadn’t spoken a word since he spotted John lying on his bed. 

“Yeah, I’m… I’m fine. Just a little surprised is all,” he squeaked. “I thought you were sick, not, you know… naked.” And that one little word made him blush deeply once again.

~~~

“You’re in deep thought over there, Runnels,” Windham said from his spot on the couch where he’d set up a game of solitaire on the table in front of him. 

“Hmm? Oh… yeah…” he muttered. And then he realized who he was sitting in the common room with. This could be his chance to talk to him one on one, though there were people coming in and out of the room all the time. Still, no one would know what they were talking about unless they sat and eavesdropped on them. Moving from one chair to one closer to Windham, Cody pointed out a move that he had yet to make with his cards. 

“I have another deck of cards if you wanna play, too,” Windham told him. He hated when people tried to play over his shoulder, as though he couldn’t see the moves for himself. 

“Sorry,” Cody said, deciding to attempt to strike up a casual conversation in which to drop Joe’s name.

“Windham…” Cody said after a few moments, the larger teen looking at him with an arched brow for a moment before returning his attention to the cards, “Yeah?” Swallowing slightly (and adopting a fake air of uncertainty) he then asked, “Do you think it’s possible to love more than one person?” The card that Windham had been about to place down fell from his hand, knocking a few other cards somewhat as it slid across the table a distance. “Wait—“ he started, “You’re in love with someone other than Ted?”

Oh, come on: they _all_ knew that Cody was in love with Ted, so none of them had a problem saying it. Besides, the common room was shockingly empty that period. “No,” Cody chided lightly, inwardly thrilled that Windham had taken the bait, “Not me! A friend of mine came to see me, needing some advice, and he confessed that he felt like he was equally in love with two boys, but with different reasons for each…” Windham’s brow furrowed but Cody knew he hadn’t lost the other.

“He says he’s done things with one boy, but the other doesn’t know of his feelings and he’s too scared to admit it in case it ruins their friendship—“ Windham nodded slightly and Cody asked, “What would you do?” Windham blinked a few times, “Well, I don’t know, I mean, I don’t know who you mean specifically, so…” That was the opening Cody felt he needed and so he went in for the kill, “What if, hypothetically, it was Joe?” he said, pretending to give it a few moments thought for an example to use. 

“Wait… Joe?” Windham repeated, all of his attention now on Cody, solitaire game forgotten. 

“Hypothetically,” Cody said once again. 

“Cut that shit,” he said rather harshly. “What are you saying? Joe’s done things with other boys?” He never would have thought that Joe would do anything with _any_ boy, and now he was being told that Joe had feelings for _two_. And he obviously wasn’t the boy that Joe had indulged in, so… who was it? And who was the other one that he had feelings for?

“Well… that’s what I heard, anyway,” Cody said nonchalantly. 

“Who’d you hear it from? How do you know that it’s true?”

“Does that really matter? Jeez, all I wanted to know was what you’d do in the situation so I could maybe give him a little advice.” Cody had to thank his years of acting, because inside he was giddy as all get out. He had Windham hook, line and sinker. 

Windham wasn’t sure how to feel; Joe was his friend, sure, and he’d never had an interest in boys before per se, but this… Joe was _his_ best friend, Joe was, Joe was—Joe was _his_ dash it all! He took Cody’s upper-arm in hand, making Cody look at him.

“Cody,” his voice was tight and Cody was trying not to laugh at how easily this had worked out in his favour. Poor Teddy, there’s just something about him that didn’t seem to inspire confidence in people. “Who told you this?” Cody shrugged nonchalantly once more before responding, “I heard someone saying about it. Why, does it bother you?” Windham seemed about to respond to him, but then he froze in place.

Turning, Cody looked and saw who was standing in the doorway, who had gained Windham’s attention: _Joe_. Oh, oh! Cody’s eyes widened, a warning for Joe to head out for a bit on the tip of his tongue, but Windham was beating him to the punch, moving to Joe and grabbing his arm and towing him to their room with a muttered, “I want a word with you.” 

Joe looked utterly confused as he found himself being dragged off to his room by his best friend. “What’s going on?” he finally asked once they were nearly at the door. 

“Like I said, I need a word with you,” Windham answered as he opened the door, then closed it behind them. 

The second the door was shut, Cody headed over there to see if he could hear anything that they were saying. Nothing could have stopped him from grinning when he was indeed able to hear everything they were talking about.

“What the hell is this about?” Joe asked.

“Someone’s spreading rumours about you,” Windham told him. At least he _hoped_ it was a rumour. He thought that Joe was his best friend, so if he’d done something with anyone, boy or girl, he should have said something to him. He told Joe almost immediately after one of the professor’s daughters gave him a blow job in his bathroom during one of their summer gatherings, so he’d expected Joe to do the same. It was the courteous thing to do, was it not?

“What? What rumours are being spread about me?” If Joe had been confused before, he was even more so now. 

“They’re saying that, that—“ Windham’s mouth closed so hard and so fast that his teeth clacked together, his cheeks flushed and his hands flexing restlessly at his sides. “Windham…” Joe was beginning to get concerned now. Concerned and slightly uneasy, Windham had been talking to Cody after all.

“People are saying that you’ve fooled around with a boy,” the words all rushed out of Windham so fast after a few moments of terse silence that Joe was forced to unpick them with difficulty; the widening of his eyes and rush of blood colouring his face giving him away more than words ever could.

“It’s true?” Windham found his stomach feeling oddly tight at the thought. Joe forced himself to hold Windham’s eyes even though what he wanted was to quail away from his best friend, hating the expression that he could currently see on his face, “What else are they saying about me?” Surely the fooling around thing couldn’t be _that_ surprising for Windham?

Cody strained, trying to see through the keyhole and hear through the door at the same time, unsurprisingly not accomplishing very much on either count, “—you’re in love with someone else,” was the words he heard when his ear pressed against the wood of the door once more. 

“ _That’s_ a rumour going around school? That I’m in love with someone?” Joe asked, now highly agitated and not in the least bit pleased that Cody had so quickly turned around and betrayed his confidence. 

“So the fact that there’s word going around that you’ve messed around with boys doesn’t matter to you? It’s the fact that you’re actually ‘in love,” he said, adding air quotes, as he had no idea how true that even was, “according to these rumours that bothers you?” 

“They’re not rumours, though,” Joe said, his voice no louder than a whisper. 

“Wait… _what_?” Windham asked. “Then how did Cody know all that? He wasn’t the one that you were fooling around with, was he?”

“No!” Joe answered instantly. “No,” he said once again, trying to remain calm, but it was quite challenging. He needed another cigarette… either that or he needed to punch someone in the face. Possibly Cody.

From outside the door, Cody was able to pick out his name, but that wasn’t unusual as he could hear people saying his name from a mile away. Things were getting quite interesting at that point, and he swore that no one better bother him.

“Joe…” the hurt in Windham’s voice was evident and Joe winced, fumbling for his cigarettes and making his way over to the window. Fuck it; he’d take the caning and fine if someone found out he’d been smoking in here, but he needed it.

Windham grabbed Joe’s hands though, preventing him from moving or using the cigarettes. “Wh-Why would you keep such things secret from me? We tell each other _everything!_ ” and they had, that was true, until Joe had fallen for Windham. _How were you supposed to admit something like that?_ “Windham, please—“ Joe started, knowing that as soon as the other pressed he’d fold faster than a deck of cards.

“Tell me what’s going on, Joe—“ Outside the door Cody couldn’t remember a time he had ever seen such emotion coming from either of the two boys, drinking it in greedily, knowing that Joe might hate him for a while but this way he’d get his answer either way sooner or later, “—tell me!” Joe tried to wriggle free, avoiding Windham’s eyes and pleading with the other to just let the matter go ASAP.

So engrossed in what was going on was Cody, that he missed Ted and Justin walking into the common room, Ted taking one look at what Cody was doing and reaching for the seat of the other’s pants to pull him from the door, “Now I know your mother told you not to eavesdrop.” 

“Ted! This is a highly important matter!” Cody hissed, going back to the door. He didn’t want to miss a _word_ of what was being said. “Shut up,” he whispered harshly to Ted, as he knew he was going to protest. 

Back behind the closed door, Windham was staring Joe down, and Joe had never felt more intimidated in his life. Not to mention that he was genuinely afraid of what would happen should he tell Windham about what was really going on with him. The last thing he wanted was to lose that close friendship they had all those years. “It’s not like I slept with him, or anything,” was what he ended up saying, casting his eyes down towards the floor.

“What?” Windham asked. He’d expected maybe a name, a lengthy confession even, but not that. 

“I just wanted you to know that I didn’t sleep with him. And it wasn’t like it was planned, or anything; it just happened one day. Even then it was just a kiss… while we beat ourselves off,” he added after a brief pause. “But we never touched one another!”

“I still don’t understand why you never told me any of this before,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest as he continued to stare Joe down. “Did you think I’d have a problem with you doing these things with boys? Because we are friends with Ted and Cody… and Justin. I know it’s not the _proper_ thing to do, but nearly everyone else in the school plays around from time to time. So, what’s the big issue here?”

Ted sighed heavily, sending Justin a look. As one he and the other male reached forward and yanked Cody backwards from the door once more—using a bit too much force considering that the other kept going and then landed squarely on his backside, “OW!”

Inside the room Joe and Windham were momentarily distracted by the cry, “What was that?” However, when there was no more noise they merely turned to look at one another again. Well, Windham was looking at Joe but Joe wasn’t looking at him. “You just don’t get it,” Joe whispered, feeling rather broken by the realisation that his friend, despite knowing essentially that he was in love with someone but fooling around with someone else (as it were, to simplify it greatly) he just _didn’t_ get it.

“Windham… I’m in love _with a boy_ ,” he said harshly, feeling his eyes beginning to burn a little as his throat started to clog with emotion, but he’d rather die than cry before anyone, especially Windham, “I am _in love with two boys_ , and although one probably wouldn’t reject my confession I have no idea what the other would do and it’s fucking-well tearing me apart inside!” Joe was breathing hard, face red.

Windham was staring at him, clearly shell-shocked by _that_ confession and Joe turned away, voice cracking, “Just forget it.” He crossed the distance between himself and the door and then placed his hand on the doorknob. Just as he began to turn the knob though a hand encircled his wrist, turning him away from the door, Joe closing his eyes to avoid having to look at the other boy, “Windham, really, please, just let it go—“ he started to plead. 

~~~

“Were you concerned about me?” Randy asked with a sly smile, drawing his cousin into an affectionate embrace and tousling the neat hair Evan possessed, making the younger man squirm. Had Chris not known of their relation to one another then he would most definitely _not_ have approved of such interaction with his lover. “I was,” Evan huffed when he pulled free, pouting at Randy, “But I won’t again.”

Pretending to sniffle, Randy then looked at John, “Jooohhhnnn,” he whined, “Evan says he won’t care about me anymore!” he pretended to collaps into sobs and John threw a pillow at him, still mindful that he’d be showing Evan and Chris more than he ever intended if he didn’t watch himself, “Hush your noise, boy. You two can’t help but care about one another. In future though, Ev, if we’re both missing just assume we’re having a day off together.”

He did feel guilty for having caused Evan undue worry, but he knew the ravenette would forgive them both before long. “Can we maybe try this some time?” Chris mused, holding his hands up in surrender and adding, “It was just a question,” when Evan sent him a look that clearly suggested that he thought Chris was insane. “It might do yeh both good, y’know,” John offered, Randy trying to fight off his protective familial instincts.

“Have you got any plans for this weekend, Ev?” Randy asked, wanting to distract the other from his pouting. The immediate blush that coloured his cousin’s face had Randy interested, though it was Chris that supplied the answer to the question, “Actually, we’re heading into town together; my cousin is visiting and I promised to show him around.” Somehow Randy doubted that was _all_ they’d be doing, but he didn’t say so. “Your cousin?”

“Yes, you may know him, as he was here last year as an exchange student. His name’s Christian,” Chris told them.

“He’s the ‘bad ass’ guy!” John exclaimed. Chris looked confused, so he went on to explain, “Last year we heard him use that expression—”

“And John’s been using it every since,” Randy butt in. “I had no idea that you were his cousin,” he then said, wondering if he should tell him about what happened between them in Christian’s first week at school. 

“When he was telling me about going here, he mentioned you,” Chris then said to them. “Unless there’s another Randy Orton I don’t know about.”

“And just what did he tell you about me?” Randy asked, highly curious. Did he mention _everything_ to his cousin? 

“He told me that you give a damn good hand job,” Chris answered, to which Evan gasped, John raised a brow and Randy merely shrugged. What? It was true; he wasn’t about to deny it.

Evan looked between Randy and John, rather shocked when John did little more than roll his eyes before returning his attention back to Chris.

“Wait—“ he spluttered, causing the three boys in the room to look back at him, “John,” he addressed the second tallest, “Does that not bother you?” They had both told him they had been together a _long, long_ time and Randy had strayed, yet...

“Evan,” John started gently, understanding where Evan was probably struggling to adjust to the idea, “I do not consider anything as Randy cheating on me in that sense, except for full sex—and even then our agreement is that as long as we tell one another before or after, then neither can blame the other for it.”

The look of perplexed upset on Evan’s face was so strong that Chris moved to wrap his arms around his lover without really thinking about it. “But… I don’t know if I could ever be so secure as to allow such a thing…” Chris supposed it was a good thing he had no intentions to look for affection elsewhere, because to be the cause of such a look on Evan’s face would kill him.

“But… but I thought you two were… were in love with each other,” Evan went on to say, still looking upset and surprised. “Yet you’re _sleeping with_ other people?”

“I do love him,” Randy confessed. “More than anything else in the world. Which is why I’ve never slept with anyone but him. It’s one thing to play around in boredom, but it’s another thing entirely to be so totally intimate with someone. At least that’s how I feel about it. I hope you don’t think less of me for this,” he then added, looking straight into Evan’s eyes.

How could he think less of Randy? He was the one person that was always there for him through everything; it wasn’t as though that changed. “No, I don’t. But… I am still confused,” he admitted, wrapping his arms over Chris’. “It’s hard enough knowing that _before_ me, Chris was with others. How can you stand knowing that one of you might be off doing something with someone else?”

“It’s tough at times,” John told him, “as we’re both highly possessive people… but at the same time, the both of us know exactly who our hearts belong to.”

“I must say I never expected you two to be so profound and romantic,” Chris commented, trying to lighten the atmosphere a little bit because Evan and Randy were getting a touch too serious, and he was always concerned that Evan got too worked up over things. John caught on to Chris’ intentions and then leveled a playful wink in their direction, chuckling:

“Well, I do love ‘im, but I won’t deny that his cock and arse have their own appeals.” Chris snorted a soft laugh, clearing his throat, roguish grin denoting his amusement even as Randy was attempting to smother his lover with a pillow as he scolded him to, “Hush his mouth.” Evan’s cheeks bloomed hotly and he suddenly buried his face into Chris’ shoulder, surprising the blonde man, “Evan, are you Ok?”

“Um, John’s…” he mumbled and Chris looked up to see what the problem was. He then whistled, “Oi, Cena, cover your prospects; you’re frightening my boy.” Randy’s brow rose at the boy comment, but then he reached and reflexively covered John up; he’d be lying if he said it didn’t bother him when anyone _saw_ John naked, because he was a fine specimen of manhood. “Sorry Evan,” John apologised, “You can look again now,” he added.

Cautiously raising his head from Chris’ shoulder, Evan was pleased to see that John was covered once again. He may be sleeping with Chris, but he still was a highly modest person, and he didn’t need to see any of _that_ hanging out. 

“You know, Jericho,” Randy said to him, though he was still smirking at his blushing cousin, “you’re not half bad. Right now I wish I’d gotten to know you better at the beginning of the year.”

“Really?” Chris asked, raising a brow. “Does that mean I have your official seal of approval?” Randy was well respected in the school, there was no secret about that, but Evan looked up to him for completely different reasons. To have the approval of Evan’s closest relative, hell, the closest person Evan had ever had in his life, would be a wonderful thing indeed. 

“You’re getting there,” Randy answered. It was one thing to crack a lewd joke with someone, but Randy was highly protective of his family, and he wouldn’t let anyone hurt Evan. Hence the reason he didn’t like Chris from the start: he thought he was doing something horrid to him. And Evan would never tell him what was wrong. Still, it felt like Chris was telling the truth, that he really was in love with Evan, just as Evan was in love with Chris. And if it was true love, how could Randy not give Chris his seal of approval?


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally - Oscar Wilde

John rolled his eyes lightly at his lover, knowing exactly what was going through his head; many a boy had been interested in Evan before, but Evan had barely noticed (John had actually been considering he was straight) and Randy had firmly chased them off.

The fact that Evan had been in fact carrying on with Chris for this long, and that he had even told Randy at all, meant that Chris had obviously made some impact—if Randy truly didn’t think he was good for Evan he wouldn’t let him near him.

The conversation became somewhat stilted as John and Randy ate the food that had been brought for them, Chris and Evan soon ending up sitting on Randy’s desk chair. Or, more accurately, Chris was sitting on the chair and Evan was sitting on his knee. “Have you had a chance to look at the Rugby potentials yet, John?” the blonde asked, Evan immediately perking and calming at the topic of conversation.

“Aye,” John nodded, “DiBiase, Rotunda and Hennig are three that’ve caught my eye—“ Randy tensed a little at the phrasing without really thinking about it. He wasn’t so sure about Rotunda or Hennig being John’s type but DiBiase? Well… he wouldn’t say no to a crack at that. Or, a crack at the delicious little cross-dressing twink that DiBiase zealously guarded from everyone else. Or both of them…. Mhm, there was a thought for further consideration. And, if John was there too? Even better in his mind. Subtly he crossed his legs a little, adjusting his dressing-gown swiftly.

John went on talking about his three top prospects, not even noticing Randy, so caught up he was. “Rotunda will make for great defense. No one will get past his path. DiBiase, he’s quick, so he’d be a huge benefit to the team. And Hennig, the great thing about him, is he could easily play any position. He’s a strong guy, but he’s quick. Not as big as Rotunda, but I think his speed alone could take some of the bigger guys down,” he explained to Chris. “I bet you’d be good at rugby, you seem to have a nice athletic build to you.”

Shaking his head and grinning, Chris replied, “I don’t really think that’s my kind of game. I play ice hockey.”

“You play _hockey_?” John asked. “So you’d rather skate around on ice, swinging a stick at a tiny little puck than run around on the grass, tossing around a giant ball? How… Canadian of you.”

“Yeah, guilty as charged. Anyway, when are tryouts starting?”

“This Monday. Got all weekend to think of ways to put all these guys through hell,” John answered with a grin. There was nothing like starting out tryouts with the most grueling exercises he could think of. 

After another hour or so Chris and Evan left (Chris making sure to give an obnoxiously loud wish for their good health to return that had Randy flipping him off just before the door closed on them) and John had just said goodbye when he found himself underneath Randy and being subjected to a very passionate kiss. “Mhm!” he groaned in surprise, caught off-guard but giving Randy the access to his mouth that he sought the access that was rightfully his.

With a rather wet ‘pop!’ their mouths came apart after a while and John panted heavily as he looked up at Randy, “W-What brought that on? I mean, I know I’m massively sexy and it’s been a few hours since we last did it but—“ Randy’s mouth was on his again and John surrendered to the sensation with a low moan, gasping into Randy’s mouth when the other suddenly pinched his nipples, rolling the hardening peaks between his skilful, incessant fingers.

“John…” Randy nuzzled his lover’s neck, hearing the answering sigh that John gave to tell him that the other was listening… somewhat. “I want to play a game.” The sentence had John sitting up, brow arching; it had been a long time since Randy had said that, and John wouldn’t deny his shock at the words. “Who with?” he asked, his own participation a-given.

“Who do you think?” Randy asked lowly, pressing kisses all down John’s neck and across his chest and collarbone. 

“Well, I certainly hope—” he began, sucking in a breath as Randy’s mouth covered one of his nipples. After the initial shock of the sensation, he continued, “I hope that the other participant in this little game of yours is me.”

“Could be,” Randy said, his warm breath puffing out around John’s nipple. 

“Could be? Well, if you’d like me to leave so that you can go and find some other participant, by all means, I’ll—” but his sentence was cut short as Randy raised his head back up and crushed their lips together in a fierce kiss. 

Finally pulling back, Randy’s eyes opened and his gaze met John’s. “You’re not going anywhere, Johnny,” he whispered. 

“I’m happy to hear that. So, tell me, Randal,” John began, stroking his hand through Randy’s hair, “what exactly do you have in mind for this game?”

~~~

“Ted, what the _fuck_ are you doing?!” Cody whispered quite harshly once he stood up. “I’m going to miss this!” he insisted, trying to go back to the door, but Ted was holding him in place. 

“You can’t just listen in on someone’s conversation!” Ted told him. “They obviously didn’t want anyone else involved.”

“They wouldn’t even be _having_ this conversation had it not been for me!” Cody protested, wanting to get back to the door that very instant. No, _needing_ to get back to the door that very instant.

“How can I just let this shit drop?” Windham asked. “I feel… betrayed,” he finally decided on. “You’ve been my best friend my whole life, now you’re off fooling around with boys, falling _in love with_ boys, and you don’t even trust me enough to tell me?”

“Goddammit, Windham!” Joe shouted, which got the attention of the other people in the common room area, that being Ted, Cody and Justin. Heath was nowhere to be seen, nor were any other members of their class, and Cody figured it was because the final class of the day had started, and now they were all missing it (Ted, Justin and Joe did have free period anyway, it was only Cody and Windham who were skipping). Dropping his voice, Joe went on, “It’s not _because_ I’ve fooled around with a guy, and it’s not _because_ it happens to be boys I’ve fallen for… it’s _who_ they are.”

“It’s not Mike, is it?” Windham then asked, his eyes flying wide open at the mere thought of such a thing. Joe and Mike had quite a rivalry, but that could have been spurned by some quick fling… or it could have led to a quick fling. He believed it was a viable option.

Joe’s expression was akin to a man who had just been told he had to take the vows and go celibate, “ _Mike?_ Are you kidding me? Please, Windham, fuck, surely you know better than _that_!” He wouldn’t go near Mike in that sense on a bet; the other had gotten him into far too much trouble in the past and his manner definitely left something to be desired alright. Windham winced a little at the sheer disappointment on Joe’s face, “Alright, alright, I get it—no need to hammer it home!” he took a breath and then ran a hand through his hair, looking across at his friend.

“Are you _ever_ going to tell me who they are?” Joe looked at the other, thinking that Windham did look so genuinely hurt at the prospect of him keeping things from him, and truth be told he wasn’t sure how long he could go with all the secrecy. His mind kept going back to what Cody had said: the worst that could happen was that it was awkward for a time and Windham didn’t feel the same.

Standing up he moved across to the window of their room, looking out over the darkening grounds that surrounded their school. “Fine,” he started quietly, not turning around and the tension emanating from him thickening to the degree where Windham was sure he could see it. “I’ll tell you who it is. Just remember: _you wanted to know_ , so don’t blame me if you don’t like what you hear.” In the window he met his own eyes via his reflection, wincing.

The silence seemed to stretch for a moment and Windham was beginning to consider that Joe had chickened out before he then said, “The boy I fooled around with was Heath—“ Windham’s eyes widened, jaw dropping at the end of the other’s sentence, “And the boy that I’m in love with… it’s you.” Windham, who had risen during the silence, intending to approach his friend, sunk back down onto the bed, staring and unmoving.

“See!” Joe snipped. “I told you you didn’t want to hear it. Fuck.” He shut his eyes and rested his head against the cool glass of the window. 

“I… I just don’t understand it, that’s all,” Windham said, voice low, still in shock at this curveball thrown his way. “I don’t hate you, though, if that’s what you’re worried about. In fact I’d say you have pretty good taste.”

From his seat by the window, Joe couldn’t help but crack a small smile and shake his head slightly, his eyes remaining closed. “I wish I could have told you sooner. But you gotta know where my concern was coming from.”

Windham merely nodded. Joe’s concerns were perfectly valid. Despite the fact that they’d been friends their whole lives, and the fact that they were very close friends, telling someone about feelings like what Joe was feeling could form a rift and easily drive those close friends apart. “I’ve never been interested in boys before,” Windham said after a while of unusually uncomfortable silence.

Finally turning to look at Windham, Joe asked, “So… what’s that supposed to mean?”

Windham cleared his throat softly, licking his lips. Joe looked so damn vulnerable, so afraid, and Windham hated to see that—especially when he was the apparent cause of the discomfort. “It means…” he couldn’t actually believe he was going to say these words out loud, but Joe had been honest so he figured that he’d best do the same if he wanted their friendship to survive this, “Maybe I’m not completely repulsed by the idea.”

Joe’s mouth dropped open, clearly surprised, but that didn’t surprise Windham at all; he had pretty much just said something that went completely against his overall image. “I mean,” he added on hastily, “I’m not sure _exactly_ how much of _this_ sort of thing I’ll be comfortable with, but…” it wouldn’t hurt to try a little, would it? They’d be stronger friends because of it.

Joe hadn’t seen that coming at all. He had expected that Windham would shout at him, call him perverted or a freak, then proceed to pummel him good and proper before never speaking to him again. This had him completely wrong-footed, “Oh, I, well, that’s—“ he started, but then Windham cut him off, “Tell me what happened between you and Heath.” Joe almost bit through his lip—did Windham _really_ want to hear that?

“I already told you that me and Heath didn’t do much,” Joe told him, but he didn’t know if Windham would believe him. 

“I still can’t believe that you and… Heath were fooling around,” Windham said. Hell, he couldn’t believe that he said he was open to this whole idea. He’d fooled around with girls before, which was rather difficult to do on a regular basis considering where he was going to school, so he had to wait until his parents’ parties to see any member of the female sex, but he’d never so much as considered doing things with boys. 

“It was only one time, I swear. I wasn’t planning on it, either. It just sort of… happened,” Joe explained. 

“You’re still not telling me what you did.”

“All we did was kiss… while we jerked ourselves off,” he added in a whisper. 

“You got Heath off?” Windham asked, now getting somewhat aggravated by the whole thing. Joe considered jacking another boy off “not doing much”? 

“No! I said that we jerked _ourselves_ off! I never touched him, and he never touched me,” he explained further. “But I don’t think he’d ever object if I went to him again.”

“And what about you? Would you go back to him ever?” Windham asked, raising an eyebrow.

Joe found himself suddenly getting annoyed by the rather condescending attitude; if he hadn’t known better he’d almost think Windham was jealous. “W-Well,” he faltered at first before pushing on with his firm resolve; he had nothing to be guilty about, because he hadn’t done anything wrong. “I may well do—a man’s own hand can only be so much company for him, you know?” he watched as Windham’s cheek seemed to jump slightly, his fingers giving that restless tapping against his thigh which denoted his temper growing

And that made _no sense_ to Joe at all. “I already consigned myself to the fact that nothing would ever come of my affection for you long before I even considered ever approaching you about it, and I don’t want to be alone forever—“ he and Heath might not become anything serious but many other boys seemed happy with more clandestine arrangements.

“And—“ he started before Windham then cut him off, “Joe, shut up.” Joe’s eyes narrowed—nothing irked him more than being told to shut up, but his irritation was ended almost as soon as it had begun when Windham suddenly said, “Come here.” Though the other seemed outwardly calm Joe knew him well enough to recognise the little lilt in his tone; Windham was nervous. Slowly, unsure whether this was a trick of some kind, Joe moved until he was standing before his sitting friend, brow rising in silent question.

“What?” Joe asked as stood there, so close to Windham. 

“How do you know that you love me?” Windham then questioned as he started at Joe.

Shrugging, Joe let his gaze slip to the floor. Dammit, he never acted like this, so timid and unsure of himself. Why was this happening now of all times? “I… I don’t know. I just know that I _do_.”

Windham had known Joe long enough to know that this whole confession had him acting so out of character. He was the guy that never gave a shit about anything, he had the Devil may care attitude… but not right now. This man standing before him was _not_ the Joe he’d always known. And he found that he hated that he was the reason behind that change in behaviour. “Look, I’m as nervous about this whole thing as you are. If not more. I still don’t know if… if I can do this.” He placed his hand under Joe’s chin and raised his friend’s head up, their eyes seeking one another out, “But we’re gonna try, right?” 

“R-Really?” the sheer stunned, anxious and delighted amazement that flashed through Joe’s eyes made Windham feel humbled; he was nothing special and Joe had fallen in love _with him_. And, well, Heath too a little if you wanted to get technical—and Windham found himself being oddly bothered by that technicality. However he would focus on that later. Much, much later on. In a couple of weeks or so.

Swallowing hard, nerves suddenly overtaking him, Windham moved the hand that had been tilting Joe’s head up around to hold his jaw instead, supporting his head. “Look, uh,” he flushed slightly, Joe finding it endearing past the crippling shyness that was filling him, “-if I ain’t too good at this at first it probably _ain’t_ just because it’s my first time kissing a boy.” Some experience he might have but kissing was sadly not one of the main things.

Slowly, oh so very slowly, Windham leant in and Joe waited; he’d thought about this moment a lot but now it was actually happening he couldn’t think of anything. The kiss was nothing spectacular, in both of their estimations, but it meant _something_ because it was _them_ and—outside the door there was suddenly a muffled whoop of, “Yes!” that ended as soon as it began, leaving the two blushing, shyly smiling boys, exchanging looks of complete bewilderment.

Giving a look to Windham, jerking his head, they both headed to the door, Joe twisting the handle before pulling it back. The sight that awaited them was really nothing short of amusing. Ted had his hand over a squirming Cody’s mouth. Now they knew for sure who had let out the “Yes!” just seconds before. 

“Have you been watching us this entire time?” Joe asked, leaning his shoulder against the door frame.

~~~

Randy allowed himself to enjoy the gentle touch a moment before he set his attention onto the twin of the nipple he’d previously abandoned, very much enjoying the way John’s strong torso muscles twitched and flexed underneath his lips. “I want Runnels,” Randy stated against John’s flesh and John had to fight to roll his eyes; he had known that one since the day Randy had first seen the boy.

But, the continuation was what shocked him: “And,” Randy started before John cut across him rather sharply in surprise, “And?” Randy lifted his head from John’s nipple, chin resting on the man’s chest instead, “And DiBiase,” Randy said, licking his lips slowly. For a moment he thought John might object, but then his lover got that look that suggested he was thinking.

“Runnels _and_ DiBiase? And what exactly would you plan to do with them both, and me, if you had us all.” God, Randy did not have time to go through the entire _list_ that he had in mind, though he had no doubt more ideas would come to him in time. “Well, for starters they could jerk us off, and we could jerk them off… and then I’d very much enjoy watching them sucking us off—and vice versa, s’only fair; plus, we need to be good influences.”

“It’s not that often that we do something like that together,” John said, biting his lower lip. Well, honestly, the last time they’d fooled around with someone else together, it was years ago before they’d even ever slept together, as one of the older boys (only by a year, though) happened to find them tentatively touching one another in the bathroom and joined in. 

“Don’t you think that’d be fun, babe?” Randy asked, seeing in John’s eye that he was indeed interested. 

“I think it would be, yes. But do you think we’d be able to do such a thing?” John questioned. He knew how conservative DiBiase was, and he’d also heard whispered rumours about how he was sleeping with Runnels and how highly protective he was of him.

“John, look at us. Who can resist us? No one,” Randy said, answering his own question. “It might take a little work, but it’ll pay off in the end, I’m sure of that.”

“I’m somewhat surprised that you _haven’t_ done anything with Runnels yet. Unless you have and just never told me.” 

“Don’t I tell you everything that I do? I haven’t touched the kid… but I’ve heard that he gives amazing blowjobs. So… are you up for it?”

“I dunno Randy,” John sighed; even though he doubted Runnels and DiBiase would out them (quite literally) if they didn’t want their advances there was a little part of him that was concerned: what if neither of them wanted anything to do with him? He really didn’t think he could stand rejection of that kind at all (let alone before his lover) and… he _really_ didn’t think he could handle knowing Runnels and DiBiase wanted to be alone with Randy.

Seeing the expressions moving over John’s face Randy began to press slow kisses over his lover’s jaw and neck, hands gently caressing the sides of John’s strong body. “Johnny, if they don’t want to play with us then we won’t make ‘em… and you know I don’t like playing _this_ game without you there.” And that was true; though these occurrences were far and few between they were _shared_ completely.

“Please?” Randy looked John in the eye, lower-lip jutting out just-so and pulling his best pleading face. John sighed softly, reaching up and cupping Randy’s cheek, “Only for you,” he murmured softly and Randy turned his head to press a kiss into John’s palm that had previously been cupping his cheek. “So, we’re game?” Randy asked, eyes glimmering slightly at the prospect of a ‘hunt’ shared with his lover. “We’re game,” John responded, Randy sealing the deal with a kiss.

“Good. This will be such fun,” Randy said when he pulled back. “I bet you anything Runnels will be at tryouts cheering on DiBiase. I can talk to him if you take on DiBiase,” he suggested.

“Sounds fair. I can get to talking to him in the locker room,” John told him. “I can’t believe we’re _actually_ going to do this.” 

“It’s about time, though, don’t you agree?” Randy asked.

“That we take on a couple together?” John wondered, and Randy nodded. They’d heard rumours about other couples that had formed in the school, but no one had ever caught either of their eyes like this particular pair. “Yes, I suppose so. This will probably take far more work than getting to anyone else I’ve ever been with before.”

“The thrill of the chase… that should be nearly as fun as the catch itself,” Randy said with a grin. He then John another kiss, this time letting his hand slide down over John’s hard, muscled abdomen. When he pulled back this time, he grinned and muttered, “It’s amazing you still have any muscle definition in your abdomen considering how much food is stuffed inside of it.”

“Do you want to sleep on your own tonight?” John muttered, a light frown curving his lips as a flush touched his cheeks. Randy immediately splayed his hand over John’s muscular abs with some minor force, knowing the other would get his point that he wasn’t going _anywhere_ away from the bed. “Don’t be like that, Jonathon, I’m just teasing you,” Randy cooed, nibbling John’s ear and nuzzling the lobe.

“So how exactly do you plan for us to approach those two about this?” John asked. Whereas Runnels was a little more out-there and seemed less shy DiBiase was rather shy indeed what John had seen of him. Rumour had it though that there was a territorial streak in that boy a mile long and that a few had come under fire of the consequences of getting the streak riled.

“Ask him outright. If they say no then they say no.” Somehow though John doubted it was going to be that simple, both to ask and also about what would happen if they _were_ rejected by the younger men. “Or,” Randy said, taking John’s chin in hand and stroking a thumb over John’s lips, “Just go down on the boy—he’d never be able to resist you after that.” John arched a brow, smirking slightly, “You’d be Ok without being there to watch?”

“Well, I’d be ok with it as long as I get to watch at a later date,” Randy told him. “Maybe I’ll just go down on Cody, too.”

“In the stands during tryouts?” John asked. 

“Why not? You’ve got to live a little, right?” Randy replied. “We fucked in the stands before.”

“Yes, but not while people were there,” John said, that memory now flooding his mind. “Tell me, are you prepared to wait this out? Who knows if the two of them will agree to this whole thing.”

“I know, I know. You just do whatever it is you need to do to get DiBiase, ok? I’ll work on Runnels. And then, at some point, we’ll just get the two of them together. I don’t know when, but I say the sooner the better.”

“You know that this won’t be happening the first day after tryouts, don’t you?”

“Well, it doesn’t have to be _that_ soon… But the end of the week sounds fair, don’t you think?” Randy asked, to which John raised a brow. “What? That’s plenty of time!” 

“No, it’s really not,” John murmured with a wry amusement; he might seem confident to an outsider but Randy beat him hands-down with real self-assured ease. And, well, why shouldn’t he? He was gorgeous and intelligent and… John turned over, pulling the covers over his shoulders somewhat.

Randy frowned suddenly, shifting and having John roll onto his back again, “What are you doing?” John was suddenly looking at Randy as though there was a trick in the question, brow furrowed, “I was intending to sleep.”

“Sleep?” Randy repeated rather dumbly and John rolled his eyes lightly, “Yes Randy, sleep. You know, that thing where you close your eyes and relax.” Randy bit John’s earlobe, “Don’t get cheeky. I _know_ what sleep is, I just thought…” he trailed off.

“Thought what?” John asked and Randy shrugged, his lips gravitating towards John’s neck and then over his shoulder, wanting to get at his lover’s spine but not being able to do so unless John rolled over. “That maybe we could do something… _fun_ together.” All this talk was revving his proverbial motor.

“Again, Randy?” John asked, pulling the blankets even closer into him. 

“Yes, again. We’ve only had sex three times today, and while it was nice to see Evan and Chris, they took up a lot of time that I’d have rather spent doing other things,” Randy said to him. 

“I know that you’ve gotten yourself all worked up again over the thought of Runnels blowing you. Don’t even try to lie to me.”

“Ok, yes, I like entertaining the idea of fucking Runnels’ mouth… but I like _acting_ on the idea of you fucking me,” he then said. “Don’t pretend that you don’t want my tight ass around your cock.”

“As tempting as that sounds, I don’t know if I’m… _up_ to it right now,” John replied. “I bet your hand can take care of that.”

“Maybe it can,” Randy started, the beginnings of a pout forming, “But that doesn’t mean I want it to. Satisfactory my hands may be but you know they’re nothing compared to you.” John resisted the urge to both smile and roll his eyes as one; Randy’s flattery was very strange indeed.

Not intending to correct Randy on the other’s slight misinterpretation of his words (he _was_ actually tired; a whole day of sex and doing nothing really took it out of you) John jumped suddenly when he felt an oh-so-familiar mouth beginning a descent down his body under the covers.

“Randal…” he lifted the covers up somewhat and looked down at his lover, Randy not stopping the nipping kisses he was laying down John’s body. “Just lay back and think of England, Jonathon and let me take care of this—“ he indicated John’s currently limp dick.

“If I were to lie back and think of England, I don’t think I’d ever get hard again,” John retorted as Randy’s head moved ever lower.

“Then I guess you’ll have to resort to thinking of my mouth around your cock,” Randy said before plunging his mouth down, taking the entirety of John’s cock in a single go, the tip within his throat as the organ hardened inside of his wet mouth.

“Oh _fuck_ ,” John moaned. At that point, all thoughts of sleep went out of his mind. All he could think of was… Randy’s mouth around his cock. However, he knew that he’d fall asleep nearly the instant after they were finished. But at that point in time? All he cared about was getting his cock sucked by his lover. 

Randy hummed around John, then smirked as John grew even _harder_. ‘Sleep my ass,’ he thought to himself, beginning to bob his head up and down, suctioning in his cheeks with every pass upwards. Yeah, he was going to make John flat out exhausted by the time he was done with him.

When John was good and hard Randy removed his mouth from around the other with an obscenely wet ‘pop’, giving one last lick from base to tip.

“Still tired?” Randy smirked as John sent him one of those ‘I’m doing my best to be annoyed at you’ looks, the cock in his hand still hard as a post—and he wanted it in him like _now_. Reaching for the lubricant they had he slickened three of his fingers liberally.

Straddling John’s strong waist, leaning forward on his knees, Randy made sure to hold his lover’s eyes as he pressed a finger into himself. The resounding grunt at the sensation of the breach was borderline pornographic and John felt himself pulse. He supposed he could attempt to feign sleep but it would be a lost cause at this stage in the proceedings.

“Oh, _John_ ,” Randy moaned lowly, a second finger beginning to scissor his body open alongside the first. John might not be able to see the fingers but one needn’t be the smartest man in the world to know just what his lover was doing. John’s eyes were riveted to Randy’s face, watching the expressions play out on his features.

~~~

“He was,” Ted told them. “I tried to keep him away, telling him that you guys obviously didn’t want him involved in your conversation. Well… obviously he managed to get away at just the right time, because right when he got to the door, he let out his little shout.”

Though he generally enjoyed being in Ted’s arms, this time, Cody found that he wanted out. So, he did the only thing that he could think of. He licked Ted’s hand. And that did the trick. Not only did Ted drop his hand from his mouth, he also let him go and took a step back. “What can I say? I’m just happy for you two!”

“Cody… you’re disgusting,” Ted said as he wiped his hand on his trouser leg, Cody ignoring him, still obviously jubilant over the development in the relationship before him that _he_ was the sole reason for. Windham, still standing just slightly behind Joe, then smirked a little bit, “M’sure you wouldn’t be saying that if he was licking you elsewhere, Teddy-boy.”

Face turning redder then the flames in the hearth of the common-room fire, Ted spluttered a little bit before Justin rescued him from further embarrassment and asked, “So… are you two together now?” Seeing out of his peripheral vision how Windham’s face had creased a little in uncertainty he added in a swift, “After a fashion. We’re just seeing how things go.” Justin’s brow furrowed; so they weren’t exclusive?

He couldn’t imagine how he’d feel if there was a chance Wade would see other people the way he saw him, and he could bet that neither Cody nor Ted would be happy about such a thing with regards to one another. Cody turned and smiled smugly, giving Ted the full force of the look, “I am so the best. I _told_ you!” Ted arched a brow back at him, blush fading, “Actually, I do believe _I_ told _you_.” Cody’s jubilant expression fell, pouting as he muttered, “Technicalities.”

“What do you mean you told him?” Joe asked of Ted. 

“Oh… well… I just happened to notice that you and Windham… you seemed close, is all. I mean… as in… close like…”

“Like you and Cody are?” Windham finished. “To be honest, I’d never thought about him like that, and had no idea that _he_ thought about _me_ like that, either. Hence the reason we’re just… trying it out.”

Still Justin couldn’t begin to fathom how they could just be “trying it out.” What if Wade had said to him that glorious New Years night that they were just testing the waters and that nothing may actually come of what they were about to do? “But I thought you were in love with Windham?” he couldn’t help but to ask.

Joe shrugged. “I think I am, anyway. It’s not like I’ve actually… been in love before. For all I know, we were never meant to be more than best friend, and that I just think that I’ve developed feelings for him of love. He’s been like a brother to me my whole life, so this is a huge change. You know?”

Justin felt a flash of anger run through him; he could they be so blasé towards something as precious and profound as love? “I don’t believe you lot!” he suddenly exploded, causing the four boys before him to startle violently, eyes widening. Justin _never_ ever raised his voice (unless he was with Wade, and even then that was never in a negative way) and the fact that he had, let alone so suddenly, was cause for great startlement indeed.

Grabbing his bag from where he had dropped it as a precaution in case Ted had needed an extra pair of hands to try and restrain Cody, he pulled the satchel onto his shoulder and all but ran up the stairs that led towards the landing that had their dorm-room on it. Windham was the one to break the silence, “Did we miss something? What’s up with him?”

“I don’t know—“ and right then Cody was obviously more interested in asking Joe and Windham what was going to happen between them now, so Ted said, “I’ll go and talk to him. Catch you boys later.” He nodded and then turned, heading up the stairs. He found Justin in their room, sat on his bed, head in his hands. “Justin?”

~~~

Looking up from his bed, Justin saw Ted staring at him with a confused look on his face and he snipped, “What?”

“Hey, I just wanted to see what was wrong. You looked kind of pissed off back there,” Ted said, stating the obvious. 

“Yeah, well… I still am pissed off.”

“Over the fact that Joe and Windham are… a couple now?” he asked, still quite confused over the reason Justin acted out as harshly as he did. He thought that Justin would be happy for his two friends, not completely enraged at the fact.

“No. Well, not completely. Joe claims to be _in love with_ Windham, yet they don’t seem at all serious about what they actually have. It’s one thing to play around with someone, not like I ever did, though, but it’s something completely different to say that you love someone. And Windham seemed so unsure of his true feelings.”

“He could just be scared to actually admit them,” Ted supplied, knowing that he felt like that for a long time. Yes, everyone knew of his possessive streak when it came to Cody, but that didn’t mean it was easy for him to admit to Cody (or to himself) that he was actually in love with him. 

Justin shook his head; there was scared and then there was just using the word for convenience. Even though he was sure Windham wouldn’t be the target of such a play by Joe, if the other had such a thing in him, you never knew did you? He sighed.

“I’m fine Ted so you don’t have to stay,” Justin stood up, draping his bag’s strap neatly over the foot of his bed as he rooted around for some pajamas. Since he wasn’t intending to leave the dorm again that night he figured that he would just get comfortable and get his homework done.

Ted dithered somewhat; Justin really didn’t seem Ok and yet he wasn’t the best person to speak to. Oh, he could keep secrets no problem when necessary, and he could listen extremely well… it was just the advice thing where he felt he fell down somewhat. “If you need to talk to someone, Justin…” he started, the South African giving a faint smile, “I know.”

Ted left when Justin started to dress, the dark-skinned male sighed softly. It wasn’t just the blasé attitude that bothered him, he supposed: he was jealous of the fact that almost everyone he knew who had some sort of significant other, as it were, got to see them all the time, and where he could see Wade sometimes during the day it wasn’t the same as _seeing_ him.

Justin knew that feeling sorry for himself wasn’t going to help matters. It got nothing done. It wasn’t productive. He sat down and took out his homework. Even though he was in all advanced classes, they really didn’t challenge him. He did his work and kept his mind filled with thoughts of Wade. 

Now, though, he was likely going to have to deal each night with Ted and Cody sharing a bed. Each night he spent apart from Wade, he was going to have to be reminded that he was apart from Wade, from those strong arms and warm body. 

However, he decided that he _did_ have an advantage over some of the other students. He lived with Wade. Over the holidays he got to spend every day with him, got to sleep in his bed. That was something that the other students didn’t often have the opportunity to do. 

Still, the thoughts of Wade alone weren’t enough to make up for the fact that he wasn’t actually there with him. A smile then grew on Justin’s face as he thought about tomorrow. Friday. He couldn’t wait.

~~~

“That was weird,” Windham muttered as Ted took off to go talk to their friend. 

“It was… anyway,” Cody said, looking back and forth between his friends with a smile, “you two.”

“Well, it seems as though you heard most of our conversation, so I don’t really know if there’s much to tell you that you don’t already know… considering I _also_ told you so much in confidence earlier today,” Joe said. 

“Hey, if I hadn’t gone and told Windham, would we be having this conversation here now?” Cody asked. “No, we wouldn’t. So, what did I miss? Last thing I heard was you telling Windham here about you messin’ around with Heath. Next thing I know you two are sucking face. Fill me in.”

“That was hardly sucking face,” Windham said, a slight blush covering his cheeks, but otherwise remaining admirably composed whereas Joe seemed to suddenly find the carpet underfoot very interesting.

“I told Windham how I think I feel, and then reiterated that Heath and I hadn’t exactly done anything _together to each other_ , and then Windham said that we can try it.” Cody nodded his head, “Well, that’s as much progress as I’d expect from you two.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Joe asked, brow furrowing. Cody shrugged, “I just mean that you two aren’t exactly over-adventurous are you? A kiss is great progress indeed.” Windham rolled his eyes, “And I suppose when you finally told Ted how you felt you were on your knees by now!” at the look on Cody’s face Windham stared, “You didn’t?”  
“Well, not exactly…”

“Not exactly?” Windham asked. “How does one ‘not exactly’ end up on their knees?”

“Not that night, anyway,” he answered. “I _have_ ended up on my knees for him, though. But that wasn’t until the day after we first kissed.” He wanted to say that Ted had gotten on his knees for him, too, but he knew Ted wouldn’t appreciate that at all, so he kept that to himself. 

“You made quick work of that, didn’t you?” Joe questioned him. Although, who was he to talk considering last year at the school’s big dance he fingered then fucked some girl without even knowing her name. At least Cody had known Ted for his entire life. 

“Well, we haven’t fucked yet,” Cody then shared. “I wanted to, but…”

“But, let me guess, Ted didn’t want to,” Windham finished for him, and Cody nodded, letting him know that’s exactly how it happened.

“Ted didn’t want to what?” the man in question asked as he walked back downstairs from his room into the common area.

Cody froze, back to Ted, expression turning momentarily guilty. Windham and Joe both smirked at that; oh, how interesting would it be too see what Ted would do to Cody if they pushed his buttons far enough? Joe, wanting revenge for Cody blabbing on him earlier –even though it had grown into a good result for him- innocently said, “Cody was just telling us about his failed seduction attempt on you.”

As Ted’s brows rose into his hairline almost Cody let out a strangled sound, “Joseph!” and on that note he grabbed the other boy in a headlock, the pair tussling and somehow ending up landing on the floor as they continued their skirmish, their lovers watching silently.

As one Ted lifted Cody from Joe as Windham picked Joe up from the floor, holding them both to keep them still. Cody didn’t look at Ted, sensing the way the other’s arms tightened around him a little and feeling a small thrill, “And what else has Cody been telling you?” he asked interestedly, all thoughts of Justin momentarily driven from his mind.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is - Oscar Wilde

“Oh, what _hasn’t_ he been telling us?” Windham asked, looking to Joe. 

“Well, he did tell us that he’s been down on his knees for you already,” Joe supplied.

Ted looked to Cody, a look of surprise and shock written on his face. “You _told_ them that?” he asked. His face then grew pale… he had used his mouth on Cody, too. Had he… had he told them that?

“They asked! It’s not like I told them any illicit details, or anything,” Cody said with a pout. “I just told them that I sucked you off and that we haven’t fucked yet, despite the fact that I wanted to.”

“It’s ok, Teddy, I’ve gotten a blowjob before, too,” Windham told him, though he couldn’t hide the smirk on his face at the look of horror and embarrassment on Ted’s. It was priceless. 

When he finished his homework Justin went down to the bathroom and washed before doing his teeth. It was only after he’d clicked off his bedside lamp and settled down to sleep that the door opened again, his room-mates obviously preparing to turn in for the night. “Cody, be quiet!” Ted was admonishing in a firm whisper.

Justin continued to feign sleep as the pair moved around the room, Cody still seemingly apologising for something. Eventually they both fell silent, the only sound coming from one set of rustling sheets… seemed Cody had indeed won Ted over about sleeping in his bed again.

“I’m sorry, you know,” Cody murmured quietly, cuddled into Ted’s chest. “It really was just idle bragging, surface detail, that was it.” He thought Justin was asleep but kept quiet even so.

A heavy sigh left Ted, Cody feeling it, “Cody… I don’t appreciate it when you talk about us to others like that. What happens between us should _stay_ between us.” He wasn’t ashamed, but he _was_ of the opinion that some things were private.

Exhaling a breath Cody sighed himself, leaning up and trying to seek Ted’s lips in a kiss. When he only found the other’s cheek he felt oddly shunned, rejected, but at least Ted was still holding him close to him.

“Just go to sleep, Cody,” Ted murmured softly. The other’s apology would probably be accepted by tomorrow, but at that point in time he just really wanted to go to sleep and recover his dignity.

It seemed like no time at all before his two friends were asleep and Justin shivered slightly as he thought about tomorrow. He’d be staying in Wade’s room all night, sleeping and waking up with him just like he did at home, and, because it was a weekend, he wouldn’t need to rush away again the following morning.

Thinking of Wade was causing a stirring in his groin and he bit his lip; he wasn’t a huge fan of masturbation, finding it somewhat uncomfortable, but more than that he knew how it affected Wade to know he’d been doing such a thing.

Justin tried to will his erection away. He tried to think of things that weren’t attractive at all. Like his homework. But his homework made him think of the classroom, which made him think of the school… which led him to thinking of Wade. He tried to think of what life would be like were he still living in the streets… but that always ended with Wade somehow managing to find him and taking him back with him. 

Fuck.

Nothing was working. If anything, his erection was getting even harder. “Dammit,” he muttered under his breath. If he didn’t take care of things, he’d never be able to fall asleep. But he hated having to take care of things on his own. He knew that Wade would happily take him in his hand, or even his mouth, and stroke or lick and suck him until he came. 

And that thought caused his cock to twitch in his pajamas, the head leaking precum already.

Fuck.

In the end Justin had to slip into the bathroom. A few minutes into the act though he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Some might find it pathetic but Justin couldn’t bring himself to do things like that when he wasn’t with his lover. It seemed somehow… illicit. He felt almost as though he was being unfaithful to Wade in some way if he played around as he did.

Sleep wasn’t that easy even so.

~~~

“Fuck, John, I need you inside me,” Randy moaned, leaning down to whisper that into John’s ear. “My fingers aren’t nearly enough,” he went on, moving his head along to whisper those words against John’s lips. “They don’t fill me like you do,” he said, speaking into John’s other ear. 

Good God, he was powerless to resist Randy. “Then what are you waiting for?” he asked, turning his head to the side to meet Randy’s eyes. 

“Good question,” he said, removing his fingers from his hole before sitting back up on his knees. He took some of the lubrication they used and quickly slathered up John’s cock. As he lowered himself down, he bent forward once more, speaking against John’s lips, “Isn’t this a whole hell of a lot better than sleeping?”

“Yes,” John answered in an instant. “Oh, fuck yes,” he moaned as that familiar tight heat surrounded him. “Fuck, Randy. Oh my—” and anything else he was going to say was cut off as Randy’s lips crushed against his.

He knew that he would be able to convince John soon enough, but he was always happiest when he had the other’s compliance. He could count on one hand the number of times John had rejected him (Ok, maybe there were more times than that, but he had to save ego somehow) but he didn’t think this one counted.

Breaking the kiss Randy braced his hands down and started to roll his hips, feeling John’s cock forcing his muscles to accept him with each movement, shivering in bliss.

“Oh, yeah…” Randy growled, head rolling back as he felt John starting to move with him, giving him greater pleasure than he had been getting when he had been moving on his own. Randy was always so tight around him and no matter times how many he experienced it, it was not something that he could get over. It was indescribable, amazing.

Soon, with a technique they had perfected from all their years together, John and Randy were moving in perfect tandem together, Randy’s hands seeking John’s and twining their fingers together, bringing John’s hands above his head.

“Yeah, Randy,” John panted, thrusting his hips up, driving his cock in deep. “You’re so _fucking_ tight.”

Grinning, Randy leant down just enough to brush his lips over John’s. “That’s it, John. _Fuck me_ ,” he muttered when he pulled back, clenching his ass around John. 

Their hands stayed clasped above their heads as they moved. The pair of them let out moans which flowed in with their many curse words. Randy rocked his body back and forth, their pace slow enough to keep their lovemaking go on and on, but fast enough to satisfy their need for one another… to some extent, anyway. Really, they could never get enough of one another.

“Shit _yes_ ,” Randy cried as John’s cock brushed his prostate repeatedly. The sensation made his cock twitch, leaking even more. “Fuck, oh God, John,” he moaned. He’d never been able to remain quiet during sex. Even when they fucked at one of their family’s homes, John was constantly kissing Randy (not like he was complaining) or shoving his face into the pillow in order to keep him quiet so none of their other family members would hear. “Oh, fuck!” Tonight was no exception.

“You’re—such a noisy—whore!” John grunted, feeling Randy tightening around him spasmodically as he rocked atop John, feeling his lover’s hands moving to his backside and spreading him just that little more and making Randy give a shameless gasping moan; a sound so loud John sat up and kissed him, hard.

“Your whore—“ Randy panted against John’s mouth, he now no longer being the one in total control considering that John was sitting upright, essentially bouncing Randy on his lap. “Damn right!” John growled back at him and had he not been so involved in what they were doing Randy would have preened. Anyone else who dared call him such a thing would get cracked in the jaw, painfully, but not his John.

“I should make you pay for it—“ Randy teased and John gave a moaning chuckle, “You know you can have my pocket-money if you want it that bad—“ the flippant response wrenched a strangled moan from Randy this time around, their bodies shimmering with sweat by this point. “You’d make a beautiful tart…” John teased, mouth latching onto Randy’s neck in a point that would be easy to hard, biting and sucking forcefully. “Everyone would want you. Your mouth, your ass—but that second one no-one but _me_ gets to go near,” his eyes smouldered. 

“I wouldn’t _want_ anyone but you inside my ass,” Randy replied. “Couldn’t _imagine_ having anyone but you inside of me.”

“I’d kill anyone who dared to touch you like that,” John growled. Randy was his and his alone. “Your ass belongs to me,” he said. His hands were still spreading Randy’s cheeks apart, but then he slid his hand nearer the entrance. As Randy fucked himself on John’s cock, John began easing a single finger inside alongside his dick. 

“Oh _fuuuuck_ , John, yes, spread me further,” Randy moaned as his hole was stretched with the addition of the finger. “Stretch me, John, fill me like no one else ever will.”

“So good, Randy,” John whispered. “So damn good.”

Randy couldn’t help himself as he leant forward and brushed his lips against John’s again and again. “Put another in,” he then whispered. 

John’s eyes went wide. _Two_ fingers _and_ his cock? “Fuck, Randy… are you… are you sure?”

“Yesss…” the word came out of Randy in one elongated hiss, feeling himself being stretched to the point where it was almost –almost- too much for him. “Put it in, John, I need it—“ he wanted to make sure he was feeling this for hours, days even.

Though he had his reservations (they’d only ever used the one finger alongside himself before) there was very little John was able to deny Randy and so he started easing his second finger in alongside the first. Randy choked on a breath, a high, ragged moan leaving him.

John stilled his movements then, much to Randy’s displeasure, but he had to make sure the other had adjusted. When he felt the taller male beginning to writhe atop him, trying to pleasure himself further on John’s manhood and fingers, he began moving again.

“Fuck!” Randy whined, throwing his head back as he rode John, feeling those strong fingers alongside the thick shaft, one of his hands still gripping at John’s chest rather desperately for balance whereas his other hand was rather forcedly pinching and twisting his own nipples. 

The addition of his fingers, though he was stretching Randy further than he’d ever been stretched before, it somehow made him feel _tighter_. “Yes, Randy, fuck yourself on me.”

“Touch my cock,” Randy said. “Please, John, _touch me_.”

Obliging Randy’s wishes, John moved his other hand around to take hold of Randy’s cock. He moved his hand up and down, quickly finding a matching pace to their own fucking. “That feel good, Randy?”

“Yesssss,” he hissed again. He was being pleasured in so many ways, he didn’t know if he could hold out much longer, especially now with John’s hand around him. John always knew how _just_ how to get him off, knew every little thing he liked. “Fuck, John,” he moaned. “Oh, _fuck_.”

“You close now, Randy?” John asked. “Are you gonna come? Gonna get your cum all over me?” he went on. 

“So close. _Fuck me harder_ ,” he pleaded. 

A few more thrusts of John’s fingers and cock, his other hand milking Randy with firm, experienced strokes, was enough to send Randy catapulting into ecstasy, still rocking himself atop John to get all the other had to give as he emptied himself into John’s hand.

Their bodies stilled as they spent themselves, John ever-so-carefully easing himself out of his lover and then laying the other down. “Stay there,” he commanded quietly, though Randy wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to move again, ever. John fetched a wash-cloth and then cleaned them both up before they settled down for the night.

~~~

The following morning when he awoke he had to resist the urge to fly out of bed when he remembered exactly what was going to happen that evening. Instead, Justin forced himself to wake up slowly, properly, pushing the covers from his body as he sat up. Looking across to his still slumbering friends he smiled slightly; they did make a rather admirable couple. Grabbing his toiletry bag he shook Ted awake as he passed, hearing the mumbled thanks that denoted Ted was soon to be awake and trying to get Cody the same way.

Cody was not a morning person.

“Cody, it’s time to get up,” Ted said after a few more minutes of lying in bed together, Cody still dozing soundly. “Cody,” he said, now shaking his now lover’s body. “We’ve got to get ready soon.”

“No,” came the quick, muffled response. 

“Yes,” Ted asserted. “Come on, it’s Friday. It’s our last day of class before the weekend. The least you can do is get up and go about your day.”

“No luck yet?” Justin asked as he re-entered the room after having already dressed and brushed his teeth. 

“Nothing,” he answered. “Cody, Justin’s already ready. We need to get going.”

“No,” Cody mumbled again, pressing his face and body into Ted. He then let out a whimper when Ted sat up and got out of bed, pulling the warm blankets down in the process. “Fuck.”

Taking Cody’s waist in his hands Ted actually bodily lifted Cody upright and set him on his feet, much to Cody’s protesting shock and Justin’s amusement. “Oh, sod off!” Cody mumbled, scowling petulantly at both boys as they took obvious amusement in his amusing display.

Grumbling under his breath all the way through his dressing, and then even through their morning ablutions and then heading down to breakfast. Cody managed to wipe Justin’s smile from his face though with the snark of, “What time exactly are you going to meet our beloved Headmaster?”

Justin embarrassedly looked around to make sure that no one had overheard them, giving Cody a glare of warning that the other studiously ignored as they grabbed trays and joined the food queue, “Someone’s bitchy in a morning.” Ted arched a brow slightly, smiling just a little, “You’ve only just realised?”

Justin huffed. “Hardly. But normally he takes his bitchiness out on you, not me,” he said.

“And now you know how I feel every morning,” Ted retorted. 

“Hey. I can hear you talking about me, you know,” Cody told them, still pouting. “I’m only right behind you.”

Spotting their friends in line, Windham, Joe and Heath cut in front of the slowly building queue, claiming that they were saving spots for them and that they had every right to be there. “Feeling better this morning, Justin?” Windham asked. 

He fixed Windham with a firm stare, but said, “Yes. Mostly.” He was going to see Wade tonight. He was going to spend the night with Wade in his bed… Yes, that thought alone made him feel better. 

“What’d we do that pissed you off so much, then?” Joe wondered. It couldn’t be the fact that he and Windham were a thing now. Really, Justin should be the last person to be offended by such a thing considering his situation. 

“It’s nothing…” Justin muttered, looking down to his food and meticulously beginning to spread butter onto his delicious piping-hot fresh toast, ignoring his sausages and hash browns for the moment. “Well it was obviously something,” Windham pressed, Justin wondering if he’d imagined the minor restlessness coming from the other.

“I was just tired and not feeling too good,” Justin didn’t make a habit of lying but right then he sincerely doubted the truth was going to be the best policy. Heath immediately coiled at the words, eying Justin as though he was going to keel over any second.

The next morning they took some time to get ready (Randy’s ass was aching like a bitch, but it was so worth it) but they headed down for breakfast together. Randy caught Cody’s eyes as they entered the hall to get their food and he smirked slightly before slipping the boy a wink. The astonished and wholly intrigued expression that Runnels gave was enough to make Randy go over there then and there, but he had to wait.

Arching a brow, Cody asked Heath, “And your problem is?” the redhead looked to Cody, “Everyone said Cena and Orton were both taken really ill yesterday, maybe Justin’s got what they’ve got—“ he was cut off, however, as the two boys in question walked in.

Cody’s eyes followed them, most interested. Even though Ted’s cock was magnificent, and he wanted no other inside of him, he couldn’t deny getting on his knees for _those_ two was something he’d consider. Seeing _them_ involved together would be a treat and half.

“Cody?” Ted asked, trying to get his attention. Ever since John and Randy walked in, his eyes hadn’t left them. Strange. “Cody?” he asked again. 

“Cody!” Heath practically shouted in his ear, shaking his shoulder. 

“What?!” Cody snapped, turning his head back to look at his friends at the table. 

“You were staring at Cena and Orton,” Ted pointed out. 

“Oh… well, I was, ya know, seeing how they looked. I mean, they look quite healthy for having been so sick yesterday. Looks like it was nothing too serious, then,” he quickly covered. He hadn’t meant to stare at them. It just… happened. But, damn, they were two good looking men. 

“They do appear to be far healthier than they were yesterday,” Ted agreed, believing Cody’s every word. 

“And I was nowhere near them, so I don’t have what they had… and even if I did, it looks like it was only a twenty-four hour bug,” Justin stated, trying to make his point to Heath. “Really, I’m fine now.”

Cody had been looking back at John and Randy (for the last time, he swore) when he swore that Randy _winked_ at him. And, fuck, if that didn’t make his stomach jump worse than even whenever he got to see Teddy undress for bed at night. Subconsciously he licked his lips before forcing his eyes away lest his friends catch him out again… and he remembered how hurt Ted had been at the thought of his attention wandering last time.

“Whatever you say, Justin,” Heath mumbled, though he was still looking rather weary. Windham tried to steer the topic somewhere safer, “You boys fancy coming out tonight?” on Fridays they had an extra hour on their curfew, and as long as they didn’t pass outside a certain perimeter of the boundaries they could visit a local gentleman’s club and such.

“I can’t,” Justin’s response was immediate, “I have tutoring.” Cody snorted into his drink in a very undignified manner, smirk positively wolfish as he looked at Justin. “Going to be teaching our dear _Head_ a thing or two, are we?” Justin’s cheeks coloured but he held his head high, ignoring the looks of all the eyes suddenly directed on him by his friends.

“Is that what they call tutoring now these days?” Windham asked.

“Maybe I should go to tutoring more often if that’s the case,” Joe muttered. 

“Yes. Are you happy? Yes, I’m going to see… God, at least I’m having sex with someone, which is more than can be said for the rest of you lot,” Justin said, his voice quite snippy, though he kept it low enough so that only his friends at the table could hear him.

“I give you my blessing,” Cody then said. 

“I never should have told you,” Justin grumbled. “ _Why_ did I tell you? I should have just let Ted know. At least he knows how to keep his mouth shut,” he added with a glare. 

Cody merely shrugged. And he actually managed to fight back the urge to say that Ted hadn’t kept his mouth shut the other night… in fact, it was _wide_ open. See? He could keep his mouth shut sometimes.

Ted wasn’t sure whether he should take Justin’s words as a compliment or minor insult just in the case of him apparently never blabbing anything, ever, which wasn’t true and people knew that, so he accepted the words as the former for the sake of ego.

At the mention of sex, however, Cody’s eyes smouldered across to Ted and the blonde pulled at his collar as subtly as possible as he felt a blush lighting up his cheeks and crawling down his neck; did the other have to give such an obvious look? He dropped his gaze to the table, cursing: he still hadn’t made up his mind about Cody’s request for that evening.

Windham, meanwhile, having giving apropos to Justin for his comment, was now looking between Heath and Joe, seeing that even though the pair sat together they seemed oddly unphased by one another… and hadn’t Heath been the second Joe was falling for? Hm… he still wasn’t sure how he felt about _that_ especially either.

Truth be told, though, as Windham thought about it, he and Joe were still pretty much the same around one another. They were still the same best friends that they were before, only now they’d kissed. He couldn’t say if he was in love with Joe, or not. He loved him like a brother, but he’d never thought of him in any other sense than that. 

“Hey, man, calm down,” Cody said as he looked to Justin. “It’s not like I was telling anyone who didn’t already know.”

Sighing, Justin had to admit at least that. “I know, I know…” He glanced up from his seat and saw Wade talking one of the professors. He couldn’t believe that Wade was actually his. And that Wade actually wanted _him_. It seemed unreal. Half the time he thought he dreamt it all up. But he wasn’t dreaming. 

As Justin stared at Wade’s profile, Cody dared another glance at John and Randy, and he swore that he saw Randy looking in his direction. He had no idea how Ted would react to knowing how easily he’d get on his knees for those two. Surely Ted had to have some attraction to someone else at least at some point in his life? 

~~~

“Runnels was staring,” Randy whispered into John’s ear as they moved up in line, grabbing their trays and plates. 

“Was he?” John asked, more focused on the food than anything.

“He was. I winked at him, too. He probably jizzed himself at that,” Randy told him.

“Randal Keith Orton… you really are a shameless tart,” he muttered to his lover, shaking his head and chuckling. 

“And you love it. Look, this is even better than we thought.” Randy had to stop talking as they passed by a few of the ladies working behind the counter, but he picked up as soon as they got to their seats. “Runnels wants some of this. Now it’s just DiBiase that we have to work on. Well… that you get to work on.”

“You really think it’ll work? I mean, what if DiBiase wants nothing to do with it, but Runnels is completely willing? But then… if they’re a thing, like rumour states, then I don’t know if DiBiase would want Runnels straying.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Randy said. That’s really all they could do at this point, anyway. 

“Hm…” John nodded, but he still wasn’t that sure about this; he was all up for willing participants, but when there was a chance of causing damage to an apparently established relationship? If DiBiase was really unwilling then John wasn’t going to push, and John was going to refuse to have anything more to do with the situation unless he knew for sure that the participation was acknowledged all round.

“You’ve got your doubting face on, John, do stop; you look so very unattractive with wrinkles.” John arched a brow at the other and then pouted, “I don’t have wrinkles.” That was true—the only lines that John had marring his handsome face were laugh lines, and the laugh lines actually suited him, added to his sweet appeal. “Yeah you do,” Randy smirked.

“Shut it,” John mumbled, focusing on his food then. More than once he noticed Randy’s attention straying to the other table and knew that with regards to Ted he was going to have to find out sooner rather than later otherwise his boyfriend was going to get far too carried away… Randy had a tendency to become single-minded when he wanted something. 

“Why don’t you just go blow him right now, for Christ’s sake,” John mumbled around a mouthful of food when he saw Randy once again looking away from him and towards the far off table.

“I don’t want _everyone_ to see, John. I have got some self respect,” he answered, finally turning his head back around. “Though I wouldn’t object to crawling under this table, undoing your fly and taking your cock into my mouth right now.”

With a snort, John shook his head and muttered, “Self respect my arse.”

Just then, a tray was set down beside either one of them, and they both looked to their sides, finding Evan and Chris. “Hope you don’t mind us joining you,” Evan said somewhat sheepishly. 

“Not at all,” John said. “I see you two decided to stick to the straight and narrow and not play it sick today, then?”

“We’ll save it for a later date and time,” Chris informed him. “Believe me, one of these days we’re definitely using it.”

“Good God, Randy, we have people at the table now. The least you can do is not stare,” John said, giving Randy a swift kick to his shin underneath the table. That at least got Randy’s attention.

“Fucking hell!” Randy groaned, leaning down and rubbing his shin as he glowered weakly at John. He didn’t know why the other was getting so het up about him looking, besides—John was going to _be there_ when something actually happened (in Randy’s mind it was always _when_ and not _if_ ) so he couldn’t get mad. Ok, maybe Randy had a little bit of an inkling as to why his lover was so mad, but he couldn’t deny he was enjoying it something… despite John attempting to hurt him.

Evan looked concerned; he had always been rather sensitive to the atmosphere he was surrounded by and he could sense that something wasn’t quite right between his cousin and lover, “Is everything Ok?” Chris cocked his head curiously at his own lover, having been focused on his food more than anything.

“Fine,” John responded with that beautiful dimpled smile, finishing off his breakfast with surprising haste, even for him, and then –instead of going for seconds the way that he normally did- he got up and walked over to _Runnels and DiBiase’s_ table. Sweet _fuck_ , what was he doing? Dimples still in place, John placed a casual hand on Ted’s shoulders, but greeted the group at large, eyes resting on Ted more than once though, subtle as ever, “I look forward to seeing what you’re going to bring to try-outs boys, very interested.”

Ted swallowed hard as a hand rested on his shoulder, finding himself looking up to find himself met with the full, startling force of Cena’s dimpled smile. Those dimples actually killed him… more so than Cody’s actually, and he’d always had a fascination with Cody’s dimples. “Really?” Joe sounded quite pleased about that and Windham even seemed to puff up a little.

The fact that John had sought them out gave the indication that he had been considering them at length already before they had even performed on the field. Ted found himself a little confused for a moment, unable to get his voice working, but then he directed a shy smile at John –whose hand still hadn’t left his shoulder- before saying, “We’re all looking forward to it.” He was rewarded by an even bigger smile from John, “Glad to know.” He looked at Cody, tilting his head, “You coming to watch, Runnels?”

Momentarily Cody was surprised by being singled out as such until he realised that John obviously knew how close he was to the three men who were going to be trying out, “Of course,” he responded, smiling back; there was just something about John that made you feel comfortable, made you feel at ease and as though you could trust him with _anything_.

“Good,” John replied. “I always like seeing fellow students coming out to show support, even when they’re not trying out themselves. You keep that in mind, Slater, Gabriel” he said, addressing the red head and foreigner of the group (he didn’t want to completely ignore them, but he had no interest in them like he did Cody). “My buddy Orton will be there, too,” he then told everyone. “He often helps me make my picks, you know. He helps to give a different perspective, as he watches from the stands and sees things differently than I do down on the field.”

Cody just couldn’t help himself, and he looked over to Randy, who was watching their table (or was he just watching John?) very closely. 

“How many people did you get to sign up?” Windham then asked. Though he was positive he’d make the team (especially after John’s words to him), he would like to know how much competition he’d have to get through. 

“Quite a few. Can’t remember the exact number off the top of my head, though. But you three stood out the most to me. Even out of some of the boys that signed up from my own year. You three are young, you still have a few years left in you to play here at the academy. Do me proud, boys,” he said, another huge smile crossing his face.

Unable to simply sit there and watch without a clue as to what was going on, Randy finally excused himself from the table and walked over to John. He could feel many sets of eyes upon him, and as soon as he reached John, he swore that the entire dining hall had gone silent, everyone watching them. 

“Randy, what brings you over here?” John asked of his lover, raising a brow at him as they stood beside one another. 

“Just wanted to see what all the commotion was about, that’s all,” Randy answered. “Talking to them about tryouts, then, are you?”

“Sure am. I was just informing these three that they’ve got some great potential between them. And I was letting them know how much I appreciate it when their classmates go to cheer them on,” John said to him. 

“Mhm, yes, good school spirit is always appreciated,” Randy commented, eyes glancing over the faces of the assembles teens one by one, making sure that each one made contact with him as he did—though he lingered for a whole extra two seconds more on Runnels and DiBiase than he did anyone else. Cody swore he felt his throat close up before that hypnotic gaze, having the strangest urge to kneel down before the older boy underneath the force of it. “I’ll look forward to seeing you supporters alongside me in the stands,” he ended his point.

Ted felt John’s hand squeeze his shoulder, one final dazzling smile being directed to him and then shared out to everyone there, “I look forward to working more closely with you in the future boys, give a good show out there.” On that note Cody swore –as Randy’s fingers brushed John’s arm, apparently indicating something- that Randy murmured, “Keep up with that grin and he’ll drop his pants for you now,” before the two excused themselves.

As soon as the older boys were gone Windham’s chest swelled, puffing himself up, “We’re in; all we have to do is kick arse at the tryouts and then we’ll be right in there.” He was looking a little starry-eyed, though that wasn’t unusual—many a boy, particularly with an interest in sports, looked like that when they had come into contact with John, their admiration apparent. Joe nodded, looking as equally excited as his best-friend, “I can’t wait.”

Meanwhile, as they walked back towards Randy’s room to collect their things for the day, Randy was demanding of John, “What was that?” and John shrugged casually, arching a brow at his lover, “You said I needed to get started on DiBiase as soon as possible… I’m a much subtler worker than you, I’ll need the extra time to lay the ground-work.” Randy reiterated the comment Cody had _thought_ he’d heard the elder say and John innocently opined, “Maybe I don’ just want him to suck me. Maybe I want to suck him.”

Had Randy been a less composed boy then he would probably have tripped over his own feet at that one, staring at his lover who was still walking casually but had a hint of a blush on his face. Now, Randy had never actually _seen_ John suck another boy off before, and he couldn’t deny the thought roused both his jealousy and his dick within his pants. “Cock-slut.”  
“You make it sound like a bad thing.”

“Besides,” John went on, “I think the same can be said about yourself.”

Randy gave a small nod. “Yes, I think you may be right in that assessment. I bet you would look incredible knelt before DiBiase, his hands in your hair and his cock in your mouth.” He knew what the sight of John kneeling before _him_ did to him, he couldn’t even imagine what it’d be like to watch from the side. 

“You think so?” John asked, and Randy nodded again. “How do you think it’d look with DiBiase knelt before _me_?”

“Fucking amazing, I’m sure.” It was one thing to imagine it, which is what Randy was doing at that moment, but it would be something else entirely to actually witness it… Goddamn, did he ever want to witness that. 

“Randy…” John began, this thought having crossed his mind a couple times before, but he’d never voiced it until now, “Would you ever consider actually fucking Runnels or DiBiase?”

Randy looked at his lover and answered honestly, “Yes, I would.” John appreciated the honesty but he couldn’t deny the thought shook him a little inside. “Oh,” was all he said, but Randy had seen the way his eyes had flickered, seen the fear underneath the smile that was sent his way and immediately resolved to change that. He grasped John’s wrist, dragging him into an alcove, caging his body in.

John’s eyes widened, “What’cha doin’ Randy? Breakfast’ll be over soon and then—“ he was cut off however as Randy’s lips brushed against his, serious quicksilver grey meeting seaside blue, “John, just because I’d fuck ‘em doesn’t mean I’d want more than that. Are you saying you wouldn’t fuck ‘em if you had the chance?” John bit his lip, uneasy.

He could barely remember the time when they _fucked around_ with others to that degree. “I don’t know…” Randy then tilted his head and nuzzled John’s cheek, “You know you could join in, or at least watch if that would make you feel better,” he had no problem reassuring John that a fuck wasn’t about to get between them, wasn’t about to make Randy realise he was bored of his essentially monogamous arrangement with John.

“I still don’t know… I’ve never actually fucked a guy other than you.” He didn’t know if he wanted that to change, either. 

“I know… but those two…” Randy had _almost_ had sex with someone else once. It was a while ago, after he and John started fucking, though. He was with a fellow student, had been asked to join in a poker game, and they were in the other student’s room, everyone else having left. Randy was just about to when the other boy dropped to his knees… They had both been naked, on the boy’s bed, cock sliding over the crack of Randy’s ass when he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t sleep around on John like that. In the end he ended up giving the boy a blowjob for his troubles. 

John nodded. Never had anyone caught his attention like DiBiase and Runnels (aside from Randy, that is). “I know, Randy, believe me.” He leaned in for another deep kiss, pulling apart once the bell sounded to signal the end of breakfast. “I expect this to continue later,” he said, reaching around to give Randy’s ass a quick slap.

~~~

Growling softly Randy nodded, “Oh it will, believe me.” They grabbed their bags from Randy’s room and made their way to Geography, John being unnaturally quiet that day as he thought. Randy wished he wasn’t so concerned with something he deemed simple but he knew better than to interrupt or influence John in any way.

It was amazing how much he could multitask really, because he was barely paying attention to the professor, but writing—people had long since stopped punishing him for being left-handed, because god-forbid anything happen to any of their star athletes appendages—and he was even managing to get some of the answers correct even through his lapses in attention.

Randy made sure to direct his lover when his attention became too much though, hand subtly resting on John’s thigh and rubbing his thumb in small circles, removing his hand now and again whenever the teacher looked towards them. He didn’t let it phase him for long though because there was very little that he allowed to interrupt him when it came to his lover. When the bell rang John set his pen down, looking almost confused, “It over already?”

~~~

“Look at that, Teddy,” Cody began, “for someone who didn’t even _want_ to sign up, now you’re getting praise from Cena before even trying out!”

“That’s only because he knows me from cricket,” Ted muttered, still able to feel John’s hand upon his shoulder. What the hell had that whole thing been about, anyway? It was… strange. But he did appreciate the comments made about him.

“That’s bullshit,” Windham said. “You’re a talented athlete, and Cena sees that. The three of us _have_ to make the team now.” He had no idea how many spots were even open, but given that John spoke to all three of them, he figured there were at least three spots… maybe they wouldn’t be starting, but they’d at least be in the lineup, right? And that was something, anyway.

“I’m sure you all will. I don’t think I can make tryouts, though,” Justin told them. “I’ve got tutoring. _Actual_ tutoring,” he added at the amused looks from the other boys around the table. “You _know_ that I always tutor on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays!” he said, his voice rising in pitch as he tried to defend himself.

“We know,” Joe then told him. “We understand that you can’t be there. But you,” he said, looking to Heath, “have no excuse.”

Heath held his hands up, brows raising, “Did I say I wasn’t going to be there?” Cody looked at him, “No instrumental lessons?” the redhead shook his head, “No, thank goodness.” Heath, coming from a family of rather talented orchestral performers, was always getting new instruments and teachers thrown at him to see which one he adapted to best and they always took a lot of his spare time up.

“Good,” Joe said, “’Cause it’ll probably look good on us if we have support… that’s probably one of the things Randy Orton looks at when he sits in the crowds…” Cody found himself making a mental note to sit somewhere as close to their enigmatic Head Boy—to make sure he could get as much intrigue towards his friends as possible, of course. The rest of breakfast passed with similar conversation until they split for their lessons.

Joe and Cody split off together, bidding their friends goodbye, and Cody sighed. “What’s up?” Joe asked and Cody said, “Orton and Cena… my God are they fine.” Joe knew he could get Cody back for blabbing on him by telling Ted this, but he figured the other probably knew… Cody was not subtle with his infatuations. “Don’t tell Windham, but… I kinda agree with you there.” They shared a companionable laugh, wondering how they’d pass the time in math that day.

Thankfully, that day in math, their professor taught them a new skill, then allowed them to work together to figure out some of the problems laid out before them. “You have any idea what we’re supposed to be doing?” Joe asked to Cody, as the two of them naturally paired up.

“Possibly. But, to be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention… had my mind elsewhere,” he confessed. 

Joe had a feeling just where Cody’s mind had drifted. “Cena and Orton?” he then asked, to which Cody nodded. “What would Ted say to that if he knew you were thinking about them over him?”

“I don’t think he’d be too happy. The other night he wanted me to swear to him that I wouldn’t go to any guys other than him,” he told Joe. “But… I honest to God don’t know if I could physically say no to them if they offered.”

“Well, would he feel better if you told him first?” Joe asked the other and Cody sighed, shrugging, “I have no idea,” he responded, rolling his pen around in his fingers somewhat—the lid being on, obviously, because otherwise he would have been dripping ink all over the place and creating a big mess indeed.

“Well, maybe you could casually float the idea or something,” Joe said. They exchanged a look and immediately had to bury their heads into their arms as they burst into laughter. Oh, God, he could barely imagine what Ted would act like if he said such a thing. They just managed to compose themselves before the teacher looked over.

Needless to say they didn’t end up getting too much done and then they padded out of the classroom and made their way to the next one, still chuckling away to themselves as they began to try different scenarios as to how Ted would react to the news.

“What if he actually went along with it?” Joe then asked. 

Cody raised a brow. That one was _easily_ the most outrageous scenario either of them had come up with so far. “Please. Ted would _never_ agree to something like that! He’s far too much of a prude.” Dropping his voice even lower than it was previously, Cody said, “He had never so much as touched himself before Monday. Hell, he hardly let _me_ touch him. It’ll be a cold day in hell before he lets someone else touch him, as well.”

“Well, damn. I guess that scenario really wouldn’t ever happen, then,” Joe mused. He knew that if John and Randy ever propositioned him (alone or together), he’d be a fool to say no. First off, they were remarkably handsome, secondly, it was practically an honour to be approached by either one of them, and thirdly, if turned down, who knew what could happen to you. Together they held a great deal of power and influence in the school. One bad word from either of them could land a person in serious trouble. “I say you ask him anyway… just to see what would _actually_ happen,” he then said after a brief pause.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds - Oscar Wilde

“Wait, what did you just say?” Randy asked. Something must have been impeding his hearing. John Cena did not just ask if the class was already over. There was no way those words just came out of his mouth.

“It over already?” he repeated. 

“Where’s the real John Cena? Because the John I know would never let such words cross his mind, much less speak them,” Randy said. 

“I was just lost in thoughts, that’s all,” John told him as he picked up his things and, in true John fashion, shoved everything into his bag in no order whatsoever. Well, at least that hadn’t changed. 

“I could tell. You looked like you were on another planet. That new one that was discovered just a few decades back… Neptune,” Randy stated after wracking his brains for the planet’s name. The farthest one from the sun. Yes, that seemed about right for how far away John’s thoughts seemed. “Is this all because of what we’d been discussing before class?”

“No. Yes. Not exactly…” John’s brow furrowed, a heavy sigh leaving him and Randy’s eyes being drawn to those godly broad shoulders as they rose and fell, his hands itching to run over the muscular expanses, reveling in the power contained underneath the starched shirt.

“What exactly then?” Randy asked, making sure that he was focused on the matter at hand and not on John’s shoulders and what those arms looked like when they were stretched over his head and he was grasping at Randy’s headboard as Randy thrust into him again and again, and again, and… what were they talking about? Oh, he’d best tune in again.

“—I’m just feeling a bit uneasy, y’know?” John sighed, “Restless.” The Runnels and DiBiase thing bothered him a little, just because of the uncertainty and the potential of ruining a relationship, but that wasn’t _all_ that was on his mind. He didn’t even know what was getting his back up, but the ominous sense of foreboding just wouldn’t leave him alone. Randy’s expression dropped a little; John was never this tense.

“If you really don’t want to try, sincerely don’t want to attempt it, then we won’t,” Randy said to him. While he truly did want to do _anything_ with Runnels and DiBiase, if John felt so strongly against it, then he wouldn’t pursue the subject any further. There were other boys in the school, after all.

“But I do,” John replied. “I would love to feel either of their lips around me… but if _they’re_ not completely willing, the both of them, then we’re not going to push it,” he said.

“Deal,” Randy said instantly. “And you should just relax a little bit. You’re all worked up over this… and you were the one that went and seeked out the pair of them this morning!”

“I know, I know. But, I don’t know, the more I think about it…”

“Then quit thinking about it. We just have to see what happens. No need to stress over it, ok?” 

Catching John’s hand Randy gave it a small squeeze, feeling a little more confident when John sent him a more genuine smile. Randy’s own smile slipped though when he realised which class they were heading toward… and which boy was amongst those standing outside the door in an orderly fashion waiting to be let inside. _Dupree_.

“Bonjour, John,” Randy ground his teeth together at the smarmy Frenchman’s tone (hadn’t he got the message last time) John giving a reflexive response of polite smile and nod of the head, not going near the French boy though.

When the door opened Randy wanted to kiss their French teacher –he wouldn’t though, urgh- because it meant that Dupree couldn’t try and get in John’s scope of focus much longer. When they were seated and he noticed Dupree was _still_ looking at John he slipped his hand underneath the table and placed it on John’s thigh, squeezing lightly as he tried to assassinate Dupree with his eyes.

“Randy,” John began whispering, “don’t worry, I’m not going to go near him again… unless you want me to go near him so that you can go about ripping his cock off and subsequently fuck him with it.”

He had to admit that the idea was tempting. Though perhaps it’d be better to shove that prick’s prick down his throat… surely he couldn’t smirk if he was choking on his own dick. But… “No, I’d just as soon never see him again.” He knew that wasn’t possible, as they would be in French class together until the end of the semester, but he would do his damndest to ignore him. 

“If you’re sure,” John said, reaching down to his bag to get his things, Randy’s hand slowly slipping off his thigh. 

Randy waited for John to sit back up before he then told him, “However, if he approaches you yet again, tell me and I won’t hesitate to follow through on my threats.” 

“That’s both amusing and disgusting… though the interest you have for my wellbeing is ever so sweet…” Randy didn’t even flinch underneath John’s mild teasing because he was far from joking about the situation as a whole.

Reaching underneath the table John caught Randy’s hand lightly and squeezed it before he then forced himself to focus; he had made a fool of himself in class before, languages not being his strong suit, and he didn’t like making a habit of it. Chris and Evan soon joined them, taking the seats in front of them and Randy couldn’t help smirk slightly… before he then kicked the back of the Canadian’s chair lightly.

The sudden jump Chris gave wasn’t nearly as funny as the expression on Evan’s face as he did, and when the blonde turned around to give Randy a warning look the Head Boy merely blinked curiously, acting as though he had only just looked up to realise he was being stared down by his cousin’s lover.

“Is there something you needed?” Randy asked as Chris continued to level the glare at him. 

“What the hell was that for?” Chris questioned him. 

“I don’t know what you’re going on about,” Randy said.

“Are you twelve years old, or something?” Chris huffed, turning back around in his seat. Really, in the past few days he’d come to actually quite like Randy… although right then he was beginning to wonder why. 

The second time that Randy kicked the back of Chris’ chair earned him an even better reaction. “What the hell do you want?” 

“Nothing,” Randy answered, giving Chris and his cousin his best smile. 

“For the love of God, cut it out, Randy,” John muttered. “Class is—” he was about to say ‘starting soon,’ but was cut off by the bell, effectively finishing his sentence for him. 

Randy sighed, “Time flies when you’re having fun is one thing, but that was ridiculous.” He winked at his cousin as Evan turned around, grinning as he saw the exasperatedly fond look that he received from the boy in question.

They had to turn their attention to the front when the teacher came in, immediately talking in rapid French, pens lifted hastily. Chris supposed he was lucky he had grown up in the French-Canadian part of his native country otherwise he might never have learnt the language and he would have sincerely struggled when he had moved to England and joined the academy.

John’s brow was furrowed, Randy noticed as the teacher looked to the board, obviously not understanding what was going on with the written directions. He could see Dupree trying to lean forward to get John’s attention and he had to lock his jaw to keep from growling.

Instead of turning around to rip Dupree a new one right then and there in the middle of the classroom, Randy simply leaned over to try and better explain to John what they had to do. Anything to get his focus off of Rene fucking Dupree. When they fooled around with someone, it was expected that it was a one time only thing. There were no repeats. And there was no fucking. Dupree, however, didn’t seem to grasp that concept. 

“Why am I even in this class?” John then whispered to Randy. He could hardly keep up in his first year of French. 

“Because it’s required?” Randy whispered back. Although, really, French had only been required until the previous year. This year they didn’t _have_ to take it, but it didn’t make sense not to. 

“Well… it’s dumb,” John muttered, still trying to take down notes, but missing a lot from lack of understanding. 

As always Randy knew he would cover for the other when it came to notes, though if not Evan would always help; Evan had been an unofficial tutor of John’s almost since he had started in the school, and Randy obviously approved because neither boy had attempted to put any seduction moves on one another before. John eventually seemed to give up writing.

Meanwhile, in the seats before them, Chris found himself watching Evan out of the corner of his eye; the way he bit his lip when he concentrated was both adorable and oddly arousing, and he grinned slyly as he ripped some paper from his book.

Scribbling a swift message down in French, Chris passed it to Evan as soon as the teacher turned their back. The ravenette startled slightly, obviously surprised by the sudden item appearing in his scope of notice, and then blinked a couple of times before opening it. The effect was instantaneous: he went bright red with embarrassment and crumpled the note in his hand.

“John, you need to at least _pretend_ to write something,” Randy whispered as their professor was babbling and writing things on the blackboard at a furious pace, breaking off pieces of chalk as he accented a letter here and there. His eyes were also on Chris and Evan, and he hadn’t missed the passing of the note. He kicked the back of Chris’ chair again and raised an eyebrow at him when he turned around. 

“Can I help you?” Chris asked, turning his head back quickly to make sure that their professor was still writing. He was. Usually once he got started, it was a while before he quit. 

Randy’s eyes flicked over to Evan, who was taking notes diligently (trying to distract himself from the contents of the note he still had crumpled in his left hand), then back to Chris. 

“That’s none of your business,” Chris whispered, now turning completely back around in his seat, trying to catch up to where their professor was in their lecture. 

Randy’s brows rose, expression stating quite clearly that Chris _obviously_ didn’t understand the etiquette of the situation: he was Evan’s cousin and therefore if something untoward was going on he should know… just because he rather liked Chris didn’t mean he was going to miss out on any chances to reprimand him for lascivious behaviour towards Evan—even when he knew Evan probably wouldn’t truly mind such a thing going on between them.

“Behave,” John chided quietly from beside him, but Randy couldn’t respond because the teacher chose that moment to turn around and call on him for an answer to one of the questions on the board. Mercifully he could blag it, because French was one of his best subjects after all.

John looked at the clock, willing time to go faster; in his free period that afternoon he had set the time aside to begin formulating the timetables for the rugby tryouts—the sooner he got that done the sooner he could clear the time and structure with Wade to get permission.

~~~

“I suppose I could,” Cody mused a little bit, “I mean, if he has a conniption over the idea I could just say it was a joke and that we were larking about and speculating on the relationship between those two.” The closeness, the raw sexuality and the intimacy was something one couldn’t deny when it came to those two, and yet no-one could actively hold their hand up and explicitly admit that they _knew_ the pair were involved in any permanent sense… the fact that they had fooled around, fucked, was undeniable, though some boys stubbornly refused to believe it.

“Exactly,” Joe said, then losing his confident smile and blushing darkly when Cody suddenly asked, “And how are things with you and Windham this morning?” Biting on his lip Joe took a breath and exhaled, shrugging a little awkwardly, “I don’t know. I mean, it doesn’t feel awkward between us but then again… he didn’t try to kiss me again this morning, he acted the same as normal.” And Joe was aware he was being a little selfish since Windham had only said he’d try and that he’d never had romantic or sexual feelings for a boy before, but Joe would much rather have had Windham turn him down then get stuck in some sort of rut, Windham on one side and Heath on the other, unsure which he was meant to focus on.

“Well, were you two alone, or was Heath in the room with you all morning?” Cody asked. “Because Ted never seems to initiate anything, and he _never_ does anything in front of Justin. Well, he sleeps with me while Justin’s there, but—”

“Wait, _what_?!” Joe cut in. “He doesn’t do anything in front of Justin, but he’ll _sleep with you_?!”

“No! Not like that. We haven’t _had_ sex yet,” Cody clarified for him. “I mean… we sleep in the same bed. I think he still feels a little weird about it, but, yeah, we sleep together. Just not… _together_.”

“Oh… ok. As for your question, we did have some time alone together when Heath went out to do his teeth,” Joe told him. “It wasn’t a whole lot of time but, you know, a quick kiss doesn’t take too long.”

“You know, it does take two,” Cody said, to which Joe shrugged. He supposed he could have done a little bit more to initiate things. “I’m sure you two will fall into step together after a while.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Joe sighed heavily, raking a hand through his hair in obvious frustration, “I’m sorry, I’m just so…” he trailed off and Cody placed a hand on his shoulder, “Trust me, I know how you’re feeling.” And he did: oblivious boys they had fallen for apiece.

They were quiet then, each to their own thoughts. Joe was thinking about the appropriateness of initiating a kiss between himself and Windham because he didn’t want to seem like he was pushing the other, and Cody was thinking about what was going to happen that night when Justin left their dorm… he wasn’t allowing himself to contemplate Ted saying no.

Entering their next class Cody groaned as he saw Mike was sitting next to his seat, meaning that Joe was apparently paired with the boy; the seats only got swapped when the teacher was changing their pairing for assignments. Hearing Joe’s sound of dismay behind him Cody sent him a sympathetic look, “I’ll make sure you get a nice tombstone…” because Joe would be in serious trouble if he ended up scrapping with Mike again.

“Very funny,” Joe muttered as he made his way to his seat. Didn’t teachers _know better_ than to pair him with Mizanin? Of all the students in the class, it was fucking Mizanin they paired him with. Things were not going to end well. 

“Mr. Runnels, yes, your seat is right over here,” the professor then told him. He admittedly hadn’t been paying any attention to the professor, as he wanted to see what would happen when Joe sat down next to Mike. Amazingly, the world didn’t end. 

Cody then made his way over to his new seat. He was one row behind Joe, to the table diagonal from him, so they were still able to talk. His own partner hadn’t shown up yet. However, before he could say a word to Joe, Mike turned around and gave him one of his trademark smirks. “Why hello there, Cody. No good morning kiss? I’m hurt!” he exclaimed. 

“If I kissed you, Michael,” Cody said with a haughty sniff, pulling his book and pen from his bag and setting them on the table, “Then you wouldn’t be able to contain yourself, and I really don’t fancy having to endure the embarrassment of you making a show of yourself.”

See? He wasn’t _just_ a pretty face… though even he would admit that _was_ his stronger productive point. Mike’s face soured slightly and Joe couldn’t resist giving a very sweet, and yet vicious smirk as he murmured lowly, “I wouldn’t be asking for that anyway if I were you.”

Giving Joe a look of suspicious disdain Mike asked, “And why is that, Joseph?” Joe scowled momentarily at the sound of his full-name, but then the smile was back in place as he added on, “Because I’m sure Ted DiBiase would take offence to that.” Immediately Mike’s smirk faltered; Ted’s mild-mannered nature was known, but so were all the whispers of what he’d done to boys making attempts upon Cody in the past.

Mike turned his gaze back to Cody, his eyes asking if that was true, if he’d really end up on DiBiase’s hit list should he continue on, to which Cody merely shrugged and gave him a smirk of his own. Before he could say anything else, though, Cody’s new partner entered the room all but sprinting, making it just in time as the bell rang signaling the start of their class. 

It didn’t take long for them to learn that this was going to be a long term paired assignment. Cody was stuck working with some kid a year younger than him, but that wasn’t nearly half as bad as Joe getting stuck working with Mizanin. Unless they managed to pull a miracle out of both their asses, Cody was sure that their project would end in some horrid disaster. 

By the time class ended, Joe was just centimeters away from his breaking point. Good, _God_ , he couldn’t stand Mizanin. The constant chattering… the mere sound of his voice grating on his last nerve. “Cody, I have no idea how I’m going to get through this without knocking half his teeth out,” Joe whispered to him as they began to pack up their things. 

Cody was about to say something when Mike said to him, “I’ll see you in rehearsal, Cody. Pucker up.”

Cody gave Mike his best look of haughty disdain as he walked out, “Wanker,” he muttered and Joe nodded his head vehemently, “He’s such a cock-end isn’t he?” they shouldered their bags and headed out of class. “What do we have next?” Joe asked, wondering if he could risk nipping outside for a quick cigarette, knowing that Cody would cover for him—he didn’t dare skip as much as Joe did, ‘cause Ted kept an eye on him.

“Your dad,” Cody pointed out and Joe winced, hand falling away from his chest-pocket where he had been feeling his cigarette tin. “Maybe you could appeal to your dad to speak to the professor,” Cody commented absently as they made their way towards the classroom in question and Joe snorted. “I take it that’s a no?” Cody rolled his eyes and Joe made a sound of distress, “He’ll let me suffer!”

Brows raising slightly in obvious disbelief Cody asked, “Why?” Joe kicked at the side with his highly polished shoe, scowling at the floor. He loved his father to death, he truly did, but it seemed like he could never do anything good enough for him. “He’ll just tell me to just get on with my business and ignore him.” Something that would not be easy anyway given the nature of their project, “And then I’ll look like a wimp if I do get moved… I can’t fucking win!” Cody gave his friend’s shoulder a consoling squeeze.

“You can try and get along with him maybe,” Cody said as they walked towards their next class. Joe merely gave a harsh ‘as if’ kind of laugh. “Well, it’s at least worth a shot if you actually want a passing grade.”

“Fuck.” Glancing back down the hall, Joe saw that his dad disappeared into a classroom. “I’m going outside,” he said. All this stress was getting to him, and he couldn’t stand to sit in a classroom when he was this antsy. 

“Are you sure?” Cody asked. “You skipped a lot yesterday.”

“Believe me, it’ll be better if I’m not in class. I just… I’ll see you later,” Joe said, breaking away from Cody as he made his way to one of the building’s exits. And he managed to get out without his father spotting him, either. When he reached his usual hang out spot behind the sheds, he was surprised to see someone already there. Well, no, it wasn’t unusual for people to go back there to give others illicit blowjobs or to sneak a smoke, but it wasn’t often that he saw one of his own friends behind the shed sneaking a smoke of their own. “Heath?”

~~~

The second the bell rang, John was standing up and was out the door. He waited around, though, for Randy (who was quite surprised to find out he was chatting to no one as he’d bent over to put his things into his bag only to sit back up to find that John wasn’t in the room anymore), as well as Chris and Evan. 

“Hey, Ev, what was in that note that Chris passed to you in class?” Randy asked just as they exited. He tried not to grin as the blush instantly formed on Evan’s cheeks. Yeah, just like he thought. “I hope you know that I can get you in trouble for passing notes in class,” he then told Chris. 

“You act as though you’re completely innocent in that respect,” Chris retorted. 

“But I’m the one with the power to report such things, which is what really matters,” Randy said. 

“Oh come off it,” John said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes at his lover.

“You took off awful fast. Like your seat had been lit on fire, or something,” Randy then said as he turned his attention to John. 

“That has to be the worst class in the entire history of classes ever,” John muttered. 

This time Randy was the one to roll his eyes, “It wasn’t _that_ bad,” slyly, when he was sure Evan wasn’t paying attention, and neither was Chris, he moved subtly forward a step and then darted his hand into Evan’s back pocket, where he had seen the note hidden. Evan squealed slightly in surprise, the unmanly noise denoting his extreme shock.

Anyone else and Randy might have copped a feel, but as it was he merely headed off down the hallway, un-crumpling the note as he went. “No!” Evan yelped when he recovered from his surprise, immediately giving chase to the other, his speed helping him make up the distance Randy had cleared with his long legs. John and Chris looked at one another, rather surprised since that had happened in the space of moments.

“Was there something on there that Randy wasn’t meant to see?” John asked and Chris sighed, shrugging, “Probably. I think Evan’ll be the one most bothered by someone else knowing what I wrote.” At a much calmer pace they followed, rounding the corner and seeing Evan was all but climbing up Randy to try and get the note back as the laughing Head Boy teased his cousin affectionately by holding it over his head. 

Evan pulled on Randy’s arm, putting all his body weight on it, but Randy merely grabbed the note with his other hand and repeated the cycle all over again. “Come on Randy! Give it back, please!” 

“I do hope you know that it’s too late,” Randy said. “I already read the note.”

Immediately Evan stopped his ascent of Randy’s arm in attempts to get the note back, and he simply froze in place. Randy already read the note… He really didn’t want anyone to see what Chris said to him… what Chris promised him that they would do later on. So what if Randy knew that they were together, that didn’t mean that he had to know about what they did in _private_ together. 

“Or did I?” Randy then asked, bringing the letter down to his face so that he could try and read it quickly whilst not in the middle of running down the hallway. 

“You really are like a ten year old boy,” Chris said.

“Hmm… just ask John just what we were doing at the age of ten… I assure you, it wasn’t playing keep away,” Randy told Chris with a smirk, not even caring that Evan snatched the paper out of his hands.

Chris’ brow rose, “Ten?” John, who had been rooting in his bag for the pack of biscuits he had stashed in there for his morning snack, looked up curiously once he had located them, “What about ten?” he asked, words somewhat muffled considering that he was trying to hold a biscuit between his lips.

Smirking, Randy moved to the other and took a bite from the biscuit, John too surprised by the intimate, jokey gesture to protest the stolen biscuit bit. Chewing and swallowing Randy then licked his lips –and tried not to feel too smug at the almost trance-like manner in which John’s eyes followed his tongue- and said, “Chris was just telling me I was like a ten year old because I was playing keep-away… I said we did other things at ten.”

John’s mind flashed back to many a candlelit night in a room shared together wherein they would sneak into one another’s beds, tentative touches and explorations being made, growing more and more confident with each passing day. Actually, they had been about ten when they’d first kissed, possibly the most innocent action between them. “Keep away wasn’t as fun for him then ‘cause I was bigger than him,” John winked and Chris chuckled lightly.

“Fuck you… you were pretty damn scrawny yourself, or did you conveniently forget that point?” Randy asked. 

“Well… I was still taller than you back then,” John said. 

“Oh well… height doesn’t really matter when you’re lying flat on your back, does it?” Randy went on, smirking at John. 

“So you were really ten years old?” Chris then asked. He was fifteen the first time he’d ever played around with another boy. 

John and Randy both nodded, then all four grimaced as they heard the bell sound to signal their next class. Evan’s eyes grew wide when he realized what that meant. He was late to class. Randy saw that and chuckled. “Ev, don’t worry. I’ll just tell our professor that I was talking to you three about something or other and we’ll be fine,” he assured him.

“Randy likes to abuse his power,” John then said to Chris, but loud enough that Randy could hear it.

“I’ll abuse you soon if you don’t belt up,” Randy said airily as Evan bounced on the balls of his feet, “I need to go!” he barely called back a goodbye before he was haring up the corridor, Chris sighing balefully, admitting, “I’m glad he doesn’t rush concerning _everything_.”

As the Canadian began to make his way towards where Evan had vanished off, Chris called back, “We’ll continue this later, yeah?” he had to admit he was ever so curious about what kind of relationship those two had had in youth, particularly if it had lasted for nearly a decade… John turned to Randy as Chris vanished out of sigh, “Feeling nostalgic today, are we?”

Shrugging, Randy then began to head after Chris and Evan, John handing him a biscuit from the pack in his bag as they walked, the pair munching on them companionably and making no efforts to rush, “Maybe a little,” Randy responded vaguely, making John roll his eyes. Then, he asked, “Did you really read the note?”

“What do you think?” Randy asked, glancing down to meet his lover’s eyes. 

“How would you feel if Evan read some note that I passed off to you talking about things of that nature?” John asked.

“He’d be more embarrassed than I would be,” Randy answered with a shrug. “And I didn’t get a chance to read the whole thing… just a few words here and there that I picked out as I skimmed it.” No, the letter hadn’t been that long, but it was tricky trying to read and run at the same time. 

“I can’t believe you,” John said, though, well… yeah, he really could believe Randy would do something like that. “That was private.”

“And he saw your dick yesterday. Fair’s fair,” Randy reasoned. And those were his final words to John before the pair of them stepped into the classroom, smiling at their professor, who assumed that both of them had other school duties that they had been attending to (because while the professors didn’t like when any student was late, so long as incidents like this one weren’t frequent, they did let those with other responsibilities attend to said responsibilities when necessary).

~~~  
Initially the redhead startled, obviously thinking he had been caught out by a Prefect, but when he realised who it was he immediately relaxed. “Alright?” he queried, blowing a cloud of smoke from between his lips just before the word left his mouth.

“Yeah…” Joe said, glad that Heath didn’t seem aware that he was skipping his father’s class despite the fact that he was currently twagging his own class; he couldn’t quite bring himself to believe that the other wouldn’t nag him until he returned indoors.

“S’matter?” Heath asked, reaching into his pocket and extracting a lighter after Joe had fumbled for his cigarette tin, cursing because he couldn’t seem to find his lighter. Nodding in thanks Heath then lit his calming addiction before sighing with relief as the smoke filled his lungs. “I’m just wound up,” Joe responded as casually as possible—though when the other asked if it was to do with Windham his response was far from casual.

Heath asked his question just as Joe was inhaling another breath of his cigarette, resulting in Joe all but coughing a lung up from his surprise. “What, wait… what do you mean by that?” Joe asked once he managed to stop coughing. 

Raising a brow, Heath simply shrugged. “Nothing…” He took another puff, nearly finished with his cigarette. 

“What are you doing out here, anyway?” Joe asked, trying to go back to keeping himself casual. 

“Felt like it… and I really just needed a smoke. So… you never actually answered me. This all about Windham?” Heath asked again. 

“What makes you think it’d be about him?” Joe questioned him. 

Heath shrugged again. “Well… I’m not stupid,” he replied after taking a puff and stamping out his cigarette. 

“What does _that_ mean?” Joe demanded, beginning to feel seriously wrong-footed now; Heath wasn’t the cryptic type normally, and the fact that he was being so evasive was not helping Joe’s currently fragile nerves and his uneasy state of mind.

“I see the way you look at him, Joe,” Heath said, looking at the other boy, seeing the rather cute way in which Joe puffed and gaped, looking like one of the dried, stuffed fish that they had on display in the local museum from the tropical countries.

“What--? But, it, I’m not—“ Joe didn’t know what to say. After all, he wasn’t sure whether Windham wanted to keep their arrangement low-key, and well, _they_ had never really discussed what had happened between them in the bathroom that day ever since it had happened. The weight of the unspoken was so noticeable then.

“Like I say, Joe, I’m not stupid… You don’t have to try and deny it around me, ok?”

“But… Fuck,” he muttered, head banging against the shed. As Heath stared at him, he finally admitted, “I think about what we did a lot.”

Heath nodded. “Same here. And I think about what woulda happened if we’d done more ‘n just what we did.” 

“What do you mean?” Joe asked. 

“Christ, Joe, I thought you were supposed to be the badass, devil may care, do whatever the fuck you want guy in our little group… yet you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say that I think about doing more than just kissing you?” Heath went on, looking at him in amused surprise. 

“Fuck, Heath… I just can’t fucking _deal_ with all this shit right now.” He never had any problems fooling around with girls, but having these developing feelings for _boys_? It was something completely different. 

“Joey,” Heath ignored the grimace Joe gave (he _abhorred_ being called Joey) and moved to the other, placing his hands on Joe’s shoulders as he stood behind him. Joe startled to badly at the sudden contact that he almost dropped his cigarette, near enough burning himself as he swiped to catch it, “T’fuck you doing, Heath?” he asked the redhead shakily.

“I’m helping chill your tight arse out, understand?” the redhead began to knead Joe’s shoulders, slightly awestruck by just _how_ tense the other was underneath his gentle hands. It seemed for a good while that the other wasn’t going to respond to him for whatever reason, but then the other male sighed and seemed to deflate altogether.

“How’s that feel?” Heath asked, knowing he was taking advantage of Joe a little but knowing that he couldn’t help himself. He still felt for the other and wanted _anything_ and _everything_ that he could from the other boy in _that_ sense. 

At Heath’s touch, Joe couldn’t help but think of those feelings he had stirring inside him for the redheaded teen… Was he actually in love with Windham? Did he maybe really love Heath more? Or maybe that was just lust? “You really have got a lot on your mind, haven’t you?” Heath asked when Joe didn’t acknowledge his question. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah…” Joe muttered, shrugging his shoulder as Heath hit a particularly tense knot of muscle. “I just don’t know, Heath… I mean… all this is has come at me so fast. Why couldn’t I just find myself a girlfriend, or something?” he then asked more to himself than Heath.

But Heath answered his question anyway, “No one says you can’t have a girl. It’s not like you haven’t had your fair share in the past,” he then said. Of course from what he heard Joe had never gone in with the intention of anything serious with any of the girls he’d been with in one sense or another. “Maybe you’ve just known all along that you need a cock to satisfy you more than you do tits and a tight, wet cunt.”

Joe instantly reached into his pocket, taking out his small tin to pull out another cigarette, getting a light from Heath. Taking a deep drag he repeated Heath’s words… words that he himself was thinking but didn’t want to vocalize. Fuck, he was so confused. 

“Maybe you just need some more hands-on experience,” Heath added, fingers still working the tight knots from the other’s muscles through his shirt and blazer. Joe almost inhaled his cigarette into his mouth in surprise at that, turning his head to look at the other. “O- Oh really?” he coughed slightly, cigarette being held securely in hand this time around.

“Yes,” Heath responded, looking the other square in the eyes. He knew that Windham and Joe couldn’t be totally assured in their situation, and he really did care for Joe as well as fancying him, so if he could help the other out in any manner then he would. “I can help out with that…” he then murmured softly.

This time the cigarette dropped from his hand (he’d mourn the loss of it later, but at that moment he was rather distracted) and Heath absently ground it out underneath his heel, his hands resting on Joe’s shoulders, unmoving, as he leant in and traced the tip of his nose over the lightly-stubbled curve of Joe’s jaw; he had always liked that the other had never been a big fan of the traditional smoothness like himself, or of horrible great beards.

“Heath—“ Joe felt his breath catching in his throat somewhat, both uneasy and yet desperate for more concerning the contact currently being directed towards him by Heath. The redhead suddenly brushed his lips over Joe’s ear, speaking quietly directly into it, “Just stop thinking so hard, Joe.”

“But—” Joe began, but Heath cut him off. 

“You’re still thinking. Stop doing that and just…” he rested his hand on Joe’s chest and slowly lowered his hand over his friend’s abdomen, lower and lower still until he was right at the button of his trousers, “…go with it,” he finished in a whisper. 

“Heath, no, we can’t do this,” Joe said, grabbing his friend’s wrist to stop him from going even lower… to a place that was getting harder by the second (dammit, stop that, he tried to will it away). 

“Why not? Boys do this all the time with one another,” Heath reminded him. “ _We’ve_ done things together.”

Joe spun around, Heath’s wrist still gripped tight in his hand, and came face to face with the red head. “Just the one time, Heath. That was it,” he said, not once breaking the eye contact they had.

“You still think about it though, don’t you?” Heath asked, still keeping Joe’s gaze in turn. “There’s nothing wrong with two friends just helping one another with their frustrations…” though he was considered somewhat thicker than other people, and the less open one of their group, Heath wasn’t without his own skills.

“I can’t—“ his hands tensed and then eased around Heath’s wrists, seeming so close to letting the other go but not yet able to completely make the movement, to let Heath do whatever it is that he wanted to do to him.

“I won’t tell Windham, if that’s what the problem is…” there was the smallest hint of bitterness there and although Joe was sure that he had heard it he was always second-guessing himself about this sort of thing even if usually he kept such comments and thoughts to himself. “We can just keep it between us,” he extended a pinkie to Joe, giving him a sense of déjà vu.

Windham wouldn’t find out about this, right? They would keep it between the two of them. No one would know… Except for the two of them. “Joe?” Heath asked, raising his eyebrow, his pinky still held out, noticing Joe’s blank stare. 

“Sorry… I was just…”

“You were thinking again,” Heath finished as Joe trailed off. “Well, stop, ok? You want this, don’t you? I mean, we’re just helping one another along… it doesn’t have to be anything serious,” he added, though he never wanted some casual, meaningless fling with Joe. But at that point, he figured he should take anything he could get. 

“Nothing serious?” Joe repeated. If it wasn’t anything serious then maybe he wouldn’t feel as bad doing things with Heath without Windham knowing… because he did quite like Heath as well (love? was it love? he really had no idea).

“Nothing serious,” Heath said again, though it killed him to do so. “Just between you and me… a little experimenting between friends.”

With a nod, Joe wrapped his pinky finger around Heath’s, promising to keep anything that happened to himself.

Grinning slightly to himself, Heath then leant forward and pecked Joe’s cheek, “I always knew your happy-go-lucky attitude was just a façade.” Really, even though Joe was hot-tempered and seemingly gittish, he was really a pretty sensitive, or at the very least thoughtful, young man deep down.

Both his cheeks turned pink at the kiss, their pinkies still linked together, “We-Well, you never know, do you?” he shrugged somewhat, knowing his response didn’t really make sense in conjunction to what was said, but more focused on the kiss that he had just been given than anything else. “So…” Heath mused, using the small link they had to pull Joe that bit closer.

“How about we seal the deal with a kiss?” since that first time he had kissed the other in the bathroom he hadn’t been able to get it out of his head, and now he had the chance to have the other even slightly once more he didn’t want to keep putting it off.

Joe bumbled slightly, seeming to both want to and yet still having reservations, so Heath merely solved the problem for him by closing the distance between them and bringing their lips together, moving their hands so that their fingers were curled properly this time.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all - Oscar Wilde

Giving his usual grandiose apology, charm on a high tilt for the moment since he was giving an apology for Chris and Evan as well, Randy then moved to his usual seat in the classroom. This time he was seated beside Evan, who was before Chris, John being sat beside Chris and therefore before Randy. Unlike Randy though John didn’t make a habit of kicking chairs.

The teacher seemed to easily get back into the swing of their History (or, more accurately, their colony/empire lessons) and Randy had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the thought of it; he had no intention of going abroad for Empire duties, and even if he had been he was the eldest of his siblings and therefore the one to take over the family business.

John, by contrast, was actually quite eager in this class because he was _good_ at it, and he didn’t need to muddle through before then pleading with someone to tutor him, therefore needing to spend extra time on it when he could be doing things he enjoyed, i.e. sports, or Randy. Chris, technically a foreigner himself, admittedly had little interest in this class in turn, since it was pretty much all sorts of things he had never really considered to have meaning to him as a ‘member of the Empire’ as the teacher addressed them.

Chris sat patiently through the class, watching as Evan scribbled out his notes, still feeling guilty for showing up late, despite Randy making his excuses for him. John actually paid attention, sometimes even raised his hand to volunteer answers from time to time, as well. Randy also kept his notes, though a lot of the time he was drifting in and out, thinking back to the days (or nights rather) that he and John began sharing their tentative touches with one another. While those times happened quite infrequently, the nights when it did happen were some of the best of his childhood… 

On the other hand, the first time they had sex… that was _not_ one of the best nights of his childhood. They had no idea what they were doing and there was absolutely nothing pleasant about it. And then his thoughts of that night were cut short as he received an elbow in his side. “You look like you’re miles away from here,” John whispered when Randy looked at him.

“Just thinking is all,” Randy said. “Taking a stroll down memory lane...”

“Visiting anywhere I know about?” John asked in the same low whisper, half his attention on Randy and the other on the teacher in case they ended up being called upon again. “You should,” Randy murmured, arching a brow slightly at his lover. Though he was keeping quiet, not wanting to draw the teacher’s ire, he was nowhere near as focused as the other was—and that was a role reversal if ever there was one. John’s look of puzzlement was rather adorable and again transported Randy back several years, when he had first expressed his wish to the other, “I was just thinking about the night I… took your innocence, for choice of polite term.”

Ah yes… John doubted he would forget that night even if he lived to be a wizened old man of 100. The only positive thing he could think of for their fumbling exploration was that they had had a bed to attempt it in. It was only with minor shame that John recalled crying that night, because Randy had too when he realised John was in pain… though the other was a seemingly unfeeling and cunning character Randy was really was of the most protective and sentimental men that he had ever met.

“Why that night of _all_ nights?” John asked, his ass suddenly hurting again from the mere memory of it. 

“Gotta take the good with the bad,” Randy replied. While their first time together was anything but perfect (really, it was just an utter disaster), it was definitely a learning experience for them. They knew that the older boys did that with each other, and that they seemed to enjoy it, so they knew that it couldn’t possibly hurt as much as it did if it was to be an enjoyable experience. 

“Thankfully we haven’t had all that many bad times together,” John whispered back with a grin. Things had certainly improved for them once they learned some valuable tricks of the trade (like you can never have too much lubrication), and each time together had gotten better. 

Randy quirked a returning smirk to the other, nodding his head; that _was_ true. Some of their upper-classmen who they had essentially been the protégés of had been a great help in the advice department on that score.

Absently, John wondered whether Chris and Evan’s first time had been easier for them. Given how Evan was, so shy and seemingly uninterested in _anyone_ until Chris came along, John didn’t doubt that Evan had been a virgin until Chris had gotten to him, and yet maybe age helped? And Chris’ experience, such as he had.

Whilst there was still a part of him that was a bit surprised by the thought of Christian and Randy, he couldn’t deny that there was something oddly appealing about them both together… and, yes, he blamed Randy for turning him into the colossal pervert that he had become almost as soon as adolescence had hit.

As he thought, he couldn’t help but imagine Randy with Runnels and with DiBiase. He couldn’t deny that it’d be quite a sight… He really wouldn’t mind watching someone go down on Randy, or Randy go down on someone else, but he still didn’t know how he felt about watching Randy actually fuck someone else. They’d always said that so long as they informed the other of what they were going to do, then they could do what they wanted with anyone else… but aside from the one time Randy nearly fucked someone else, and he fucked a girl once, they never took advantage of it. 

John was then called on to name the three capitals of South Africa, which he named right off the bat, Randy looking back to him, rather impressed. “It’s all up here,” John whispered, tapping his head, grinning at Randy. 

And then he went back to thinking about how they were going to go about this thing with Runnels and DiBiase. He didn’t want them to be shot down completely, and he didn’t want them to cause any tension between the two friends (or lovers if rumours were true… and quite often they were, at least to some point). Between the pair of them, they’d played around with quite a number of boys in the school (and at other schools), but they usually let people approach them unless someone _really_ caught their attention, because they never wanted to be turned down or, worse yet, turned in to the Headmaster for improper conduct. This was going to be a delicate operation. 

It was mildly unnerving just how concentrated John was on his thoughts all day. Not to say that John was some brain-dead athletic who never thought, Randy had just never seen him thinking to this degree. In truth he was actually a little worried about the other concerning it. Something told him he knew where the concerns lay as well, and he was determined to try and get those sorted as soon as possible. Class ended remarkably quickly –on Fridays they usually seemed to drag- and then they were packing up to head to their last class of the day.

~~~

Joe was never one to be pushed around, fuck no, but as Heath pushed him back into the wall of the shed, he didn’t fight it. His back connected with the solid exterior wall as Heath’s tongue made its way inside his mouth. Already the kiss was more passionate than the one that he and Windham shared. 

Slightly shocked that Joe seemed so willing to go along with everything, Heath found himself wondering in that moment just how far he could take things. Last time in the bathroom, he’d wanted to at least take Joe’s cock in his hand… but he would have much rather had it in his mouth. He’d given a few other guys blowjobs in the past, and he wanted to show Joe just how much better it was getting it from him than it was getting it from a girl… or Windham… 

“Heath, what are we doing?” Joe asked after they broke apart from the kiss, bringing his hands up to his face. 

“Nothing serious,” Heath replied, going in for another kiss, this time letting his whole body, not just his upper body, mold against Joe’s.

It was weird. When they had first kissed it had been somewhat tentative, sure, but when the heat and hormones had kicked in the kisses had progressed most fiercely—though Joe couldn’t remember them ever feeling like this. He couldn’t remember Heath being so take-charge in it. Though, to be fair, he didn’t think either of them had.

When hands first touched his back, underneath his jacket and over his shirt, Joe jumped slightly because he honestly hadn’t been expecting it. The movement pressed his body into Heath’s and they both groaned slightly in tandem as twin predicaments below their belts came into contact. Once again Joe broke the kiss, his chest heaving somewhat with shortness of breath, eyes riveted to Joe’s face. “You know you can tell me to stop at any time, right?” the redhead said suddenly, confusing Joe a little.

“Stop wha--?” Joe’s eyes widened slightly as Heath suddenly got to his knees before him, and for some indeterminable reason he found himself merely thinking he was glad that grass wasn’t wet. But then Heath was undoing his belt and he found he couldn’t think much at all.

“Oh my god,” Joe said in a breath as Heath’s lips wrapped around his cock. That was all he could say, really. It was all he could _think_. It felt so good. How… where… _when_ had Heath learned to do this?! 

One of Heath’s hands kept hold of Joe’s hip while the other went to play with Joe’s balls. He knew that he liked having that done to him while he was getting sucked, and other guys seemed to enjoy it as well, so he figured that he would try it on Joe. And it worked. Did it ever. 

“Fuck!” Joe then gritted out, his eyes shut as his head slammed into the building behind him. 

Pulling his mouth from Joe, Heath took a breath and tried to suavely intone, “Do watch yourself Joe, don’t want you to do yourself an injury,” but the words just came out breathless and slightly less quirky than he had intended. Oh well.

Mouth wrapping around the other once more Heath began to bob his head up and down, knowing that they didn’t have much time left before the next class started. Not that he was especially keen to rush considering he had damn well wanted to do this to him for _so long_.

“Heath!” Joe choked, his uniform suddenly feeling too tight, and his skin too hot, “Oh, fuck, Heath-!” If the other kept that up he was doomed. 

“That’s it, Joe,” Heath whispered when he drew his head upwards and off Joe’s cock. It was even better than he ever imagined. “You gonna come soon?” he asked before plunging his mouth right back on him. If the garbled noises and curses coming from Joe were indication, then the answer to his question was a resounding yes. 

His hands curled into Heath’s red locks, hips thrusting forward as he held Heath’s head in place while he came. He’d _never_ finished that quickly before, fuck, it was a bit embarrassing. But then he’d never had his cock in a mouth as, well, as _talented_ as Heath’s before. “Holy fuck, Heath,” Joe panted as the other stood up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 

“I take it you liked it, then?” he asked. The answer was pretty obvious, though. 

“Where the fuck did you learn to do all that? Shit,” Joe muttered as he tucked his spent cock back into his trousers. 

“Never you mind,” Heath said absently, “Amazing what you can learn if you listen though,” on that note they heard the shrill trill of the bell signaling the end of their lesson and Heath brushed his knees down before leaning in to kiss Joe’s cheek, “Go on, get inside.” He then smirked slightly and patted Joe’s very nice arse in a manner that made the other flush.

~~~

“Mr. Runnels, could you come here please?” Mr. Hennig asked as soon as the bell rang for the end of class. 

“Yes, Sir?” Cody asked of his professor as soon as he stood in front of his desk. He had no doubt in his mind just what all this was about: Joe. Wonderful. He was all for skipping a class or two, but Joe should know better than to skip his own father’s class, shouldn’t he?

“Have you seen Joe anywhere?” He sounded stern and looked pretty pissed off now that they were talking one on one. 

“I saw him in our last class, but I don’t know where he went,” Cody answered. He had some idea of where he went, but he definitely couldn’t say for sure. “Maybe he picked up the bug that Cena and Orton had,” he suggested, hoping that maybe he would buy that. Maybe. He hoped. 

Mr. Hennig’s face was clouded, so Cody knew that he hadn’t been totally successful in convincing the man, but since he genuinely had no idea where the other had got off to the professor could hardly dispute him.

Sighing heavily, the professor ran a hand through his still rather thick blonde hair and sighed. Cody had always been fascinated by that shade of blonde; it was different than his father’s, and yet equally as unusual.

“Ok Cody,” the man dropped the formalities slightly, though Cody knew for a fact he was pissed off as all get out, “When you see him can you tell him that _I_ want to see _him_?” As if Cody could say no to that request, aye?

Outside the classroom Cody made a mental note to kill Joe when he got his hands on him, glancing at his watch and cursing as he realised that he was late for meeting Ted for their last class before lunch. _Bollocks._

“Hey, Teddy,” Cody greeted, panting as he jogged to go meet up with Ted not _too_ late.

“What took you so long?” Ted asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“I think Joe’s fucked. He ditched his dad’s class, now his dad wants to have a talk with him. And I have no idea where he is,” Cody then told Ted. It was then he was certain that Joe had lost his damn mind. It was one thing to skip a class… but to skip his _father’s_ class? That just didn’t happen.

“Please tell me that you’re joking,” Ted said, though from the look on Cody’s face, he knew that he wasn’t. “Yeah, Joe’s fucked,” he then nodded in agreement.

Looking around, Cody noticed that they were quite alone in the corridor and couldn’t resist moving in to Ted, the other that adorably startled expression when he did, stepping back.

“Cody, we need to—“ Ted started, but Cody cut him off by brushing his lips across one of Ted’s apple-rounded cheeks, “Class doesn’t start for a few minutes Teddy, we have time.” He loved Fridays: the classes ended at lunch and their weekend commenced as soon as that bell went… and he wanted to take full advantage of that happening.

“And, you know, speaking of people being _fucked_ …” he looked up at Ted with what he sincerely hoped was his most seductive pleading face. He would not beg Ted though.

“Cody…” Ted said, looking somewhat nervous, knowing just what Cody was getting at. But he still really didn’t know.

“I’m not gonna force you into anything, Teddy, but I thought you’d like to know that I would _love_ to get fucked tonight,” he whispered into Ted’s ear. “Wouldn’t you love knowing that _you_ were the one that got to take my virginity?” he then asked, knowing that he was going to get a thrill out of taking Ted’s. 

Ted found himself actually getting _hard_ as Cody talked to him. In the middle of a corridor. That was _not_ a good place to be getting hard. “I’ll think about it,” was all Ted said in reply as he pushed past Cody.

With a smirk, Cody followed behind. God, he hoped that worked. 

Ted cleared his throat softly as he walked, adjusting his tie, trying to ease what seemed like extra tightness clogging his throat suddenly. _Fuck_ , he had to make some sort of decision made on that front or Cody would kill him.

Cody, meanwhile, was shamelessly watching Ted’s ass as he walked. Oh, God, he was so going to enjoy this. But, first things first… he had to proceed carefully or that would be it. Truthfully though he didn’t understand the reticence; it wasn’t as though they’d _just_ met.

Catching up to Ted before they rounded the corner to their classroom Cody then pressed a kiss to the sensitive spot underneath Ted’s ear, almost making the boy drop to the ground face-first in sheer surprise at the sensation, and the action—they were _mere steps_ from the door, and they were dominated by glass panels.

“Codes! What are you doing?” Ted asked as they headed into the classroom. 

“Nothing,” he said with a smirk. “You’re gonna think about it, right?”

“Yeah… I’ll think about it,” Ted replied, taking his seat, sandwiched between Windham and Cody. 

“Hey, Windham,” Cody greeted, leaning in front of Ted to talk around him. “Just a little warning, your ol’ pal Joe might not be seeing the light of day any time soon, considering his father’s probably gonna put him six feet under.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Windham asked, raising an eyebrow. Joe and his father didn’t always get along, but this seemed worse than things normally were between them. 

“Well… it seems our Joe here, somehow got the idea into his head that he should twag his _father’s_ lesson—“ a chorus of low groans came from Ted and Windham, Justin sitting in the row before Windham, therefore missing what was said, “And he’s collared him I think.”

Joe always turned up after he’d had a cigarette, so chances were that was why he was late. The teacher frowned as they noticed the absence of Joe, so Cody sweetly interjected that he had told the other his father needed to see him somewhat urgently.

The excuse seemed to wash because the register was finished and the lesson was begun, Cody only hoping that if the other _wasn’t_ with his dad that he had the sense to fall back on it as his reason.

~~~

Still somewhat in a daze Joe walked back inside, momentarily forgetting what class he was even supposed to be in. Rooting his timetable out of his pocket he then checked it over before feeling a heavy, strong hand landing on his shoulder. Expecting it to be Windham he looked up, “Hey, how was your—“ his eyes widened when he realised who it actually was.

“Dad…” he mumbled, throat suddenly feeling tight, clogged up and his chest hurt. Shit. He could count the number of times he’d seen _that_ expression on his dad’s face on one hand. “You’re coming with me,” his father said, Joe meekly letting himself be towed off.

Sitting his son down in a chair in front of his desk in his office, Mr. Hennig moved around and gave Joe a look of disappointment and anger. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he asked, cutting straight to the point. 

“I dunno,” Joe mumbled, not looking at his father. 

“And why do you smell of cigarette smoke?” At that question Joe cringed, he hadn’t had a chance to spray himself down with cologne. Shit. “Are you smoking? Look at me, Joe!” he demanded, leaning over his desk. “Did you cut my class to go and have a _smoke_?”

Joe just sat there, staring at his father, before finally asking, “What the fuck do you care anyway?”

For a moment the man looked so shocked that Joe wondered if he’d actually _broken_ him somehow. In retrospect he should have seen it coming; it wasn’t uncommon after all, for wayward children to be smacked by their parents… Joe was just thankful in a way that his dad didn’t do it frequently or in public.

Mr. Hennig looked shocked and actually close to tears as he seemed to gather what he had done, but the fury was still there and Joe knew he deserved some sort of reaction on some level. “Give me the cigarettes, Joseph,” the man ground out and Joe reluctantly handed over his tin. Suddenly he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to lie and blag that he had only just been trying it for the first time. _Shit_.

Clicking the tin open, Mr. Hennig saw that the tin was about a quarter full. He shook his head before snapping the tin closed once again. “What on earth would make you ever think that I don’t care what you’re doing?”

Joe shrugged. “All you ever seem to do is bitch at me.”

“First off, you should mind your tongue and not talk to your father in such a manner. And secondly, you should know that I bitch at you because I do care about you. I don’t want to see you in fights or smoking, especially _during_ class _on school grounds_ ,” Curt said to his son. 

“So you hit me because you care about me?” Joe then asked. 

“Yes!” he shouted. “You’re a bright boy, Joseph. You’re also quite athletic and it kills me to see you squandering all your talents.” He had never been good at showing his emotions, at telling Joe just how much he loved and cared for him… maybe that was his downfall when it came to raising him. 

“Can I go now?” Joe mumbled, not looking at the man; it seemed the emotional reticence Curt had had been passed to his son, which would also explain why Joe had struggled so much to try and talk to Windham about everything. “I’m going to be really late for my lesson at this rate.” Not that he cared.

Sighing weakly Curt nodded, “Fine… but you’re going to serve detention with me for a week. Lines, here, after dinner, starting tonight… and you’re not going into town tomorrow.” Joe’s face clouded with anger, standing up, cheek twitching somewhat as he struggled to keep from sneering snidely at his father for his ‘caring’ ways.

The tin seemed to be glaring accusingly at him from where it rested on his desk, the door slamming loudly behind his son. Curt rested his head in his hands, sighing: he had let his wife spoil that boy, and he knew that he hadn’t been much better. “Fuck…” Curt muttered, opening his drawer and shoving the tin inside. Why was his son acting like this recently? True to God he hadn’t the foggiest idea.

~~~

Minutes later, Joe walked into class, telling the teacher that he’d been with his father and that was why he was late. Once he took his seat, he had Ted, Cody, Windham _and_ Justin all asking him where he was and what happened.

However, Joe couldn’t stand to face Windham at the moment. Just seeing him made him realize just what he and Heath had done… and he really wasn’t in a mood to talk to anyone. Not after he, yet again, seemed to disappoint his father. Fuck, why couldn’t he ever seem to do anything right? 

It wasn’t until after class that they were able to actually catch up with Joe to ask him what was going on. Again, Joe had no desire to talk to anyone. Especially Windham. Still, that didn’t stop them (more especially Cody) from trying to get the details out of him. “So, did you go see your father?” he asked. “Are you ok? You must have see your dad, otherwise you wouldn’t look like that,” he reasoned. 

“Just shut the fuck up for once, Cody,” Joe snipped back, walking quickly towards the cafeteria to try and get his food as fast as possible and then leave. 

“Maybe you should try talking to him,” Cody said, turning his attention to Windham. “You’re his best friend, maybe he’ll tell you what’s wrong with him.”

Windham momentarily seemed to dither, but then he nodded and muttered, “I’ll catch up with you all later,” before he headed out of the hall in the same direction that Joe had just left in. “You took that rather well though,” Justin commented after a few moments.

“Hm?” Cody responded, having just taken some food into his mouth and therefore not being able to respond politely. Justin paused to take a drink and then elaborated on his previous point, “Being spoken to like that.” Usually Cody went absolutely ice-queen on anyone who so much as raised their voice to him.

Shrugging gracefully Cody merely mused, “His father must have really lain into him, so I’m going to let it pass this time.” Justin nodded slowly, though became distracted when Wade entered the hall, accompanied by Professor Cole. He fought laughter as he recognised signs of Wade trying to be politely interested, when he knew in reality that Wade thought Professor Cole was a pompous jackass who he preferred to be around as little as possible.

Catching where Justin’s gaze had gotten to, Cody gave a slyly lascivious grin and murmured into his friend’s ear, “So when exactly are you going to our dear Headmaster’s chambers?” Justin blushed, but refused to be cowed for once over his plans, “As soon as lunch is over.” This time it was Cody’s turn to be rendered speechless.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Cody began, “you’re going… you mean practically right now?” he finished. He was never one to stumble over his words. But this had surprised him like nothing before. 

“Not right now, but as soon as the bell rings, I will most certainly be making my way there,” Justin told him, now more confident than ever. 

Regaining his composure, Cody turned to Ted and asked, “Did you hear that, Teddy? Justin said he’s heading out after lunch.”

“I did hear that,” Ted answered. He still hadn’t made up his mind as to what he was going to do that night. He _wanted_ to sleep with Cody, had wanted to for a while now, however, they only just started together. He didn’t know if he wanted to sleep with Cody so soon. 

“I miss anything important?” Heath asked as he sat down at the lunch table. “Sorry I’m late, I had to see my professor about something,” he said. Then he noticed that Windham and Joe were both missing.

“Where’re Joe and Windham?” he asked, casually as possible, unawares that Cody had some potential knowledge of what was going on between he and Joe… such as it stood before the other day. “Joe got into bother with his dad,” Ted supplied, grateful for the distraction so he could look away from Cody—the other’s gaze had him hyper alert usually, but with _that_ as a consideration it was worse than ever.

“Why?” Cody turned his head towards Heath as he heard the tone in the other’s voice; someone sure sounded very concerned, didn’t he? They were all concerned about him, obviously, but that? “We don’t know exactly bar Joe had skipped his dad’s lesson and then the man wanted to see him.” They could only imagine that that conversation wasn’t a good one.

“Maybe I should—“ Heath started, as close to Joe as Windham, but Justin cut across him gently but firmly, “I think you should just let Windham handle it right now, because Joe isn’t doing too good at all.” Though, to be fair, when Mr. Hennig arrived he seemed as unhappy as his son had been.

~~~

“Oi, Joe!” Windham called when he saw his friend entering the door into their common room area. What surprised him, though, was the way that Joe tensed slightly, so he knew that he was heard, but he just kept on going inside. He followed along, though, and saw him sit down hard on the couch. “Joe?”

“Yeah?” he asked, turning his head around to look at Windham.

“Are you ok? God, you look ill,” he said, joining him on the couch, quite worried about Joe’s health. 

“No, I’m not ok. I’m the biggest fucking fuck up this world’s ever seen,” he said, meeting and holding Windham’s gaze. 

“You’re just saying that, you know it’s not true,” Windham told him. He was about to go on, saying something about his father, but before he could say any more, Joe had moved so he was straddling his legs, lips meeting lips as Joe desperately tried to push past what he’d let Heath do to him.

So stunned was he by the sudden assault, Windham completely froze beneath Joe. The other was confident, sure, but it was when he was upset that he usually did the things that got him into real bother… and something told him that Joe was following the same train of thought for this, considering he’d hardly been able to talk to him yesterday.

Bringing his hands up Windham took Joe’s upper arms in his grip and pushed him back gently but firmly, breathing hard when his lips were free. Joe seemed to be straining to re-instigate the contact but Windham didn’t give in, expression hardening, “Tell me what’s going on,” he commanded lightly. “I mean it Joe,” he added.

“What?” Joe’s voice cracked slightly, and then Windham took stock of the fact the other boy had shining eyes, looking close to tears. “Can’t a boy kiss his boyfriend anymore, that a problem all of a sudden?” his shoulders shook somewhat, guilt consuming him, wanting to just forget it had happened to some degree.

“It’s a problem when you do it to try and change the subject,” Windham said. That was _not_ a ‘I’m just kissing you because I want to and I love you,’ kind of kiss. That was a ‘I’m kissing you because I don’t want to talk,’ kind of kiss. So now it was his goal to try and get Joe to talk.

“Well, I do wanna change the subject. I wanna be with you Windham,” Joe told him, trying yet again for another desperate attempt at a kiss.

“Come off it, man. I know something’s up,” Windham said, not letting Joe kiss him again until he told him just what was wrong. And it had to be something pretty bad if he was so reluctant to share the details. “You were smoking again, too.”

Rolling off of Windham, Joe flopped onto the couch, legs spread wide, feet planted on the floor as he leaned into the cushions. “Yeah, well, my dad took those from me, so I won’t be smoking until I can get my hands on some more cigs,” Joe said, scratching his hand furiously, trying to avoid saying anything about what had happened while he was out having a smoke.

~~~

John headed off with Chris, and Randy found himself walking alongside his cousin. Chances were they’d meet up with their respective other-halves when lunchtime rolled around… Randy could count on John to be in there for meals as regular as clockwork. Unless he had a practice, of course, and even then he was there as soon as was humanly possible to plead for feed. Evan cocked his head curiously at his cousin, seeing the slight smile had had quirking his lips in a fond expression.

“You and John have been rather thoughtful today,” he mused, “Something wrong?” Somehow Randy doubted even his tolerant, loving cousin would be able to cope with the idea of their games. Heck, he’d looked as though he’d had enough trouble struggling with the idea of a lazy day in bed skipping classes with an established lover. “Nothing wrong,” Randy placed an arm around Evan’s shoulders comfortably, the action more noticeable than when he and John did it, “You look like you’ve calmed down at any rate, little puppy,” he commented and Evan grinned sheepishly.

“Yeah, well… I don’t really like being late to class,” Evan muttered, slightly embarrassed by his actions now as he looked back on them.

“Oh, come on, you should know by now that there’s not much that I can’t deal with,” Randy told him. “You just gotta put a little faith in me and the powers that the Head Boy position comes with.”

“Hey, Orton!” came a call from behind them, and he turned to find Phil just a bit behind them.

“Brooks? What can I do for you?” he asked.

“Well, that fuckin’ prefect was back last night, told him John was practically dying in here and he shouldn’t come in unless he wanted to risk getting sick, too. Just lettin’ ya know that maybe you should give up your loverboy for a night so your fucking doesn’t end up fucking me,” he said, not really caring that Evan was there overhearing the conversation.

Randy growled softly; he was going to find this Prefect and put the fear of Randy Orton in him if it was the last thing he did, “Fucking little prick… alright Brooks, ta for the warning,” he said, the other nodding his head, “So… You weren’t sick then?”

“What do you reckon?” Randy asked with a smirk and Phil groaned, shaking his head, “Shut it now, I don’t wanna know.” Evan was staring between them wide-eyed, somewhat incredulous; just _how many people knew about Randy and John as a couple?_ Phil then bid them goodbye and headed off.

Mentally sighing at the prospect of needing his John-substitute for the next night or two, to throw the boy off, Randy pouted somewhat; he hated John not sleeping in his room. Shaking himself he realised that he had been ignoring Evan, “Sorry Ev, where were we?” His cousin was still gawking at him somewhat and Randy cocked his head to one side, “Evvy? Ev? Evan? You alright? Speak to me pup.”

“So… he, uh… knows?” Evan asked softly. 

“Yeah. Well, he is John’s roommate. And he’d been our roommate for years, so he knows… has known for a long time,” Randy answered. “If he hadn’t known for so long, we would have had to tell him this year considering John never actually stays in his own room.”

“So then… how many people know about you? Know for sure, not just, you know, rumours?” Evan then wondered aloud, unable to keep the question to himself to ponder over.

“Know for sure? Believe me, it’s not that many. A few guys that have already left here and gone onto University, Phil, you and Chris. That’s about it, as far as I know,” Randy answered. “The rest only know of the rumours, which, to be honest with you, neither of us have ever actually denied or confirmed.”

Nodding his dark head Evan sighed softly, “I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised… I mean, you know about Chris wanting me to get formerly introduced to his cousin…” he looked so nervous that Randy squeezed his shoulder again comfortingly, “Ev, it’ll be fine.” And if it wasn’t? Well, Christian wouldn’t be the only one for it.

“But, Rand,” Evan bit his lip, eyes looking a little misty even though he didn’t cry, reading-glasses perched cutely on the end of his nose, Evan having forgotten to remove them after the lesson, “What if he doesn’t _like_ me?”

Randy almost snorted; he had never met anyone who didn’t like his cousin, the boy just having perfect people skills that were totally inherent and untaught… Randy had always maintained that they came from his side of the family. “Evan, there’s no way that he couldn’t like you,” he assured, “So don’t panic. John and I can rough him up for you if needs be.”

“Even though the last time you got your hands on Christian, you—” Evan cut himself off, not able to bring himself to say that Randy jerked him off. 

“Evan, believe me, that meant nothing. And if he upsets you, then I will gladly snap him in two for you,” Randy said. He wished Chris had never said anything (at least in front of Evan) about the handjob that he’d given to his cousin. It was hard enough for Evan sleeping with, falling in love with a man… learning that his cousin was also in love with a man had come as a shock… but learning that his cousin was also fooling around with _other_ boys… Yeah, it would have been better if Chris had kept his mouth shut in front of Evan. At least he’d never done anything with Chris himself… god, he had no idea how Evan would take it if he had. 

“Well… thank you,” Evan said with a smile. It was quite nice knowing that Randy would always be there for him, would go to any lengths for him.

Catching Evan in a rough, but none the less affectionate hug, Randy looked down at him seriously, “You’re my special little one, Evan, and I would go to the ends of the earth for you.” As he would for any of his family, regardless of how much they might irritate him sometimes, but Evan was the one who had always been a special bond to him.

It wasn’t often Randy let that softer side through and Evan gave him a gentle, playful punch on the arm to dispel the tension he could see building in the other that he had taken things a bit too seriously, “I know.” Randy had kept him from giving up many a time before, and had protected him often in their childhood when bigger boys had made it their mission to target him.

Giving a small smile, Randy then morphed his expression back into its usual casual smirk that he adopted in the hallways. They entered their last class and Randy willed the clock to go faster, just because he wanted to see John again and get his weekend started, even though he was far from relishing the thought of a night without John in his bed.

When the bell finally _did_ ring, Randy walked out of the room as hastily as he dared while still appearing casual. Evan quickly caught up with him and together they made their way to the dining hall. And, amazingly, John was already there. “How’d you get here so fast?” Randy asked as he cut the line to go stand right next to him.

“Well, my class is closer than your class,” he said with a shrug. “And you can never underestimate a man’s need to eat when he’s hungry.”

“Oh I learned that a long time ago,” Randy told him. Although it still never failed to amaze him at just how much John could eat while hungry… hell, even when he wasn’t hungry. Though, to be fair, John seemed to always be hungry. “Maybe you have worms,” he then said aloud.

“What?!” John sputtered, whipping his head to the side to look at Randy. 

“What? It’s a reasonable thought, isn’t it? The way that you eat but never seem to put on any weight.”

“Fuck you. I don’t have worms,” John said with a roll of his eyes.

“John…” Randy sighed slightly, leaning into the other’s ear, “Phil came to see me earlier.” For a moment John looked confused, and then seemed to click, “Oh, _Phil!_ ” Randy arched a brow, “Who did you think I meant?” his lover rolled his eyes and shrugged, “It’s not like you call him by name often. You still jealous just ‘cause he’s my official room-mate?” John teased.

“So, what’s the big deal about Phil wanting to talk to you?” John asked, not quite understanding the point. “That fucking wanker of a prefect has been sniffing around your room again. Brooks—“ he did the last name thing deliberately now since John had called him on it, “—managed to forestall him, with our sick story, but…”

Conversation was stalled as they moved around to get their food (a selection of sandwiches and cold meats, dinner being the bigger affair on Friday’s, though Sunday’s Roast Dinners was John’s favourite) before heading to a table. “So, basically,” John said with a somewhat sad little smile, “I need to go and sleep in the bed that’s mine tonight.” Randy tried not to pout as he mumbled, “My bed is your bed.”

“I know, Randy,” John said. “Believe me, I know. But it’ll only be for a night or two…”

“John, it’s the fucking weekend. Of all days for you to be elsewhere, it shouldn’t be over the weekend,” Randy said. God, he wanted to ring the neck of that prefect… if he found out which one it was… 

“Trust me, it’s the last thing that I want, and I know it’s the last thing that Phil wants, but I guess I have to do what I have to do. And it’s not like I won’t see you at all during the day,” John told him. He couldn’t imagine a day at school without seeing Randy.

“That’s true. I just don’t know what kind of sick pleasure he’s getting out of targeting you of all people for not being in bed at night,” Randy muttered. 

“Maybe he fancies me,” John said glibly, clearly annoyed but not as concerned about it as Randy seemed to think, “Or maybe he fancies you,” that brought a frown to John’s usually smiling face for a few moments. “Or maybe he’s just some fuddy-duddy who needs a life.”

“I’m hoping for the latter, understandably,” Randy said, and John had to admit that he was hoping for the same thing. “Well, hopefully it’ll only take a night and then we’ll be back on track.” Randy was seriously going to find which Prefect that was causing him so much bother, one way or another. Where was Brooks? He knew which one was all but stalking John.

“You better meet me bright and early for breakfast…” Randy muttered, John arching a brow slightly, “ _You_ want an early breakfast on a Saturday?” he asked. Randy waking early on a weekend was as likely as John missing a meal.

“You’ve never seen me when I go to bed and wake up alone,” Randy then told him. “I always end up falling asleep early since I have nothing to do at night, therefore I wake up earlier in the morning and want a nice early breakfast.”

“You went to bed alone quite a bit before this year,” John said.

“That’s different. We were in the same room. We could sneak into one another’s bed,” Randy said, smiling fondly at the memories of their illicit late night fucks with Phil just a few beds away from them. “Now though, you’re in a completely different room, and you probably have no hope of sneaking out considering that prefect will probably be up your arse the whole night. Figuratively speaking,” he added. 

“You got a point,” John said. They may have slept in separate beds, but they could always go to one another once they were sure (at least pretty sure… most of the time…) that Phil was asleep. Earlier in the school year, John slept in his bed every once in a while, but more often than not he was in Randy’s room. Until he stopped going to his room all together. Needless to say, it’d been a while since they’d slept apart.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future - Oscar Wilde

“Alright then, I’ll come and meet you for breakfast,” John said as he continued to speak around eating—something he didn’t always remember to do but that Randy was always telling him off about. “So if you wanna meet me at the top of the stairs, then we can come down together,” and then they could spend time together.

“Did you want to go into town this weekend?” he asked, thinking that now and again they did go into town together, they went around the shops and stuff with one another, perusing more often than buying, but occasionally they did buy things (such as the teddy-bear incident would prove) be it for themselves or others. Once or twice they had dared be clever and go near the burlesque now and again, but they didn’t actually go in… they made each other too jealous.

Besides, if you were spotted going into the burlesque and someone told on you to one of the teachers, then inevitably your parents would be told and you would be in so much trouble it wasn’t even worth it. Sure, they were hardly blameless about it, but that wasn’t the point: the point was they had reputations within the school to protect. “Wade’s looking rather happy today,” John mused, eying their headmaster. He was always somewhat cheerful, but this… “Reminds me, I need to see him after lunch.”

“Yeah, what for?” Randy asked, taking his own look at their Headmaster, agreeing with John’s sentiment. Wade really _was_ looking quite happy. 

“Just some shit for rugby tryouts,” he answered. “Gotta run over my plans with him, make sure that I can have the field and everything.”

“I’ll go with you,” Randy said. 

“Aww, Randy, are you trying to spend as much time as possible with me since we won’t be spending the night together?” John asked… though he may have possibly been feeling the same way. 

“Maybe,” Randy answered with a shrug. “It’s ok then, right? If I go with you?”

“Fine by me,” John told him. No one would think it strange for the Head Boy to go to see the Headmaster, and it did allow for them to spend some extra time together, which neither of them would complain about.

As they made their way towards Wade’s office John mused, “I wonder if Wade’ll be entertaining his little ward today.” Justin Gabriel seemed to spend much of his free time with Wade, and they knew Wade was very affectionate towards his young charge. More than affectionate, but neither of them had proof.

“Probably,” Randy said, the pair of them walking up the main staircase and down and around several hallways towards Wade’s office. Justin was one of the only boys he considered going after but didn’t pursue, because he had the feeling Wade’d go mad.

Reaching the door John knocked, swearing he heard some movement inside, but then Wade called, “Come in,” and John shrugged at Randy before entering. There, in the room, was Wade, and Justin was sitting on the cushioned window-seat just behind Wade’s desk, a book open on his lap. Had he been reading _to_ Wade?

“How can I help you boys?” Wade asked. And was it just John, or did Wade look a touch flushed? And… and did he sound slightly breathless. Now that he looked at Justin, he also seemed a bit pink in the cheeks.

“Well, I came here to go over a few notes I had about the rugby tryouts with you,” John answered.

“Take a seat, then,” Wade said, gesturing to the chairs before his desk.

John sat, but Randy remained standing, and he walked behind Wade’s desk to go and chat with Justin while John went over the rugby practice details, getting confirmation for everything he’d planned. “What’cha readin’?” Randy asked, peeking over to get a glimpse at the pages… and realized that the words were upright for him, even though he was leaning over Justin’s knees, not his shoulder. Didn’t look like Justin was reading to Wade, then… didn’t look like he’d been reading at all.

Slamming the book shut, Justin set it down next to him. “Oh… nothing. Just… nothing,” he said, giving Randy an embarrassed smile. 

Letting his eyes flicker back to Wade, and then momentarily over to his lover just because he wanted to, he then let them go back to Wade and down to Justin. Though the African boy was biting his bottom lip a little nervously, there was a determination in his eyes as though he was daring Randy to comment. Randy recognised the look as one he’d used himself.

“Don’t worry, Coco,” he whispered with a wink, “I won’t tell anyone.” Justin’s eyes widened slightly before he then found himself asking, “Why do you insist on calling me that?” tilting his head, the elder boy grinned slightly in cheeky amusement, “Because it’s the colour of your eyes, little one.” Randy then picked up Justin’s abandoned book and read the blub absently.

John showed Wade his initial plans and said, “—so, basically, _sir_ ,” he grinned as Wade flipped him a very unheadmasterly gesture at John’s mocking title use, “—I need the field for about maybe two hours, potentially three, would that be acceptable.” Wade nodded, clearing his throat softly and reaching into his desk for the schedule of field use to double-check for him. John couldn’t resist innocently asking, “Did we interrupt something?”

“Hmm?” Wade asked, his hand pausing in its ruffling through papers for the right file folder, glancing up at John with a curious look on his face. 

“Oh, nothing… nothing,” John said, looking to Randy and Justin. As Wade resumed his search, John then asked, “Justin, how’s the book?”

“He wouldn’t know,” Randy answered. “Looks pretty dull to me,” he said, flipping the book around in his hands. 

“You young people have no taste,” Wade chimed in when he looked over to see which book Justin had plucked off his shelf in haste when they’d heard the knock on the door and Justin had to move from his lap to the window seat. “Here’s the schedule for the fields. The rugby field is free, so let me put you down. What times did you need?”

“It’s actually a good book,” Justin said to Randy as Wade and John began talking once again. “I’ve read it before.”

“So you wanted to try giving it a read upside down then?” Randy teased, handing the book back over to Justin.

“Hush you…” Justin mumbled, accepting the book and then figuring he should just go and put it back; he’d been caught out and although neither John nor Randy were actively saying anything it was obvious they had guessed. Moving to the nearest set of shelves Justin stood up on tiptoe, carefully placing it back.

“I’d say maybe 1-4,” John said, “That way they’ve had their lunch and it’s settled, yet they’ll have time for rest and sorting themselves out before dinner.” Wade nodded, jotting the words down in a neat and swift script, waving a hand over the ink to dry it. “I’ll tell the appropriate teachers in the staff-meeting on Monday, John,” John nodded; they had arranged for him to take Wednesday after all.

Justin was standing beside Randy at this point, and both John and Wade took the moment to survey their lovers as they were comparing book titles and authors, Justin reacting surprisingly well around Randy… but then, considering he had known John and Randy through their visits with Wade since he was young, maybe it wasn’t so surprising in reality.

“Randy, you ready to head out?” John asked. 

“Oh, you’re done already?” he asked as he turned around from the book shelf. Justin turned around as well, smiling as he saw Wade watching him. 

“Yeah, everything’s all settled. Got the field when I need it. Now I’ve just got to let everyone on the list know when tryouts will be. Something for me to add to my morning announcements on Monday,” he said. Every Monday morning the school had a gathered assembly where they gave weekly announcements about the school, informed those few people who didn’t know the results of any sporting games, everything like that. 

“Ok, then. Maybe I’ll give that book a read,” Randy said, giving Justin a quick wink. “See you around then.”

“Enjoy your afternoon,” John told the Headmaster and Justin, grinning at them before heading out the door. 

~~~

Windham watched the other carefully; he knew the issues Joe and his father had, their lack of communication and tandem bull-headed stubbornness, but something told him that _this_ went much deeper than Curt Hennig’s behaviour though. “Joe…” he spoke the name quietly, watching as Joe tensed somewhat in response.

Gently, but firmly, Windham reached and took Joe’s chin in hand, looking him in the eyes. They knew one another well enough to know when something was off, or when the other was holding back, and right then Windham knew the other was keeping something from him. “You’re acting strange, and it’s worrying me, Joe…” his voice was gentler than usual, surprisingly persuasive, “How can I help if I don’t know what’s wrong?”

The guilt was choking Joe and he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to keep it in for long, he knew it already. Ducking his head into his hands Joe placed his hands over his eyes, elbows resting on his thighs. “Fuck… Fuck… I’ve messed up so bad already. You’re gonna hate me for this.” And, well, that wasn’t too big a stretch in his mind, because it wasn’t as though Windham had said he could fool with Joe.

“What the hell did you do?” Windham asked, concern for his friend growing even more. 

“It was more… more about what I _didn’t_ do… rather, what I didn’t stop someone from doing,” he said, already wanting to drop the topic and move on. Couldn’t they just go back to kissing, or something? 

“The fuck are you talking about?” 

Dammit, this was why he wanted to _avoid_ Windham. He could never lie to him. And damn if he didn’t always know something was wrong. Always. Without fail. Why couldn’t he be better at hiding his guilt? “It’s just something stupid,” he said, trying to laugh it off. 

Of course it didn’t work. “You wouldn’t be so worked up about ‘something stupid,’ so just fucking tell me,” Windham said. Whatever it was, it had to be really bad for Joe to be so reluctant to tell him anything. 

When Windham started swearing often it meant he was starting to get wound up, and that was the last thing that Joe wanted. Maybe if he came clean then he could grovel for forgiveness and try and work through this with Windham. In a somewhat ironic way he supposed he really did feel for him, to feel this guilty.

Windham squinted slightly as Joe mumbled from behind the protective barrier of his hands once more. “What?” he repeated, reaching and taking Joe’s hands in his own, forcing them away from Joe’s face and making his uncomfortable, awkwardly squirming friend look him dead in the eye. “Repeat what you just said to me, Joseph.”

Joe seemed to sag in defeat, eyes dropping down to Windham’s chest so he wouldn’t need to see his initial reaction as he mumbled, “Heath wanted to suck me off, and I didn’t stop him from doing it.” there, he’d said it. Now for the fallout. 

Windham did nothing but stare at Joe for a long time. God, it felt like they were sitting there for hours, Joe just being stared down, feeling even more guilty now that he’d actually admitted what he’d done. Finally, though, Windham spoke. “Heath _what_?!”

“Heath… sucked me off,” Joe said again, and it was just as painful as the first time he admitted it. 

“And why the fuck didn’t you stop him from doing it?” Windham asked. He knew Joe told him that he was having mixed feelings about Heath, too, and that they’d fooled around a little before. But this? This was just too much.

“I dunno,” Joe mumbled. 

“You don’t know? You’re the one that came to me and said that you loved me just _yesterday_ , now you’re going off getting your dick sucked by someone else? That’s just too fuckin’ much.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t see you sucking it.” As soon as those words came out of his mouth, he regretted them.

The silence between them was thick, all but suffocating the both under the weight of the confessions given and the accusations spoken. And then, suddenly, Windham stood up. “I—“ his lips compressed into a thin line, “I can’t even look at you right now, Joe,” was all he then said, heading to their room.

Though the smarter part of his self-preservation instincts (a part of himself he didn’t listen to too much, he’d admit) told him he should leave Windham alone, to let the other cool down before he tried apologising, he found himself following. He shoved his shoulder into the door just before Windham could close it, forcing his way inside before shutting it.

“Don’t be like that, Windham, please—“ Joe started, “I’m sorry, Ok? I am, I don’t—“ he found himself cut off by Windham, surprised into silence because he couldn’t remember the other being so forceful to him before… and it was. Well, it was doing _something_ very inappropriate to him. “Fucking bullshit, Joe. Don’t you dare try and make this out as my fault!”

“I’m not saying that it was your fault! I know that it was a stupid thing for me to do, I knew that when it was happening!” Joe shouted at him. “I’m just trying to tell you that I’m fucking sorry for what I did.”

“If you were so fucking sorry, you wouldn’t have let it happen in the first place!” Windham shouted back. “Is it so hard to tell someone that you don’t want your dick sucked?”

“Wanna find out, Windham?” Joe asked, taking a step closer to him. 

Taking a step back, Windham raised a brow. “What are you doing, Joe?” he asked. Ok, yeah, he knew just how hard it was to tell someone that he didn’t want to get his dick sucked… and that’s why he’d never stopped anyone before. “Can’t you just get the fuck out of here?”

“I just want you to know how sorry I actually am,” Joe said, taking yet another step towards Windham. 

“Joe—“ Windham swallowed, his collar suddenly feeling tight as he walked backwards, conscious only of the bed being behind him when he went sprawling back onto it somewhat. Joe immediately assimilated himself between Windham’s legs.

“Joe, don’t—“ Windham tried, grasping the other’s hands when he made to undo Windham’s belt and trouser button. “I’m saying sorry,” Joe said, not cowed by the rejection; he could see in Windham’s eyes that he was trying to hold firm, but Joe knew he’d give it soon enough.

Though he had a point that it wasn’t easy to say no, and he knew he had a point, he had defacto been unfaithful and he did owe Windham for that. He didn’t want the other to doubt that of Joe’s feelings which Joe knew for sure that he had towards him, just because Heath was a conflicting point. Locking eyes with his best friend, Windham’s hands slack on his, Joe then undid the other boy’s belt and trousers. 

Joe pulled Windham’s soft cock out of his undergarments, looking to the cock in his hand before looking back up to his friend. As he gave his first few, tentative strokes, he saw how Windham was trying to fight back. He was biting his lip, not wanting to give in so damn easily. “Just let me try and make amends,” Joe said from his knees, still stroking the cock, feeling it harden in his hand.

As much as Windham didn’t want to, he couldn’t stop his body. It just felt so good. But Joe was supposed to be his… his what? Lover? Boyfriend? His something… Either way, Joe was the one that messed around with Heath _while_ he was supposedly with him. And they’d only just started together. It’d taken Joe all of a day to go to Heath.

“I swear, I didn’t mean for it to go that far. For it to happen at all. I just went there for a smoke and Heath happened to be there,” Joe explained as he stroked. “He was the one that was encouraging everything,” he said. 

“It takes two,” Windham countered. 

“It’s not like I fucked him, or anything,” Joe protested. 

“And how long’s it gonna be before you do? Huh? Next time are you gonna fuck him then come running back to me apologizing for that, too?” Windham asked. Instead of answering, though, Joe raised himself up higher and took as much of Windham into his mouth as he possibly could.

“Joe!” his name came out as a cross between a moan and a growl, Windham having a weak flare of determination and attempting to push Joe away, but Joe didn’t let himself be moved; though Windham had the right to his anger he was going to apologise in this way, and verbally once more, hoping that Windham would just let the matter go and not go after Heath—that was _the last_ thing that he wanted to happen.

For a moment he sincerely doubted that it would come to a spat between the two friends over him, he couldn’t deny that Windham had been affected by this a bit more than Joe had expected considering that he had seemed uncertain whether he had wanted a relationship with him or not, not the day before. Ok, he was trying to place blame again, he had to stop.

By this point Joe was beginning to bob his head atop his friend’s lap, taking his cock in to and out of his mouth as deeply and as rhythmically as possible. He had a feeling his technique wasn’t brilliant, because he hadn’t done it often, but he just attempted doing to Windham what he himself enjoyed.

Windham was biting down on the knuckles of one of his hands to keep from letting out any audible noise but Joe could tell that he was doing something right because of the way the other’s thighs were tensing and flexing around him, and from the way that Windham had grown larger, harder, in the recesses of his mouth. Oh, he could pretend all he wanted, but his body wasn’t lying.

Pulling his mouth off, Joe brought his hand back to Windham’s cock, stroking it as he muttered, “That’s it, Windham, you’re nice and hard for me. You want to accept my apology, don’t you? Come on, moan, groan… do _something_.”

But Windham kept biting down on his fist. Christ, he hadn’t wanted to give in this easily. Joe just let Heath go down on him, why? For something to do? Would it really be so hard to push Joe off if he _really_ didn’t want this happening right then? He wasn’t looking at Joe, so he didn’t know that he was going to start using his hand _and_ mouth at the same time. So when he felt the hand moving up and down right along with that wet mouth, he couldn’t help but groan low in his throat. 

Success, Joe thought when he finally heard some noises of approval coming from Windham. He kept his hand and mouth working in tandem together, going steadily faster and faster. 

“Oh god,” Windham whispered. This was probably one of, if not the best blowjob he’d ever received in his life, even if it was clear that Joe wasn’t exactly overly comfortable with doing it. But whatever he was doing, he was definitely doing it right.

Even though he knew Windham was doubting his motives then for his apology he was definitely sure that the other was beginning to consider how serious he was; he _had_ been conflicted, was still conflicted by the whole situation of them, and Heath.

So focused on Windham’s pleasure was Joe that he was unaware the other suddenly got a serious, less enthused expression on his face as he considered that he and Heath were going to be having some serious words together as soon as possible, and one day he was going to give Joe adequate punishment for straying on him… he couldn’t just let it go, could he?

Windham’s heels were digging into the carpet of their shared dorm-room floor by the time he was climaxing down Joe’s throat. Needless to say the ending of the act wasn’t as zealous as the first; he’d never considered just how ahem, much, there was, when Windham achieved his climax. A hand covered his mouth as he worked on swallowing as much as he possibly could without making a fool of himself.

His arms shook somewhat as he tried to keep himself upright, blood having been drawn on his knuckles from how he’d been gnawing on his hand to try and stop himself giving in to Joe. Had he still not been wary of Windham’s reaction when he recovered he would have smirked, pleased with himself.

“Do you accept my apology?” Joe asked, still kneeling on the floor between Windham’s legs. 

“I swear to God, if I ever hear tell of you doing something like that again, it will not be so easy to gain my forgiveness,” he warned. Maybe this whole… _thing_ between them wasn’t the best idea. They were best friends. He’d heard about all the girls that Joe had fooled around with, heard about the couple that he’d slept with… now Joe wanted to, what? Be exclusive to one another? He didn’t have a problem with that, but he knew how restless Joe was. 

Maybe it just wasn’t Joe’s cup of tea. 

“So you do forgive me?” Joe asked, a smile now gracing his face. “Thank you, Windham!” he said, now standing before tackling Windham down on the bed, their mouths coming together in a fierce kiss, initiated, of course, by Joe. 

It took Windham some moments and admittedly a little struggle to get free of Joe’s kiss. Gripping the other’s shoulders Windham sighed softly, looking at the other. Joe’s eyes were bright and earnest and he seemed to be straining towards him… in his eyes though Windham could see his friend was _genuinely_ contrite about what had happened. He might have forgiven him, but now he had another penultimate culprit of the incident to address: Heath.

“I have something to take care of,” was all he said by way of explanation, but then he gently but firmly pushed Joe away and then got up. Joe, surprised by the sudden turn of events, scrambled up off of the bed, “Windham—“ his eyes widened as he crashed into the other’s back, Windham framing the doorway. Gingerly, Heath looked over his shoulder… _Oh, no._

~~~

“Oh God!” Justin groaned as soon as the door closed behind them, something John and Randy heard before they headed off—as well as Wade’s low laughter, before what sounded like a reproving sound from Justin. Inside the office Justin had actually whacked Wade atop his head firmly with his hand.

“It’s not funny, Wade!” Justin covered his face with his hands, cheeks burning with a blush. Grinning softly at Justin’s obvious embarrassment Wade reached and removed Justin’s hands from his face, tugging him into his lap. “I’d have to have seriously injured them if they had seen, angel, because I am the only one who can see you in the midst such activities.”

His lips took up their former placement on Justin’s neck as he spoke, murmuring into his flesh, hands slipping underneath the hastily re-tucked shirt and freeing it from the trousers once more. “Wade—“ Justin moaned softly, both from the feel of his lover’s lips and gentle, but powerful hands.

Wade’s fingers began unbuttoning Justin’s shirt, something he hadn’t even had the chance to do before John and Randy had interrupted them. “Do you think,” Justin said before sucking in a breath as Wade’s hands roamed his stomach, “that maybe we should lock the door.” He knew that most people knocked, and that Wade sent his secretary home for the day, but what if someone _didn’t_ knock?

“If you’d like to, we can certainly lock the door,” Wade agreed. It wouldn’t be good for either of them to be caught in this position. Or the position that Wade wanted to have Justin in in a few more minutes… 

Once again sliding off Wade’s lap, Justin headed to the door, clicking the lock before heading back to the desk, his shirt opening up to reveal his muscular abdominal to his older lover. “Are you sure that John and Randy won’t say anything?” Justin asked before sitting down on Wade’s lap. 

“I’m positive. Those two are fucking as well, so unless they want me to use that against them, then they’d never let anyone know about us,” Wade told him, speaking everything against Justin’s skin as he kissed his way up his neck.

“They are?” of course, everyone had suspected, the rumours were undeniable, but to have it confirmed by Wade… hang on, how did Wade know? As though reading the question (and the carefully guided jealousy Justin worked so hard to hide) in his eyes, Wade said casually, “I walked in on them once, in the student council room—Randy was riding John like his life depended on it… Shameless hussies didn’t even stop when they noticed me.”

The thought should not have affected Justin as it did, but he couldn’t deny that the thought had a small flicker of curiosity going through Justin. They hadn’t stopped? They hadn’t stopped even though they’d seen Wade? Justin barely realised his shirt being removed.

Nimble fingers worked to undo Wade’s tie and shirt in turn, the waistcoat being pushed aside without much care indeed. The sensation of hard torso to hard torso made Justin shiver, Wade’s hands grasping his hips. “I did want to actually have you in my bed as soon as possible, Angel, but this time…” he shook his head.

Gently patting Justin’s backside to make him stand, Wade smirked roguishly as he leant back in his chair, “Take your trousers off, Angel,” he pushed his chair back enough to give Justin room, “And then come and stand here, with your hands braced on the desk.”

“Are you going to take me from behind as I lean against your desk?” Justin asked as he did just as Wade wanted, toeing out of his shoes first before pushing his trousers down over his hips. Once they were pooled around his ankles, he kicked them off to the side, his socks up high and sock garters still around his legs, underwear still on. 

“I want to so badly, Angel,” Wade said as he stepped in close behind Justin, molding his body to the smaller man’s. “But you still have too many clothes on for my liking.” With that, he sank down to his knees, his first goal to get the garters and socks off. Those soon joined Justin’s trousers, and then Justin was standing there, leaning against the desk, in nothing but his undergarments. 

“Oh, Wade… I want you,” Justin moaned. If he could, he wanted Wade to take him like this, then lying on his desk, then against the door again, then on the floor, and, of course, on his bed. Making love to Wade on his bed was… it was such a rare occasion. On Wade’s bed at school and at home were the only two places that he had ever taken Wade, and he hoped that maybe there was a chance that Wade would let him do so again at some point in their time together that day. 

“Behave, Angel,” Wade chided gently, slapping Justin ever so slightly but firmly on his rear when he saw the young man wiggling around in that enticing way Wade could never resist. “Wade—“ Justin whined softly and Wade smiled slightly to himself as he ran his hand over Justin’s smooth ass, untouched by any hand, tongue or cock than his own.

Smoothing his hands down Justin’s back, Wade then knelt behind him, spreading the taut globes and bearing Justin’s puckered rosette to him. There was a light thudding sound and Wade knew Justin had just gripped properly at the desk he was bent over, his knees having quivered powerfully. When he had first done this to Justin the young man had actually cried because he had been embarrassed by how much he enjoyed it.

“You want me to taste you, Angel?” Justin whined softly, nodding his head and subconsciously arching back. Wade smiled slightly to himself and then nodded his head in approval to the actions. “If you’re a good boy for me…” Wade’s fingers traced down the crevice of Justin’s, “Then I shall be a good boy for you, Justin—“ oh lord, Justin was going to come across the desk at the slightest touch.

“Oh fuck,” he cursed as the tip of Wade’s tongue touched his entrance. He didn’t curse often, but this act… god, it did things to him that nothing else had ever done. He loved Wade, loved making love to Wade, but in his eyes, nothing could compare to this single act. 

“Tell me how much you enjoy this,” Wade said as he flicked his tongue over Justin’s hole once again. 

“So much. Oh god, _so much_ ,” he whimpered. 

Wade’s finger now brushed over the puckered hole, which quivered beneath his touch. Then he leaned forward and his tongue was back to licking and teasing. “Do you want my tongue _in_ you?” Wade then whispered. 

“Oh fuck,” Justin repeated at Wade’s words. 

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Before Justin could say anything that wickedly flexible muscle (that mastered many minds as well as Justin’s body) was breaching the area where Wade held sole ownership—as well as his heart and cock, of course. “Oooh—“ Justin bit down on his lip hard, fighting the urge to cry out as the tongue began to move.

Since Wade was not anticipating any interruptions, he refused to be rushed. His tongue moved back and forth, breaching Justin over and over, firm and then flexible, turning him to jelly.

When a strong, determined digit squeezed in alongside the tongue Justin was all but bracing his entire upper-half on the desk to keep from falling to the ground, the finger and tongue working in tandem to prepare him for what was to come. Absently Justin’s grasping hands knocked over an inkwell, a little black ink trickling onto the desk’s surface.

“S-sorry Wade,” Justin managed to gasp out as he tried to right the ink well. Even in the middle of sex, he was still ever the good boy. 

Wade had no idea what happened. Frankly, he didn’t give a damn. All he cared about in that moment was making Justin feel _good_. And he knew that, above all else, it was this act that drove Justin crazy. He absolutely loved having Wade’s tongue in his ass. 

He slipped in a second finger, pushing in lightly as he widened his hole. And as he stretched Justin further, he was able to get his tongue in just that much deeper. He pulled his fingers out, this time so he could grab the globes of Justin’s ass and pull them apart, further exposing Justin’s hole. He went to town now, licking his tongue over the widened hole, thrusting his tongue inside it time and time again. 

“Oh, oh, oh!” Justin panted. Every time Wade did this to him (which wasn’t all that often), he swore that he could come from just his tongue alone. 

Just as Justin was reaching the peak, Wade’s other hand suddenly wrapped around his cock, stemming his orgasm in one swift moment. The broken moaning protest that his younger lover made went straight to Wade’s cock and he knew that he was going to explode in his trousers like a boy younger than Justin with no sexual experience if he didn’t get inside Justin _now_.

“Don’t you dare come, Justin,” Wade warned, the timbre of his words sending tremors up Justin’s spine, “I mean it.” Almost helplessly Justin nodded his head several times, nearly crying from the sudden stemming of pleasure. He should have known though that Wade would prefer to have Justin orgasm when he was inside of him than not. “Please, Wade, _hurry_ \--“

Standing up, Wade undid his belt and then undid the buttons of his trousers, a low and oh-so-very-masculine sound of pleasure leaving him as he freed himself from the confines of those and his undergarments. It was as he shucked himself properly from his clothing he realised what Justin had apologised over. Oh well, no use crying over spilled ink.

“Wade, now, please,” Justin begged, rubbing his ass over Wade’s hard cock.

Fumbling in one of his drawers, he found the lotion he kept in the far back corner for when Justin came over. “Hold on, Angel. I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, rubbing one hand down Justin’s arm. Quickly he spread the lotion over himself until he had enough to know that he wouldn’t hurt Justin any more than the pain that always came with the initial intrusion. 

“ _Yessss_ ,” Justin hissed as the large cock he’d become so accustomed to pushed inside of him. “Oh, Wade,” he moaned. 

“You’re so beautiful, my Angel,” he whispered into Justin’s ear, his hand running through his lover’s hair. 

“Kiss me,” Justin whispered back, and Wade was more than happy to comply with his wishes. 

~~~

“Just the man that I was looking for,” Windham said, not even realizing that his belt buckle was still undone, and his pants were looking quite wrinkled. 

“Win, what can I do ya for?” Heath asked, trying to play everything off as though nothing happened. 

About to answer (and inform Heath for the millionth time that he hated that nickname… though Heath hated the name Red, so fair’s fair…), he was prevented from actually speaking his mind as Cody, Ted and a whole group of others entered the common room, excited for the start of their weekend. 

Cody saw the three of them staring at one another, and he knew that something big had to have gone on. And he hated being out of the gossip loop. Unless it was just Windham talking to Heath about how Joe picked him over the redhead and that he should turn his attention elsewhere. 

Either way, Cody wanted to know it all. And he was going to get the details out of someone, that much he knew. 

Ever so casually, Windham said, “I wanna talk t’you.” Heath’s eyes flickered between he and Joe, and then he asked, “Can’t it wait?” Windham’s brow arched in an expression that plainly stated that if it could wait then he wouldn’t have asked. “I’d prefer to sort this out now.”

Panic flared in Joe; Heath wasn’t totally inadequate when it came to his fists, but Windham was larger than him, both in height and muscle-mass, and if you really got Windham mad… he didn’t realise that his lover was even talking to him until he found himself almost face-to-face with Heath. “Move aside, Joe,” Windham repeated slowly.

“Windham—“ Joe noticed the impassive look on the other’s face and stood aside though, Heath going into the room and Windham following. The door however, was shut in his face as Joe contemplated following. Staring at the wooden door with stunned surprise, Joe didn’t even register Cody coming up behind him until, “Oh, Joe, you naughty boy, what did you do this time?” and Joe almost collapsed to the ground in realisation of his proximity.

“Holy shit, Cody, what the _fuck_?!” Joe exclaimed. His nerves were already on overload from whatever was going on behind that closed door. He hoped to God that Heath was able to walk out of the room on his own two legs, that his nose wouldn’t be broken, that he wouldn’t have a black eye… there were so many things that could go so horribly wrong. 

“Just asking what trouble you’ve managed to get yourself into this time,” Cody said, trying his best to look innocent. 

“I fucked up. Really, _really_ bad.”

“Oh fuck, your breath stinks. Oh my god, who’d you suck off?” Cody asked, and Ted smacked him on the arm, as he’d headed over there just in time to hear him ask the question. 

With a sigh, Joe answered, “Windham.”

“Then why the hell do you look so upset? And why did it look like Windham was ready to drag Heath up four flights of stairs just so he could push him back down?” Cody asked, wanting to hear all the juicy details. 

“Do you seriously think I’m going to tell you when it was talking to you that got me into bother in the first place?” Joe scrubbed his hands over his face, eyes fixated on the door to his and Windham’s room. There was no screaming or thumping sounds coming from within –actually, he couldn’t hear anything- but that didn’t mean anything: Windham could just be smothering him with a pillow.

Cody made a sound of affront, scowling at Joe, “Excuse me? If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t even _be_ with Windham!” a small flinch left Joe as he considered that if it wasn’t for Heath (and his own weakness) then he would have Windham without complaint. Now he was amazed that the other hadn’t dropped him before he had even managed to get to the… _activity_.

Though he had been hoping to keep mum about the situation he knew that he couldn’t keep it from them as the awkwardness would soon be known—and if Heath walked out with an injury then that would make it even more damning. “Heath and I well, that is to say we, um, it’s like this—“

“Wait, wait, hold on a minute. You and _Heath_?!” Cody asked. “Did you two fuck or something? Good god, _when_?! I thought you said you’d only kissed one another!” Cody exclaimed, not even letting Joe speak to answer all the questions that were currently going through his head.

“Fuck! I fucked up so bad,” Joe muttered, turning back to the door, trying to hear what was going on inside. 

As more people came into the common room, Cody decided that right there was not a good place for them to talk, so he said, “We’re taking this to my room,” and started pulling Joe along. He didn’t want to leave, because he wanted to know what was going on in his own room. Still, he went along, far too numb to really properly fight back. Ted just followed along behind them. Once in Cody’s room, behind the locked door, he asked again, “What did you do?!”

“Heath… well… he may have gone down on me,” Joe confessed, sitting on the end of Justin’s bed. 

“ _What_?!” both Cody and Ted shouted at the same time. 

Joe winced, hands covering his ears, “Guys--!” the two men looked at one another and then back at him, and Joe was amazed by how angry they both seemed. Ted he could understand because Ted was too pious and too much of a good boy to condone any sort of straying, but Cody? He had to admit that was somewhat surprising. Not to say the other was destined to be unfaithful, but he seemed much freer about this sort of thing.

“I don’t know what happened, I mean, one minute I’m trying to get a ciggy and then Heath’s there and he’s asking me if we could just keep it between us, and that it would keep the pressure off of Windham for anything that he wasn’t ready for and—“ Joe was babbling worse than Cody did when he was wound up and Ted found himself struggling to keep up with it all.

“Windham’s going to kill him,” Cody said without a trace of apology but maybe a little unease and Joe whined softly in unease, head dropping into his hands. “Do you not think maybe he’ll just let it go with a warning?” he asked weakly, and Ted found himself thinking that he sure as hell wouldn’t be so easy if Cody had done this.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards - Oscar Wilde

“If you found out that Windham fucked around on you _the day after_ you said you wanted to try this out, what would you do?” Ted chimed in as his own anger at the situation grew. 

Joe looked as though he were about to say something, but shut his mouth as he thought about it, really, truly thought about it. He had the shortest temper of anyone he knew, was quick to react to _everything_ , and wasn’t afraid to use his fists when the time called for it. There was no doubt in his mind that he’d find the person that Windham fucked around with and beat him to a pulp. There was a reason he wasn’t known as the brains of their little group. 

“Exactly,” Ted said, as though he’d read Joe’s minds as all the expressions ran over his face. “How’d you even let this happen?”

“I don’t _know_!” he exclaimed. “I mean, I told you that I thought I was feeling something for the both of them… Maybe I wasn’t made for this whole... thing,” he stated, flopping back on Justin’s bed. “It’s so much easier just fucking some girl once in a while than getting involved with a friend.”

It was quite unnerving how much Ted looked like his father as he stood there, looking down on Joe with an expression that told him quite frankly what he had known from the minute he’d seen Heath behind the sheds: he was _fucked_.

“I suggest that you make your mind up quick then,” Ted said firmly, “Because salvaging your friendship is going to take time either way, and you need to sort the situation out with Heath.” Cody wanted to point out why _couldn’t_ Joe see both of them, as long as the other two were both equally aware of the situation, but he knew that he would probably cause his lover to have a heart-attack. _Damn it!_ he had wanted Ted in his bed long _before_ this, and at this rate they were both definitely not going to be in the mood.

“If I could then I would!” Joe stressed, angry with the way everyone was jumping down his throat even though he knew that he deserved it.

“Windham _knew_ how I was feeling, about both of them--!” he shook his head, hands raking through his hair, “I mean, do _you_ have any idea how it feels to be torn between two people?” he suddenly demanded of Ted, the blonde man faltering somewhat in surprise, “No,” Joe continued rather bitterly, “You wouldn’t, would you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Sorry I can’t empathize with you because I love Cody,” he snapped back.

“Well, Cody, do _you_ know how I feel?” Joe asked, turning his gaze on the brunette, raising a brow. 

“I’ve never loved anyone but Ted. I may have fooled around with others before him, but I never loved anyone else,” Cody said. He left out the part in which he was still sexually attracted to others, namely Cena and Orton, but he really did only have true, deep feelings for Ted.

“I don’t know what the _fuck_ to do!” Joe exclaimed. “After Heath, I felt so damn guilty… but as Heath was sucking me off, it was… god, it felt so good.”

“That’s because he was sucking you off! Of course it’s gonna feel good,” Cody said, that should have been pretty obvious. Maybe Joe _should_ see them both, because he had no idea how Joe was going to figure out which one truly had his heart at this rate.

Even though he too was a bit wary of Joe’s indecisiveness Cody couldn’t help feeling bad for the other boy. Sitting beside him he wrapped an arm around Joe’s shoulders, “Maybe… Maybe a bit of distance from them both will do you good.”

Joe looked confused and Cody couldn’t blame him; those three were close, hung around with one another all the time, it wasn’t as though he could just drop them completely. From the look in Joe’s eyes though Cody could see that he was seriously considering it. Scrubbing a hand over his face Joe then stood.

“I need… I’m gonna go see what’s going on with those two,” he was distracted in his words as he left the room, the door clicking shut behind him seeming to echo almost ominously.

Turning his attention to the still unimpressed looking Ted, Cody couldn’t help but grin slightly as he stood up, “Teddy, has anyone ever told you that you look so sexy when you’re angry?” as he had expected that seemed to destroy Ted’s anger in one movement, a wide-eyed look of surprise appearing instead.

“Wait, what?” Ted asked as Cody approached him.

“I said,” Cody began, draping his arms over Ted’s shoulders, brushing his lips against Ted’s, “that you’re incredibly sexy when you’re angry. And you’re so adorable when you look confused,” he added, giving Ted another kiss. 

Ted parted his lips as Cody’s tongue pushed its way inside, all but melting into the kiss. And this time, they didn’t have to worry about their third roommate walking in on them, because he was otherwise occupied. When they finally pulled apart from one another, they were both panting slightly. “I still don’t know about tonight,” Ted then told Cody, who began to pout. 

“What’s not to know, Teddy? What’s there to think about? We love each other, and that’s more than a lot of people here can say,” Cody pointed out. He knew plenty of other people who hopped into bed with whoever was willing. And he himself certainly hadn’t loved the guys that he’d fooled around with. “So, why not tonight? It’s the perfect time,” he said.

“Cody—“ Ted was trying his hardest not to become frustrated, but it was difficult. He didn’t know how many times he could explain the situation to his lover before things began to get awkward. “I just—what if it’s not the right time?” he asked, pleading slightly, wishing Cody would just understand where he was coming from.

“We’ll know if it’s not the right time,” Cody said, not dismissively, though he was firm, arms going around Ted’s waist as he pressed himself close to the toned body Ted possessed. “But how can it _not_ be the right time? I love you, Teddy, and I know you love me,” Cody started before Ted hastily interjected, “Of course I love you—“ before he was cut off again by Cody saying, “So how can we say no before we even try?”

Ted pinched the bridge of his nose, his other hand moving to rest on Cody’s back where the slightly-smaller boy was curled into him. “We’ll talk about this after dinner,” he said. Cody groaned, head dropping to Ted’s shoulder. He resisted the urge to comment that Ted was lucky he loved him otherwise he would have gone elsewhere looking for what he needed. Deep down he wasn’t sure if he even meant that though.

“I still don’t know what there is to even talk about,” Cody muttered, lips against Ted’s neck. “We love each other. I _want_ to sleep with you. Don’t you want to sleep with me?”

“Of course I do,” Ted answered. “But I thought you said that you’d wait until I was ready and wouldn’t push things?”

“But I need you so bad, Teddy,” he said, still running his lips up and down Ted’s neck.

“We should go and make sure that Heath and Joe are still alive,” Ted muttered, pushing himself back from Cody, because, good god, if he hadn’t he may have ended up pushing Cody back on the bed and taking him right then. And he didn’t want that. Not yet, anyway.

“Christ, Teddy…” Cody said, standing there with a pout, arms crossed. 

“After dinner… we’ll talk about this, ok?” he asked, already at the door. “Come on,” he said then, holding the door open for Cody to come join him, which he did, albeit reluctantly.

~~~

Hand still threaded into Justin’s hair Wade began to rock his hips back and forth, easing out of Justin just barely, merely letting the other feel his thick girth inside of him instead. Justin was panting lightly into Wade’s mouth already, his body quivering with pleasure and need, his hands gripping at the desk and Wade in an effort to keep himself remaining stood upright.

“So tight, Angel,” Wade murmured against Justin’s swollen lips as he broke the kiss, sensing that they both needed breath, Justin moaning softly as Wade’s hand not in his hair danced over his chest, tweaking his hard nipples, making Justin’s muscles lock reflexively.

“Or maybe you’re just too big—“ Justin tried to move, to get Wade to move, the words he spoke genuine belief from him; he didn’t make a habit of looking at other boy’s cocks, but curiosity had gotten the better of him, and none had ever been as big as Wade.

“But you like it like that, don’t you? Don’t you like having a _man’s_ cock inside of you?” he asked as he thrust up, going in deep as Justin let out a moan and knocked the ink well over once again. 

“I _love_ having your cock inside me,” Justin managed to answer after getting his wits about him (which was quite difficult as Wade continued to rock up and down, giving small yet powerful thrusts into him). 

“I feel _so right_ when I’m inside you,” Wade told him, his teeth nibbling on Justin’s earlobe. “As though I were meant to be here… meant to be with you.”

“You were,” Justin replied breathlessly. “As I was meant to be with you. _Only you_ ,” he added. He sometimes wished that he was the only person Wade had ever been with, and even though he knew that that wasn’t the case physically, he knew for a fact that he was the only person that Wade had ever truly been in love with. And, to him, that meant everything.

“Angel—“ hearing Justin promised his unwavering fidelity to him, even though he had no reason nor rhyme as to making such a statement (he didn’t owe Wade anything) had Wade’s hand reaching and curling his fingers through Justin’s tighter.

“I—I love you, Wade—!” the end of the sentence ended in a rather high pitched, utterly sinful mew as Wade deliberately pressed himself deeper into Justin and found that perfect little nub of pleasure, his speed still not getting any faster.

“I love you too, Angel,” Wade murmured lowly into his ear, meaning every word. There was a small thudding noise of Justin’s body against the desk as Wade rode the willing younger boy.

If, one day, Justin turned around to him and declared that he wanted to end their beautiful relationship and settle down conventionally with a young lady to marry, then he wouldn’t stop him… at least he _believed_ he would be able to let him go if that was what Justin truly wanted. Wade was essentially a confirmed bachelor, happy to let women throw themselves at him and only fleetingly engaging them, _Justin_ being the true love of his life.

“Oh, Wade, touch me. _Please_ ,” Justin begged. He was so close, with each rock against his prostate he got even closer. 

Justin’s pleas couldn’t go ignored, and Wade allowed the hand that had been roaming Justin’s chest to slip even lower until he had a hold of Justin’s hard, leaking cock. “Angel, you’re so hard for me.”

“Always for you,” he whispered. He honestly couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. No one of his age had ever caught his eye, boys _or_ girls. He grew up with Wade, admiring him for taking him in, for raising him and teaching him all that he had. He’d loved Wade for so long; it seemed only natural for things to progress to this point. 

Wade then whispered into Justin’s ear, “Later tonight, I want to feel your hard cock inside of me.”

And _that_ was enough to push Justin over the edge.

Seeing the pearlescent liquid on his desk, and feeling Justin’s tight muscles locking around him was all Wade needed to follow him over.

Low moans left both men, Wade’s hand carefully braced on the desk to keep himself from crushing Justin. Reluctantly he eased himself out of Justin’s body (hearing the small sound of protest Justin made) turning him around.

Sitting back in his chair he pulled Justin to straddle his lap, kissing the younger man properly. Justin’s hand curled through his meticulously styled hair, removing the hold of the gel he used. Justin always told him he preferred when Wade left his hair natural, but when he was in his role as headmaster he needed to look the part. As Wade kissed Justin his hand moved down to the male’s entrance.

As always it thrilled his primal side to feel his seed in Justin’s body, tremors wracking Justin’s body as he felt the touch, “Can you feel me inside of you, Angel?” he murmured huskily.

Nodding, Justin whispered, “Yes. Yes, I can feel you.” His eyes fell shut and he leaned his head forward to rest against Wade’s forehead. 

“You’re so _open_. Just for me, right Angel?” he asked. There was a part of him that just _had_ to know that, for the time being anyway, Justin belong to him. No one else. _Him_. 

“Of course, Wade,” he confirmed, opening his eyes to meet Wade’s, getting lost in them for the moment while he continued to feel Wade’s finger circling around his entrance, slipping in just slightly before pulling back out. 

Moving his other hand, he allowed it to mirror Justin’s as it tangled in the young man’s hair and he drew him down for a sweet kiss. 

Sighing against Wade’s mouth Justin allowed the elder man to take possession of his mouth before returning the sweet embrace in kind, Wade’s body warm against his.

A lot of people may assume he and Wade were nothing more than sex if they knew about them, but Justin knew they were more than that; Wade loved him, and he knew if he asked the Headmaster would do anything for him.

“I love you, Wade,” Justin said breathily when they parted Wade’s answering crooked-smile warming his heart to see it. “I love you too, Justin.” He was reluctant to part them both, so he didn’t, and he knew tidying up already would be futile indeed.

Feeling his elder lover’s fingers roaming his body lightly, affectionately, reminded Justin of numerous poetry pieces he had read over the years.

At times, Justin felt as though those poems could be about them. The way that they were with one another, Wade’s gentle caresses, the way their love for one another ran so deep… yes, those poems could easily have been written about them. 

“It’s hard for me to believe at times that you would want me,” Justin whispered.

Wade cocked his head to the side, a frown coming to his previously smiling face. “How could you ever say such a thing?” he asked, his hand tightening possessively in Justin’s hair. 

“I’m just a kid,” he answered. “You… you’re a man of the world.”

“And why do you think that _I_ find it hard to believe at times that you would ever fall in love with me?” Wade confessed. Justin was young, he had so much ahead of him in his life. 

 

“But, Wade—“ Justin looked genuinely confused and Wade waited for him to finish his point, chances were jumping the gun would be awkward indeed “Who else would I possibly love other than you?” Oh, poor innocent Justin, so naïve even with the _experience_ he had gained in his relationship with Wade.

“There are many fine young men in the Academy who would be interested in you,” Wade said grudgingly; he never liked to acknowledge any interest of desires for Justin other than his own. Justin nestled his head closer to Wade’s hand, scalp tingling slightly, “Wade… they’re boys who just want a quick fuck.”

Wade couldn’t help but tease Justin lightly as he nudged his nose against Justin’s cheek, “Are you saying we don’t do that?” Justin laughed softly, hand caressing Wade’s neck before conceding, “We do on occasion, yes, but you’re a man and have the capacity for more.”

“I’m also sure that there are many young women out there who’d be interested in a relationship, not just a quick fuck,” Wade then pointed out. 

“Please, Wade, after having _you_ inside of me, how could I ever want a woman?” he asked. Wade filled him so completely, he knew that he couldn’t ever leave that. “And, well… after being in _you_ , a woman could never compare.” He knew that some of the boys he knew had fucked girls in the ass, but he could never do that. Wade was it for him. 

“You don’t know that,” Wade said. Of course, he had been with women in his life, and Justin was right, they couldn’t compare. 

Justin raised his head back up and gave Wade his biggest, brightest smile and whispered, “Yes, I do.”

Wade’s dark eyes softened in a manner Justin swore was only for him, leaning in and kissing those smiling lips briefly. He wasn’t a cruel man by any means but there was many a whisper about what happened to those who crossed the young Headmaster in a negative fashion.

“Justin…” he didn’t know what more he could really say, feeling humbled and honoured; Justin had only ever been with him in his lifetime, and yet hadn’t seemed the slightest bit inclined whenever Wade had begrudgingly indicated (as had happened then) that there were other people in the world that may appeal to him.

Reaching one of his hands down (letting the delicate palm skim Wade’s smooth chest and strong muscles) Justin enveloped Wade in his palm and slowly started to move it up and down. He wanted Wade to stay right there on his chair, and this time they’d go slower.

“Are you ready to go again?” Wade asked as Justin slowly but surely brought his cock back to life. 

Nodding, Justin answered, “I am… And I want you to see that you are the _only_ person that can do this to me.” With his other hand, he took Wade’s hand and brought it down to his own cock, already hard with need. 

“Oh, Justin,” Wade moaned as his hand took hold of Justin’s cock, their strokes mirroring one another’s. 

Letting go of Wade’s wrist, he brought his hand up to Wade’s hair, which was already mussed, the gel now holding it in place at all different angles. “I love you, Wade. More than anything.” 

“I know, Angel, and I love you.” How could he deny those beautiful words Justin spoke to him? His entire being told Wade what he wanted to know, and in truth Justin couldn’t tell a complete lie to save his life. Carefully, securely, Wade adjusted Justin so he was straddling his lap, knees on either side of his thighs.

The hand that was stroking him had stopped but that didn’t matter because Justin’s warm, tight body was so close to him, so very close. An adjustment of the hips and a thrust and he’d be buried inside of his body once more.

However for the moment he was contented to merely kiss Justin, the younger man’s hands coiled into his undoubtedly messy hair and rubbing his body against him with all the grace and sensuality of some sort of feline.

God, he didn’t know how Justin did it; he just moved so sensually so naturally. And he was the only one that got to see it, got to feel that body against his. “Mmm,” he moaned into his lover’s mouth.

“When are you going to take me again, Wade?” Justin whispered as they briefly pulled back, though his lips were still lightly pressed against the older man’s. 

“Not yet, Angel,” he answered, his hands sliding up and down Justin’s thighs. He then pressed their lips harder together, slipping his tongue inside Justin’s ever willing mouth, feeling those hands tighten in his hair once again. His own hands gripped Justin’s muscular thighs. 

Justin’s cock was rubbing over Wade’s stomach, Justin helping that fact as he subtly rocked his hips, Wade’s cock rubbing along the crack of his ass. It was then Justin’s turn to moan into the headmaster’s mouth as he felt his cock twitch against him. “Please, Wade?” he whispered the next time their kiss broke apart.

“Not yet, Angel,” Wade murmured softly, feeling himself twitch against Justin again, impatient to bury himself in that tight heat again, to further sully Justin with the evidence of their desires… not that he would end up unscathed either; he had seen Justin’s reaction to his offer of reversing the roles and knew his young lover was going to do everything in his power to please him yet again.

Not that Justin ever displeased him when it came to this sort of thing, but regardless of how often he told him this Justin just didn’t believe him. “Please, Wade,” Justin moaned softly, feeling Wade so close and yet having him so far away. “Please—“ he felt like he might cry if the emptiness of his body wasn’t filled by Wade’s.

“What have I told you about begging, Angel,” Wade chided softly and without heat. Justin’s hips shifted, using Wade’s shoulders and the grasp he had on his head for leverage, “That you can’t resist me when I do it?” a hiss of breath left Wade through his teeth as Justin’s tight heat started to envelope him once more. “You little vixen!” he groaned.

~~~

“Well, shit, Justin _is_ fucking Wade,” John said a few minutes after they left the headmaster’s office. They’d joked about it before and had heard people say that Justin was fucking Barrett just to get good marks in his classes. 

“That he is,” Randy agreed. He, like John, had never really known for sure, but they just got all the proof they needed. “If we knocked just a minute later, I bet we would have had to wait for them to dress again,” he mused. 

“Most likely... So, I’ve got everything done that needs to be done,” he said, changing the subject. “Well, except my homework, but that can be done later. Guess that means I have some time to kill. Got any ideas?”

“Maybe,” Randy answered. He wanted to get in all the time he possibly could with John since they wouldn’t be sharing a bed that night. “Why don’t you tell me your ideas, I’ll tell you mine, and we can cross reference one another.”

“I think we can do that,” John agreed as they continued towards Randy’s room. 

“I could do with a hand sorting out the rosters from the practice…” John said and Randy rolled his eyes in that manner that denoting he was trying to front how little he cared for Rugby, but he could rarely deny John when he asked for help or input.

“If I must…” he said and then sent the other a playfully lascivious look, “What do I get out of it?” John pretended to think about it, “I’m sure for the help you give me I can find a suitable reward.” The younger man nodded, knowing the words held true.

Inside Randy’s room the Head Boy lounged himself across his bed whereas John took a place at Randy’s desk, ripping some paper from one of his exercise books and beginning to jot ideas down, exchanging ideas and suggestions with Randy.

“If we can win the cup this year…” John sighed softly, a wistful look on his face, “That’ll make it my third consecutive win as captain, and that would definitely be something amazing for my last games here at the Academy…” it was rather sad that soon they would be forced to leave the pleasantly sheltered life they had in the academy to face the world.

“That would be nice,” Randy agreed. “I know how happy it’d make you.” His lover prided himself on being top notch in his athletics, and a third championship as a captain was unheard of, especially since most of the boys didn’t become captain until they were in their final year. But John had been the exception since day one. 

“It’d be amazing, Randy,” John said, turning to face him, smiling his biggest, brightest smile. 

“It _will_ be amazing. You’ve got a good team as it is, and if your rookies live up to their potential, you’ll have an even better team than last year,” Randy assured him, and he believed every word. John was so meticulous in his training and practice, and every player was so determined, it made for a winning combo every year. 

“You think so, baby?” he asked. 

“Of course I do. I’ve got faith in you and your training skills.” Hell, John had already been given offers by a few Universities for him to come and play on their teams, and that was a huge deal. “You’ll bring that trophy to the Academy, I know it.”

Looking around to make sure no-one was there, John gently but leaned over Randy against the bed, covering his body with his own. Randy’s eyes hooded as John’s sport-calloused thumb brushed over his strong cheekbone as he murmured, “As long as you’re there cheering me on I’ll slaughter them.” And goodness gracious, didn’t Randy love when John talked like that?

“I’ll always be there to support you—or ogle you in those indecent white shorts, whatever,” Randy quipped lightly as he and his lover exchanged grins, John’s lips then claiming Randy’s own. Though they were aware they shouldn’t flaunt themselves too much they also didn’t care too strongly about ‘outing’ themselves, so Randy made no secret of showing John support at his game. When they drew back John’s dimples were on display and Randy smiled back.

“Just think of how grand _you_ are going to be at graduation,” John commented, beginning to place kisses over Randy’s smooth jaw, “All dressed in your finery and charming the audience with some simpering and suave words of congratulations to all the people we’ve grown up with, our parents judging each and every twitch we make…” he chuckled.

~~~

Letting Cody walk in front of him (both because Cody wasn’t above goosing him as he walked and also because he liked watching Cody walk) Ted exhaled a silent breath and sent up a quick prayer.

Hurting Cody’s feelings was the last thing he wanted, and even though they technically would have _two_ first times together (if you wanted to get technical about them both losing _that_ virginity) that was no excuse to rush anything.

The common room was still rather empty, most of their peers spending the afternoon out on the grounds or getting homework done so that they had as much free time as possible on the weekend upcoming. Sitting himself down on the settee, Ted neatly crossed his legs, ankle-to-thigh, watching as Cody seemed to keep going.

“Cody—“ he was going to try and eavesdrop again. Hadn’t he learnt his lesson the first time? Cody waved a hand impatiently and moved to the door… only to have it open not moments later. Eying the three critically and without embarrassment Cody looked to Ted, “No one’s bleeding or bruised.”

“Well… I suppose that’s something,” Ted muttered from his seat. 

The three boys came out into the main common area, Joe and Windham sitting down next to Ted while Heath took a chair right next to the couch. Cody pouted, as he wanted to sit next to Ted. So, instead, he sat _on_ Ted. “So, you’re all still alive. We feared for your life, Heath,” Cody told him, nodding as he adjusted himself better on Ted’s lap. 

Ted was quite shocked by the action as he suddenly found himself seated on the couch with Cody’s legs draped over him. “What are you doing?” he asked as Cody moved around to make himself more comfortable. 

“Sitting. Now, Teddy, let the boys talk. How’d it go in there?”

Raising a brow, Windham said, “Can’t deny that I wanted to punch something… or someone a couple times.”

Heath seemed a little less nervous now than he had been before but there was no denying the small looks that were being sent between he and Windham, eying one another. “Well, we gathered that,” Cody rolled his eyes dismissively and Ted was suddenly overcome with the urge to give Cody’s posterior a pointed smack for being cheeky. He clenched his hand into a fist to refrain.

Not seeing the flush that had come up on the apples of Ted’s cheeks Cody said, “So, if you didn’t hit him even though he had sucked your boyfriend off, I’m considering that he didn’t suck you off by way of an apology like Joe did.” Heath’s head snapped around to Joe.

Windham had a small smirk on his face, though Joe seemed to be wishing the settee would swallow him, a hand covering his cheek and his eyes fixed downwards firmly. “No, he didn’t.” Windham conceded to Cody, “And yes, he is aware how unhappy I was at their actions.”

“I just don’t understand,” Ted began, his eyes going between Joe and Heath, “how either of you could do such a thing knowing that you and Windham were trying this out.” He’d told Cody he didn’t want him fooling around with other boys… was that really too much to ask out of someone?

“Well, he did say that he was feeling something for Heath, too,” Cody reminded him. 

“Then I guess he should have tried to be with Heath instead of with Windham,” Ted said. 

“I am right here, you know,” Joe piped up, though he was sinking further and further down into the seat as Ted and Cody continued to talk about him as if he wasn’t right there and couldn’t hear everything they were saying. 

“Well, why don’t you explain yourself, then,” Ted told him harshly. He didn’t think it seemed too difficult to be with one person, the person that he loved. 

“Why don’t you shut the fuck up?” Joe snapped back, causing everyone gathered in their little impromptu meeting to widen their eyes and stare at him somewhat. If Joe had been recoiling before he was ready to explode now; a blotchy red blush covered his cheeks and his eyes were aflame, uncaring about the looks he received.

“What the fuck do _you_ know?” Joe snarled at Ted, the blonde stunned into silence, Cody equally immobile atop Ted’s lap though he did tense his stance somewhat, ready to jump in to Ted’s defense if necessary. “Do you have _any idea_ how hard it is to be in love with two people? To know that even when I so much as think about the other I’m essentially cheating on them? No, you wouldn’t would you?!”

Windham stood up, Joe ignoring him, still bearing down on Ted in rage until Windham’s hand clamped firmly over his mouth, Joe struggling against the strong arm that secured around his waist, squirming uselessly in Windham’s immovable hold.

“You said yourself you didn’t even _know_ if you were in love with either of them!” Cody said, feeling a bit braver now that Windham had Joe in his grasp. “Let’s not forget how you said you’d rather just keep fucking girls.”

“Fuck you,” Joe shouted, though it was completely muffled behind Windham’s hand. Still, Cody seemed to get his message loud and clear. 

“Cody, for the love of God, shut the fuck up because you’re _not_ helping anything right now,” Windham said as Joe struggled within his grasp, afraid that Cody would be in pieces (or at least end up with a pretty shiner and maybe a tooth knocked out) should Joe break free. “Please, Joe, just calm down,” he whispered into his friend’s (boyfriend’s?) ear. 

“I didn’t actually mean to fuck everything up for you,” Heath said, still seated. “But, fuck, I didn’t even get a _chance_ , ya know? Cody, you’d know what I mean,” he went on, earning himself a very confused look from the man he’d just called out. “It’s one thing to fool around with some person you hardly know, but… I hardly even had a chance with one person that I actually really care about.”

A small look flickered across the face of almost everyone there but it was most predominant in Joe; it was obvious that he had never exactly considered the possibility that one of the boys he had feelings for may feel the same. Windham didn’t release Joe even though the other stopped struggling because he was still shaking with tension and undoubtedly wanted to try and break Cody’s face somehow.

“I already told you, Heath—“ Windham frowned, “I can take him messing with you once, but not more.” Heath was frowning, seeming to gear up with a rebuttal. Joe was still glaring daggers at Cody, Ted’s hands on the other boy’s hips to keep him from lashing out if he became so inclined because he got a little bold, but Cody merely said, “Why can’t he see the pair of you?” the words seemed to hang in the air.

“What?” Heath and Windham spoke as one, eyes wide as they looked at Cody. Like the actor he was Cody tossed his head somewhat haughtily, looking at his well-kept nails in a demure fashion, “Well, he obviously can’t decide between you, and although this is new to you you don’t seem prepared to give him up and Heath wants him too, so… why don’t you just share Joe?” Cody really didn’t understand what was so shocking about the proposition.

“I’m not going to _share_ anyone,” Windham said. “That’s fucking ridiculous, Cody. It was bad enough knowing Red over there had his mouth all over him,” he added. Not that he didn’t like Heath, they’d always been good friends, but knowing that he had Joe in his mouth didn’t settle well with him.

“I was only doing what you wouldn’t,” Heath insisted. “I don’t see anything wrong with Cody’s idea now that I’ve thought about it.”

“Of course you don’t. God, it makes it sound like we’re just… passing him around,” Windham said. “Why not let anyone have a go?”

“Hey!” Joe yelled, once again muffled behind Windham’s hand. However, he had started wriggling around less after Cody made his suggestion. Maybe that would be the best way to find out just who he should be with. 

“Well, why don’t you ask Joe how he feels about it?” Cody asked, relaxing slightly as Joe had seemed to ease up within Windham’s arms. 

Although it obviously took some effort on Windham’s part to release Joe’s mouth he did, hand coming away even though he didn’t entirely trust him to let him go completely—he’d probably sock Cody one in the face and then Mr. Matthews would hunt them all down for allowing something like that to happen to Cody. Joe exhaled a hard breath.

“I love you, Windham,” he started quietly, cheeks turning bright red but remaining determinedly steadfast, “But I can’t deny the way that I feel for Heath as well. I won’t have you two sniping at each other over me; at the end of the day when this is all said and done we are all friends first and foremost.”

Windham’s lips pursed together somewhat but he nodded; he might want to kill Heath right now, but Joe had a point. “And I think… I’d be more than happy to be with both of you. I’m not saying you two need to be together as well, but—“ he stopped.

He could sense Windham was going to protest and turned in his lover’s arms and placed a hand over his mouth as he gently requested, “Just hear me out.”

Heath, though, was not muffled by a hand over his mouth and asked, “Wait, wait, wait, you… me and him?” he asked, thoroughly confused. 

“Just listen to me, ok? All I’m sayin’ is that maybe if you guys got along, you know, in a slightly different sense… it might make things easier for me, as well,” Joe reasoned. If he was going to try and have some sort of… _something_ with them, then who was he to tell them that they couldn’t be with one another as well?

“Well, this certainly isn’t what I was expecting when I made my suggestion,” Cody whispered into Ted’s ear as he watched the scene unfold before them. 

“And you better not suggest to me that _I_ share _you_ with anyone,” Ted muttered back.

“So, you really want us to ‘share’ you?” Windham asked as Joe’s hand was removed from his mouth. “You really think I want to kiss you after knowing you’ve been blowing Heath?”

“You kissed me after knowing I’ve gone down on _how many_ girls?” Joe returned, raising a brow. 

Ted made a strangled sound and Cody wrinkled his nose in obvious disdain as Heath’s brows rose and Windham went an unusual puce colour with embarrassment. “That- That’s different,” he finally managed to sputter, but Joe refused to be cowed and held the other’s gaze. That was one thing about Joe: he could freak and then be eerily calm in the very next breath.

“How, exactly? I don’t want either of you unhappy, you know that.” The brunette then stopped and raked his hands through his hair, “You know that I want you both and you know I love you,” he addressed Windham before looking to Heath, “And I’m very sure I love you too.” He then looked to Ted, eyes narrowed, “And I will not be made to feel guilty over my feelings.”

Having the good grace to look somewhat chastised Joe then looked to Heath and Windham, “You know what? You both know my input, I don’t need to go any further, so I suggest you two talk it over and then decide between yourselves.” On that note he turned on his heel and then walked across the common room and to their room, the door closing behind him. “Well,” Heath quipped, “ _That went well_.”

“No one’s bleeding or broken, so I think that went quite well, actually,” Cody chimed in from his seat on Ted’s lap, earning him two glares from Joe’s potential lovers. “What?!” he exclaimed as they looked at him. 

“Maybe you should talk about it,” Ted suggested with a shrug. 

“Talk about how Joe actually wants us to _share him_ between us?” Windham questioned Ted. “I was unsure about this to begin with, as I’ve never been with another boy before… Maybe I never should have said ok to all this. I _know_ how Joe is!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Heath asked.

“That he’s slept around and fooled around with how many girls, and yet never been able to settle with anyone. Of course he’d never be happy with just one person,” Windham explained, finding it somewhat… somewhat sad that he had to admit that his best friend wouldn’t ever be happy with just him.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The man who can dominate a London dinner-table can dominate the world - Oscar Wilde

A closed expression appeared on Heath’s face. Eventually, the redhead spoke again—and the words contained more wisdom than any of them had ever figured they would hear from the wise-cracking redhead they spent their time with.

“If it makes him happy, then… I’ll do it.” Three heads snapped up to look at him but Heath barely flinched under the weight of their gazes, “I may not love Joe, but I care about him, a lot, and you _are_ my friend, Windham, regardless of how this situation might be making it look. I’m not too thrilled about sharing, but maybe we’ll both do Joe some good… and at least we’ll know he’s not playing around on us.”

Windham, grudgingly, had to admit that Heath had some points there. “I’d rather know who he was messing with beforehand if he had to mess at all, than to hear it from many of the gossip-mongers we go to school with.” After a few moments an outraged Cody piped up, “Why do you all look at _me_ when you say that? I resent that!”

“Please, Cody, you’re the biggest gossip hound that we have in this school,” Windham so kindly pointed out. “You are the one, after all, that ran and told me everything that Joe just told you in confidence.”

“But that was for your own good!” he continued to protest. 

“Oh, yeah, for my own good? Really? I didn’t think that having to share my best friend with someone else so that I know he’s not fooling around with someone else behind my back was really for my own good.”

“Does that mean you’re going to do it, then?” Heath asked. 

Windham shrugged. “I suppose… although I really should just let him be with you and you alone.”

“Well, that’s not going to do anyone any good either!” Heath exclaimed. “He wants to be with you, you can clearly see that.”

“However, I alone am apparently not good enough for him,” he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Windham… I don’t think it’s about not being good enough,” Ted said, having a verbal input since he had been so viciously cut-down by Joe. “Though I don’t understand how you can love two people at once I suppose it’s not unduly possible.”

A slight quirk of his brow indicated that Windham was listening; although he was level-headed in his own right everyone listened to Ted because he –and Justin- had something about them that made them good for advice. “Maybe give it a week and see how you feel. If it’s really uncomfortable then maybe it’ll be safer for all three of you to call it quits.”

Heath shrugged and gave Ted a slight incline of his head, “I think the man has a good point. We can always try, and it should save us any rows. Besides, if Joe’s Ok with it we should at least try.” Windham growled and sighed, rolling his neck out and then nodding his head, lips pursed together tightly with unease as he supposed he had no argument for that. 

“Ok… ok…” Windham said. “We’ll… give it a go.” Still, he sounded very reluctant about it all. 

“Don’t you think that you should go and tell Joe that?” Cody asked, nodding yes in answer to his own question. “Go on, then,” he encouraged. Soon, Windham and Heath were on their way towards their room. Once the door was closed behind them, Cody said, “Things could get very interesting around here.”

“Thank goodness we don’t have to deal with anything like that,” Ted muttered. He was more than happy having Cody in his arms, and he couldn’t imagine being with someone else. 

“I know, Teddy,” he agreed, somehow managing to get even closer to Ted’s body. His excuse should anyone see them and ask questions? Simple. He was rehearsing. 

“Would you share me though?” Cody mused, “Ever?” he was only teasing, of course, because he had no desire (at least in the long term and in physical terms only) to be around another like he wanted to be around Ted. Ted’s expression said it all and Cody couldn’t help but laugh brightly at the expression.

Kissing his lover’s cheek Cody rested their foreheads together and Ted permitted the open contact because the room was empty. In all seriousness though he responded, “If someone tried to take you from me, even a little, I would fight for you.”

Though Cody was deeply touched by the words he couldn’t help the somewhat glib tease of, “And you say you can’t play a hero in a play—dialogue like that? You’d slay the audience.” Ted sighed and gave him that exasperated look mixed with a fondness that Cody swore he’d never seen directed at any other person.

“Hell, if you come up with lines like that off the top of your head, then you should be the one writing the plays,” Cody went on. “And, of course, you’d give me the lead role next to you, right?”

Chuckling while he shook his head side to side, Ted answered, “Yes… if I were to ever write a play, which will never happen, then you would be my lead.”

“And there would be a sex scene written in there, right?” Cody then asked, whispering it low directly into Ted’s ear. 

“What?!” Ted exclaimed. 

“You know… a scene where you and I kiss and touch and eventually bring to a bed as we strip one another’s clothes off,” he answered. 

“What… what on earth kind of play are you talking about?” Ted asked, voice rising in pitch. 

“Oh, wait, I was just thinking about what we should do tonight.”

~~~

“As I’m up on that podium, I imagine that you’ll be undressing me with your eyes,” Randy said, tilting his head to the side just slightly as John’s soft lips continued their path down his neck.

“I most certainly will be,” John replied. “And our parents will watch as I stare at you, clueless as to what’s going on between us,” he added, his breath tickling Randy’s soft flesh with every word. 

“Do you ever think that they suspect something between us?” Randy asked, still allowing John to tease his neck with his kisses and sharp nips. 

“Don’t you think they’d want us apart, then? They definitely wouldn’t allow us to stay in one another’s rooms when we visit if they suspected that we were fucking, don’t you think? We _are_ supposed to be virgins, you know,” he said, grinning against Randy’s skin now. “We’re still our parents’ baby boys; we’re definitely not supposed to be fucking one another.”

“I suppose…” though Randy would hardly give a fig if he got found out with John. Prison was not something he envisioned in his future though so something told him he’d be keeping mum on the matter, no pun intended.

“Might have to fuck you in our graduation outfits. Maybe if we’re good boys,” they both chuckled at the condescendingly simpering tone John adopted that was reminiscent of the Ortons’ nanny, “-then Wade might let us use his office for one last commemorative location before we find ourselves thrust into the big bad world,” he sucked on the small bump of Randy’s collar.

“I do hope you realise I shall be most displeased if you don’t call on me, hm, the day after graduation?” Randy said and felt John’s chuckle rumble in his chest, the sound muffled by his otherwise occupied mouth. “I will, don’t you worry.” It was probably a good job his parents loved Randy because otherwise they would probably try harder to have him ‘engage with other friends’ as they so called it. Oh, if only they knew.

“We’ll spend the summer together, most certainly. As much of it as we can,” John assured him. “And then we’ll go off to University and we’ll have four years together there.”

“That will be nice,” Randy said… though he hoped that he and John could agree on a school to go to. Of course John wanted to go to a school that was offering him a spot on their sports teams, and Randy wanted to go to a school that recognized his outstanding work in academics. If any of them overlapped, it would make him feel much more comfortable about knowing they would be moving up to University together. 

“It will be,” he agreed. “Then we should just live the rest of our lives together as confirmed bachelors.”

Randy couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Two good looking men living together as bachelors… while it’s a good idea in principle, don’t you think it would raise suspicion?” he asked. 

John merely shrugged and continued placing kisses over each inch of Randy’s exposed skin.

“Would you like me to get married mere days before we start Uni so that we have some sort of cover?” John said dryly, beginning to unbutton Randy’s shirt; no lessons, free time, and he was in the mood to go slow.

“Honestly? No, obviously not,” Randy sighed in pleasure as John’s mouth enveloped his nipple, large hands spreading the material of his shirt aside to get to the tanned muscle beneath. “But we both knew right from the start that we would eventually need to marry someone just to keep our parents happy.” He knew his parents were angling for Samantha to be his bride almost as much as John Sr. and his wife were pushing for Elizabeth to become the newest Mrs. Cena.

The thoughts respectively bothered him, though he knew that could they marry each other they’d have traded their family betrothal rings an age ago. As John’s mouth began to work on his other nipple, clearly contented with what he was currently up to, Randy curled his large hands around the back of John’s head, playing with the short hair there. If he married Samantha he’d do right by her, but John would always be the sole keeper of his affection.

“And to keep our family lines going,” John muttered against Randy’s chest. “Must not forget that one.”

“Yes, of course… have to carry on the family name,” Randy said with a roll of his eyes. He’d heard that one so many times. Far too many times. 

John finished with the final button, letting his hands slide back up Randy’s torso to push the shirt off his lover’s shoulders. “Let’s stop concerning ourselves with our family legacies for the time being and focus on more important things.”

“Like my cock in your mouth?” Randy asked, stroking John’s hair. 

“I was thinking more along the lines of my cock in your arse, but who’s to say that we can’t do both?” John asked, kissing his way back up Randy’s chest. 

“I like the way you think, Cena,” Randy murmured, shivering as John’s tongue delved into his bellybutton on the next down circuit, that cheeky and non-stop mouth beginning to bite and suckle upon the flesh that was currently unmarked. A reminder for his lover that night.

Since he couldn’t be there physically he would leave Randy with something else as company of him, aside from his teddy-bear of course. Bringing a hand down to Randy’s erecting dick John braced the backs of his fingers against it to keep it upright, tongue tracing the length.

Randy hissed out a breath through his teeth, fingers curling a little more firmly around John’s head at that, “Oh, yes—“ he groaned lowly in his throat, “Go on, John,” he tried to urge, but John merely lapped at his turgid flesh like a naughty kitten.

“Shit, John, why are you teasing me like this?” Randy asked. He tilted his head forward, watching John lick his cock. The sight alone caused his cock to twitch, which didn’t go unnoticed by John. 

“Because you love it,” came John’s answer. He pressed kisses all down the underside of Randy’s cock before running the width of his tongue up along it once again. 

“I love your mouth around me even more,” Randy said. He didn’t think it’d do him any good, though. John seemed to enjoy teasing quite a bit. 

“Yeah?” he whispered, dropping his head down lower to suddenly take Randy’s balls into his mouth, satisfied with himself when he heard the loud gasp come from Randy’s mouth and he felt those hands tighten in his hair.

Just as Randy swore that he was going to be coming before John’s mouth had even took him in John pulled back from his balls. A sound part protest and part plea left Randy; he was so hard he swore he could hammer nails with his cock.

“Want my mouth, Randy?” John asked innocently, unable to see Randy’s eyes by that point because the taller boy’s head had rolled back. After a few moments of quiet, John dropping fleeting kisses around the head and length, Randy gave out a hoarse, “Please.” Deciding he had teased Randy enough John then took a moment to prepare himself.

A low cry left Randy as he suddenly found himself being enveloped inch by inch into the blissful wet heat of John’s mouth and then _deeper_ , his head popping up to watch as John’s nose touched at the skin of his pelvis, not an inch of him visible.

“Oh, fuck, John… no one sucks cock like you do,” Randy moaned. He’d had many a blowjobs over his time at the academy, but still there was no one like John. 

John grinned around the dick in his mouth briefly before setting himself back to the task at hand. Sucking in his cheeks, he drew his head up, spit slicking Randy’s shaft as he made his journey upwards. His tongue flicked across the tip of Randy’s dick before he said, “I know.” With that, he opened his jaw wide once more and sank down over Randy’s cock. 

“That’s it, John-John,” Randy said. “You love having me in your mouth, don’t you?” he asked, body trembling as John’s, “Mmmm,” sounded around him. 

“Fuck, if everyone knew how good your mouth is I’d never get you on my own,” Randy groaned low in his throat as John’s cheeks hollowed as he began to move his head up and down to take Randy almost completely out of his mouth and then back down again.

The room was soon filled with Randy’s lowly rumbled words, soft groans and low sounds of pleasure, from both men. Almost without conscious thought John’s hand went down to his trousers and undid them, pushing his hand underneath the layers of fabric and starting to stroke himself. It took Randy a few moments to catch on.

“John—don’t let yourself cum,” he started, close to actually pleading, “I want you to cum in me.” John pulled back from Randy when he heard that, arching a brow.

~~~

“Oh, Wade,” Justin breathed, his head dropping forward to Wade’s shoulder as his older lover’s spent cock slipped from his body once again. 

“Let’s get cleaned up, Angel,” Wade said, stroking his hand from Justin’s hair, down his neck, then slowly down his spine. 

“Mmm, but why? We can just… go to your bedchamber and lie in one another’s arms,” Justin whispered. He loved feeling Wade’s large, strong arms wrapped around him, could never get enough of it. 

“But we can’t go out looking like this, now can we?” Wade asked. 

Justin’s head snapped up at that. Out? What? “Wait, what did you say?” he asked, making sure that he heard correctly. 

“I want to take you out to dinner, Angel,” he said. People around the city knew that Wade had taken Justin in, so it was almost like a father and son going out. Little did they know, though, that Wade was taking his lover out. “Would you like that?”

Justin’s mouth worked soundlessly, eyes wide. He was so articulate in academics but words failed him often when it came to things that mattered; Wade found it so endearing at Christmastime especially where Justin was actually moved to tears because he was so humbled by gifts and affection.

Kissing Wade with as much feeling as he could, the headmaster smiled and pecked Justin’s lips once more, “I know, Angel,” he assured gently, knowing Justin would only become upset at a phantom inadequacy if he thought that he hadn’t properly thanked him. And, well, Wade _knew_ Justin would thank him later that night.

The African walked with grace and a limp into his bath-chamber, almost bouncing with excitement and Wade followed him in to the small but lavish room. Even when they were home Justin insisted on running his bath for him, and taking care of him regardless of the servants who were paid to do all of those things and more. As the bath filled higher Wade wrapped his arms around Justin’s hair, “I have your newest suit here for you to wear at dinner, alright?”

“Thank you, Wade,” Justin whispered, leaning his head back to rest it on Wade’s shoulder, pressing a kiss to Wade’s strong jaw. 

“Anything for you, Angel,” he replied. “Nothing but the best.” And that was the truth. When he took Justin out, they went to the best restaurants. When he bought Justin new clothing, it was by the best designers of the times. 

“You’re too kind to me,” Justin said. Wade provided _everything_ for him. From the roof over his head, to the clothes on his back. 

“That is impossible,” Wade told him. He could never be too kind. His Angel deserved everything that he had been given. 

With another kiss to Wade’s jaw, Justin broke from Wade’s arm to stop the water from filling the tub. “But I have nothing to give back to you,” he then whispered, not facing Wade as his cheeks flushed. 

“You do though Angel,” Wade pointed out as they both carefully got into the smooth tub, Justin immediately reaching for the cloth and soap.

“But what?” Justin asked with a small uncomfortable pout, handing the items to Wade. When he had been younger and first brought in by Wade he wouldn’t do anything unless Wade was there with him and that included baths. Whilst the housekeeper had scolded the frightened and confused boy about the impropriety of the master bathing anyone but himself Wade had merely rolled up his sleeves and proceeded to tend to his hygiene with a smile.

“You give me you,” Wade said as though it was obvious, beginning to clean Justin of the mess he had majorly contributed to him, “Not just your body, but you give me your compassion and your love, your fresh lease on life makes me feel younger and much less jaded about the less-than-kind world around us.” To Justin it might not seem much but to Wade it was a great deal indeed.

“But you give me all of that, too,” Justin pointed out. No one had ever shown him love and compassion before Wade. But now? Now he knew what it was like to love someone and be loved in return. Because of Wade. 

“I would give the world to you, Angel,” Wade told him. He brought his large hand out from underneath the surface of the water where he’d been cleaning off Justin’s groin and lower torso, and rested it upon his shoulder. “You know that I would.”

Justin nodded. Honestly, it felt as though Wade had already given the world to him. He had a home, he had an education and he had the most wonderful man in the world looking after him. Had it not been for Wade, who knew where he would be now. “I love you,” he whispered. 

“I love you, too,” Wade replied as Justin took the soap and wash cloth from him, turning around to face him as he began to wash the older man. 

Kissing Wade’s lips Justin then cleaned his lover with the same care and through manner that Wade used on him, and then they drained the tub before exiting. Wade insisted on drying Justin before himself, the pair of them walking around his quarters naked.

Justin was awed by the luxurious dark suit that was waiting for him on Wade’s bed alongside Wade’s own, a white silken cravat complimenting the dark shirt and waistcoat, highly shined shoes resting and waiting. Wade’s was also smart, the height of fashion, but lacking a cravat.

Wade had a deep disdain for anything like bowties or normal ties, cravats etc. because he said they made him feel like some sort of collared animal and he couldn’t breathe properly. Of course, when at school if parents were supposed to be around or during important events at church or in public he forced himself to endure… until the first chance to get rid. Justin couldn’t count the amount of times he had all but had to wrestle Wade to get him to wear one.

“This is amazing Wade,” Justin said as he began putting on his underthings, eyeing the beautiful suit before him. 

“As I said before, nothing but the best for you.” He watched as Justin pulled on his clothing, piece by piece before finally getting to the new suit. He knew Justin’s sizes from the last time he had a fitting, so he hoped that everything had remained the same. He wanted his lover to look nothing short of impeccable. “I do hope that it fits. We can go get it tailored if it doesn’t.”

Justin merely nodded. Spending a better part of his childhood in South Africa, he never could have imagined that _this_ would be where life’s path would lead him, going to such a prestigious academy, wearing tailored suits, in love with the most perfect man alive... He was grateful for every single moment he was given. 

As Justin finished dressing he noticed that Wade hadn’t adjusted his collar on one side and smiled softly to himself as he moved forward and adjusted it.

Catching Justin’s lips in a soft kiss Wade thanked him quietly before making him stand back so he could get a proper look at his young lover. In a word, Justin looked _stunning_ , but then he always did where Wade was concerned. Though he wished he could hold Justin’s hand out of his office it was much too risky and so he merely contented walking alongside him as he picked up his wallet and checked it.

“We’ll catch a cab down in the town and go over to the restaurant.” Justin made a small whimper and Wade placed a hand on the back of his neck momentarily with a gentle grin of reassurance; even though he had been in numerous motor-cars and carriages in his lifetime as Wade’s charge he hated the methods of travel, much preferring to walk if he had the choice.

“Can’t we take a carriage instead?” Justin asked softly. If they had to take some other mode of transportation, he much preferred the carriage to the car. He thought carriages looked much nicer than cars did.

“You’ve got to get used to car travel. Carriages won’t be around forever, not with the motor car on the rise,” Wade said. Technology was always improving, and slowly, more cars were found on the road. 

“You’re not thinking of getting one, are you, Wade?” the young man asked.

“Perhaps,” was his answer. “Now come along, I promise you that it won’t be that bad. And we can take a carriage back here if that’s what you’d like, Angel.” To him, that didn’t seem like too bad a compromise at all. 

~~~

Torn between laughter of relief and angry demands as to just why Cody was being exposed to such indecent material in the apparent name of the theatre, Ted shook his head somewhat, “Cody, for the last time, please…”

Before Ted could make his excuses about waiting and being worried, Cody took the sensitive lobe of Ted’s ear into his mouth and suckled upon it before he started to shift his position so he was now straddling Ted and not just atop his lap. The ravenette began to subtly roll his hips, thrilled with the growing bulge that soon made its presence known.

“I want you, Teddy,” Cody whispered hotly into Ted’s ear, the blonde underneath him frozen with arousal and shock, mind effectively closing down as Cody pseudo rode his body, lips brushing his ear as he spoke, “I want you so bad I _ache_ for you. I’d do _anything_ for you, all you have to do is ask it of me…” his hands roamed over Ted’s arms.

“I _know_ that you’d do anything for me,” Ted told him. “Believe me, I know… but that doesn’t mean that I want to ask it of you tonight.”

“Don’t you want this, though?” Cody asked, nibbling Ted’s earlobe. “I want you to take me, Teddy. I want to know what it feels like to have you _inside of me_.”

As Ted sat there, Cody rubbing against his crotch, he sent up a plea to God. He didn’t know if he could resist his younger friend for much longer, and he wanted God to give him the strength to allow him to wait until the time was right… unless that night really _was_ the right time. And, to be honest, the thought of being inside of Cody was making him harder by the second. 

“Don’t you want that, Teddy? Do you want to be inside of me? Don’t you want to know that you’re the only person that’s ever been inside me?” Cody went on, hoping that Ted wanted it as bad as he did. 

Eyes closing Ted took several deep breaths, beginning to name the saints backwards and forwards to try and focus his mind. When Cody stopped moving though Ted’s eyes opened—and he was confronted with an almost heart-breaking sight. Cody looked as though he was mere _seconds_ away from crying. Ted’s eyes widened in response.

“It—“ Cody’s lip wibbled, and it wasn’t entirely acting on his part; the thought he was about to express had just occurred to him, “You really _don’t_ want to be with me do you? I’m good enough to lick and suck your cock but I’m not good enough to give you me—“ a hand covered his mouth and Cody found his throat closing up as he saw the fire in Ted’s eyes, “When did I _ever_ say that to you?” he demanded quietly.

The ravenette was quiet, still hard, and Ted was still hard underneath him. “Alright,” he said quietly. They could just see how things went and if they progressed that far then they progressed that far, but otherwise…

“Are you serious?” Cody whispered. He wanted it so goddamn bad, but he didn’t know if Ted would agree to it. And now? 

Nodding, Ted replied, “Yes… but we’ll just… we’ll take things slow, ok? There’ll be other times that we can do this, Codes,” he then said. “Don’t take that as me telling you that I don’t want it, because I do. Believe me, I do… I just need to know that _I’m_ ready.”

“I’m sure that you’re ready,” Cody said, running his hand over Ted’s hard cock. “God, Teddy, you’re so hard right now. You’re more than ready. Shit, I would love nothing more than for you to take me _right now_ ,” he added before capturing Ted’s lips in a kiss right there in the common room.

In the back of his mind Ted knew that they were too in the open and that if they knew what was good for them they should move but at the same time he daren’t.

If they went to their room now then he was sure Cody would want the sex to start immediately and the thought of doing _the deed_ was borderline overwhelming but the thought of doing it during _daylight hours_ regardless of the fact that they would be in the privacy of their room, was so _obscene_ to him.

“Codes—“ gently but firmly Ted pushed his young lover back, breathing hard, “Stop—we, we need to stop—slow down a bit…” Cody whined, mouth moving to the damningly sensitive spot underneath Ted’s ear, “Please Teddy. Our room, I need you in our room _right now_.” As gracefully as possible he made himself get up, pulling Ted with him.

“ _Right now_?! Cody, I thought this was going to wait for tonight,” Ted protested as he stood from the seat, but refused to move his feet. 

“What’s there to wait for, Teddy?” Cody asked, still gently tugging on Ted’s arm. “Look at you, Teddy. You’re practically begging for it,” he said, eyes flickering downwards to look at the bulge in Ted’s trousers. 

“Maybe… maybe we can do something else now… then later tonight we can see if… see what happens with us?” he suggested. 

“You mean you want me to suck you off again?” Cody asked, wondering if that’s what Ted meant. 

Nodding just slightly, Ted answered, “Yes… and, umm, I can return the favour if you’d like,” he added in a whisper. 

Kissing Ted’s cheek in a surprisingly sweet and chaste gesture, Cody gifted Ted with one of those perfect, completely natural smiles that displayed the personally-abhorred gap between Cody’s teeth, “I can be amenable to that,” he said, pulling Ted up again.

He had actually been intending that they do something lighter and work up to _that_ , but since Ted had already put a damper on that he was going to take what he could get; maybe if he did it good enough then he would encourage Ted to consider that night more seriously.

Inside their room Cody merely grinned to himself before pushing Ted back against the door, sinking to his knees gracefully and reaching to undo Ted’s belt. He would have been happy to suck him off then and there back in the common room, but Ted would have had a fit if he tried.

With his own hands pushing down Ted’s trousers, he noticed that Ted’s hands were balled into fists at his side. “There’s no need to hold back, Teddy. Come on, put your hands on my head… push me onto your cock; I can take it,” he said as he looked up from his position on the floor. 

Meeting eyes with Cody, he saw the brunette lick his lips before he pushed down Ted’s undergarments. And he just couldn’t resist. He had to touch Cody. His hands tangled in Cody’s hair, fingers tightening, pulling his hair, but Cody didn’t seem to mind. At least he hadn’t told Ted to loosen his grip. 

“I told you, Teddy, you can do whatever you want. You can hold me still while you fuck my mouth… you can hold my head down while I choke on your cock… I’m all yours,” he added. 

“Oh, fuck,” Ted muttered.

Though hurting Cody even slightly was _the last_ thing that Ted wanted to do, he couldn’t deny that Cody’s words were appealing to him; he actually felt that he _wanted_ to do the things Cody was suggesting, to hold his lover down and _make him_ take him in. God, just what power did Cody have over him?

Licking his lips once more to wet them and fighting the urge to moan just _looking_ at Ted, Cody placed the saliva shining appendages around Ted’s cock and slowly began to sink down upon the turgid flesh. The strong fingers Ted possessed tightened further in his hair and the small flickers of pain actually sent tingles shooting hotly down towards his abdomen.

“Oh, Lord—“ Ted cursed, hips jerking at the touch of Cody’s mouth. Though it was not entirely foreign to him anymore he sincerely doubted it was something that anyone could pre-prepare for. “Cody—“ his head thudded against the door softly.

As Cody’s tongue lapped at his cock, as his lips worked over his shaft, Ted’s grip grew tighter, and the urge to do what Cody said, to hold him there, cock fully encased in his mouth, grew stronger. But he didn’t want to hurt him, not at all, not ever. So he just let Cody do his thing. 

Cody began sliding his hands up and down Ted’s thighs as his head bobbed up and down Ted’s length. He wanted Ted moaning and whimpering above him, and he knew that he was on the right track. 

“Oh goodness,” Ted breathed, trying so hard to not take the Lord’s name in vain during a moment like he was having. It was one of the most difficult things he’d ever tried to do. “Cody,” he then said, breathing out the word low and slow. He had never felt so damn good in all his life as he did in that moment. And that thought made him wonder how he’d feel being _inside_ Cody.

~~~

“Ok,” Justin said uneasily as Wade flagged down a motorcar for them both when they had walked into town. Opening the door for his young charge Wade got in after him and then leant forward to give the cabdriver the address.

Soon the car was on its way and Justin’s lips were clamped together firmly; the bumpiness of the roads and constant movement conspiring to make him queasy in mere moments. Subtly, Wade’s hand covered his across the seat.

When the car came to a halt Justin had to fight not to fling himself ungracefully out of it, Wade following with much more leisure and composure. Paying the fare Wade then placed a hand on Justin’s shoulder to guide him into the restaurant. He saw the head waiter’s reaction to Justin before the man could recover and his eyes narrowed.

With a set of eyes leveled at him, the waiter steeled his expression (also making sure to keep his eyes off of the young man so as not to earn himself any more glares) and asked, “May I help you, Sir?”

“Yes, I’ve got a reservation tonight for two. Barrett’s the name,” he answered tersely, his gaze not wavering from the waiter’s. He could tell that the head waiter was looking at him so as not to return his gaze to Justin. 

“Of course. Follow me,” the waiter said, checking the reservation log to confirm the name before leading the pair to their seats. He had several thoughts running through his mind about the young man that was with the older gentleman. 

Seeing the way Wade’s jaw was setting Justin knew he had missed something; that was the expression that usually meant Wade was not happy, and that he was about five seconds away from unleashing on the cause of his upset.

As they were seated Wade suddenly said something into the waiter’s ear and the man went pale indeed. Smirking roguishly, but with undeniable authority, Wade waved a hand and dismissed the man, seating himself opposite his young charge.

“Is something wrong, Wade?” Justin asked, wondering if he had done something. Wade’s eyes met his and his expression softened, voice low, “No Angel, nothing’s wrong. Now then, take a look at what you fancy to eat, alright?” he chided him gently, smiling.

Smiling back at Wade (though still wondering what he missed), Justin glanced down at the menu before him, trying to decide what to eat. When Wade ordered them a bottle of wine for their meal, and he had yet to make his dinner choice, he asked Wade what he was getting. 

“You don’t have to get what I’m getting,” Wade told him after he answered. “Though it does pair best with our wine,” he added, raising his glass in a silent toast to his lover before taking a sip. “There are plenty of things on the menu that would go well with our wine, as well.”

“Such as?” Justin asked. Wade had an extensive wine collection, and knew just what wine to pair with every meal, but Justin had no clue. After Wade pointed out several things, Justin settled on the meal that he first thought he wanted before changing his mind several times throughout the short time span. 

Considering that Justin was usually so determined not to seem unprepared or incapable of handling a situation in school halls Wade loved when he got to see the natural, uncertain and sweetly childish side of Justin. He had had to grow up faster than many despite Wade’s efforts and he wanted him to indulge that side of himself.

Though many would be annoyed by such a fickle dinner companion Wade smiled and took it all in stride. Justin made a sheepish choice in the end, sending Wade an apologetic look. Waiving the silent apology Wade poured Justin a little wine; he never let him drink much, concerned as to how someone might take liberties upon a vulnerable Justin if he happened to not be there one day, for whatever reason.

Justin’s fingers nervously caressed the stem of his wineglass, Wade shivering as he imagined what those fingers might do to him later that evening. Justin, however, was just suddenly once again conscious that he was maybe _the only_ dark-skinned person in the restaurant… who was dining, that was.

When that thought hit him, he wondered if _that_ was the reason that Wade had been looking at their waiter such as he had. He never felt as though he was all that dark skinned, but he _was_ noticeably different in his colouring, and when he spoke, he still had traces of his native accent. He was sure that people they didn’t know personally wondered about the strange relationship they had, because no man would take a house servant out to a fine restaurant, and many men would not take claim of a child who happened to be of mixed race. So the fact that Wade was taking Justin out had many a person raising brows. 

“Justin? Are you all right?” Wade asked, seeing that Justin appeared to be a million miles away, lost in his own thoughts. 

Smiling his sweetest smile, he answered, “Yes, I’m fine, thank you. Just thinking a little is all.” If he told Wade what he was thinking of, he already knew what he would say. He would tell him to hold his head up, because he was above everyone who may have looked down upon him. 

A gentle pressure rested atop his foot underneath the table and it took Justin a moment to realise that it was Wade’s own. Concern was visible in his expression, the small furrow of his brow giving him away, and Justin sent his lover a small, genuine smile. He really shouldn’t let such things bother him right then because he would end up accidentally ruining their evening together if he let himself get upset. If he became upset then Wade got angry with the cause.

Picking up his wineglass he took a small sip of the liquor, unaware that Wade was watching him, struck by sudden déjà vu as he recalled teaching the barely-past-babyhood-Justin how to use cutlery and cups… such a poor sweet child. He had certainly given meaning to Wade’s unstructured life and not once did he regret ever taking the young foreigner into his home and heart.

When their food arrived Justin’s hands subtly pressed together, murmuring a soft prayer under his breath and although Wade didn’t say any words he mimicked the gesture. “Eat up, eat up,” he waved a hand lightly, knowing Justin would wait until he’d had the first bite before starting his own meal and he didn’t need such deference from him.

“You’re so good to me, Wade,” Justin said about midway through their meal. 

“And why wouldn’t I be? You know how much you mean to me,” Wade told him. He didn’t dare call him by his pet name in public, especially in a place where people were already looking at them out of the corner of their eyes. 

“I know. It’s hard to fathom at times, though. That’s all. I appreciate everything that you do, too, but don’t you ever feel like you do too much for me?” Justin asked. He had gone from having nothing in his life, no parents (he vaguely remembered them as they fled their home country, and for a time he had them in England, but then, one day they were gone and he never found out what happened to them), no home, no anything, to having Wade… to having everything. 

“No,” was Wade’s simple answer. 

~~~

“Wait… you want _me_ to fuck you?” John asked. Randy hardly ever actually _asked_ to be fucked. 

“I do,” Randy answered. He spread his legs just slightly, and went on, “Prepare me while you suck me. I want to feel your fingers spreading me.”

“Fuck,” John muttered. Whatever mood struck Randy, needless to say, he was immensely enjoying it. Not one to deny Randy of any of his wants, John once again widened his mouth and took Randy’s cock into his mouth, only this time, he added a few fingers alongside. Once he was sure his fingers were slathered with his own saliva, he withdrew them and slipped them between Randy’s legs. 

“Oh, yeah, John. That’s it. Get me good and ready for you.”

It was both amusing and surprisingly a turn-on how much Randy talked during sex. Sure, he could get going too if he was really in the mood, but Randy _always_ talked to him and told him how he felt, and the audio stroking of his sexual ego just made him all the more determined.

As a finger breached him Randy moaned low in his throat, hips trying to arch to get the finger how he wanted since John’s other hand was holding his hip to keep him in place as John sucked on him. Eventually the finger began to move and Randy’s head lolled back.

A second finger breached him and Randy groaned lowly, sheer will alone keeping him from coming just from the stimulation of John’s mouth and fingers. “Now, John, fuck, now!” he was seconds from exploding and didn’t want to yet. 

Pulling his fingers out, John released Randy from his mouth with a pop before he knelt up. Quickly, he shucked off his trousers and tossed them to the floor before positioning himself. He rubbed his cock along Randy’s crack, just enough to get his lover going. “Fuck, I said _now_!” Randy said, raising his legs up into the air. 

At that, John aligned himself with Randy’s hole and pushed himself in, the pleasure he always found in that familiar tightness returning. “Oh, yeah, Randy,” he couldn’t help but to moan. 

“Keep going, Johnny,” Randy encouraged until his lover was completely inside him. “That’s it… now fuck me,” he said, eyes ablaze with passion as they locked with John’s. With that, John began to move his hips, nearly pulling out completely before driving himself back in. “Keep going. God, _harder_.”

“Someone’s pretty bossy today, aren’t they?” John murmured, his hands shifting to get a better purchase on the bed-sheets as he started to drive himself into Randy’s welcoming body over and over again. Randy’s head arched back and his arms reached up, gripping the headboard and using the leverage of it to work his hips back atop John’s movements.

Though Randy was always a passionate lover with him John wondered what had brought about this new bout of unrestrained, gloriously demanding desire. They were good for one another like that; they got each other told, kept each other grounded.

“I wouldn’t need to be if you’d _fuck me_ like I _told you to_ , John-John!” Randy sniped playfully. He wanted John to fuck him so hard that he felt the other when he went to bed alone that night. Since he wasn’t going to be able to sleep with John’s arms around him he wanted to sleep with the leftover sensation of John’s cock inside him.

“If that’s what you want…” John said, repositioning his hands once more, this time kneeling up to he could grab onto Randy’s hips. 

“ _Yes_! That’s what I fucking want!” Randy exclaimed. “Wouldn’t have— oh fuck yes, John, _right there_!” he shouted, interrupting himself. “I wouldn’t have told you to fuck me if I didn’t want you to,” he then said, finishing up his previous sentence. 

With his grip now tight around Randy’s hips, he was able to pull Randy towards him, driving himself even deeper as Randy, too, was arching up, still using the headboard for extra leverage. “You always feel so good. Never wanna stop,” John muttered. No matter how he was with Randy, it always felt so right. 

“Then don’t. Oh, god, John, keep going,” Randy encouraged. 

“Keep you tied to my bed all day every day if I could…” John murmured, no other verbal thought following as he concentrated on giving his lover exactly what he was demanding of him. Randy writhed wantonly, taking it and wanting more even so.

“Fuck you again and again—“ he panted and Randy forced his eyes open to see the way John’s muscular body worked over his own, and the sight of those powerful shoulders rippling as John’s hands kept him in place. “Yes!” Randy moaned shamelessly, the bed creaking ominously underneath them.

Eyes drinking in the sight of his lover being so thoroughly pleasured by his actions had John upping the ante with the last of his physical ability. “Touch yourself, Randy,” he commanded, “Let me see how much you want to cum from my cock.” Randy forced his eyes to John’s, a hand running down his own abdomen and enveloping his cock.

The hand upon Randy’s cock was moving fast, keeping pace with John as he slammed into him over and over again. All John could look at was his cock moving in and out of Randy’s body, along with Randy’s hand. They were timed perfectly. “That’s it, Randy, keep touching yourself. Tell me how close you are. Tell me how much you’re _loving_ my dick in your arse.”

“John, you fucking _know_ I love your dick in me. Oh shit, _right there_ ,” he moaned again as John struck his prostate with every thrust. 

“You’re so _tight_. I don’t know how, the way you beg for my cock, but you _always_ are,” John said. Randy felt so good, and the way that he writhed beneath him, clenched his hole even tighter around him, it was bringing him closer and closer to completion. 

A positively pornographic moan left Randy as he finally felt the coils of pleasure breaking inside of his abdomen, his back arching as pearlescent ribbons of his seed covered his hand and John’s rock-solid abdomen. Seeing Randy’s head toss back and hearing the cry from his lips as Randy’s hold gripped him like a vice was enough for John to all but roar as his release erupted from him with as much speed as a south-bound freight-train.

One somewhat positive thing about them both being men? They’d never get one another pregnant. And given their active sex life that was a good thing alright.

As John’s body sagged atop his own Randy wrapped an arm around John’s back, caressing the perspiring flesh that was still undulating and rippling against his own. When his lover eased out of him Randy whined in protest; he hated that empty feeling that accompanied a good thorough fuck with his love.

“How was that, Randy?” John asked after a few moments of nothing but heavy panting as they tried to settle down. “Up to your standards?” 

“The only problem I have is that it’s already over, and you’re no longer inside of me,” Randy answered.

“Well, give it a little while and we can always go again,” John said with a grin.

“That’s true,” Randy agreed, his pointer finger writing R + J on John’s back as they lay together. “But even that will be over too soon.”

“Mmm, maybe so, but it never hurts to try. How about you take me next time?” John suggested. He, too, wanted to be able to feel Randy inside him during their upcoming separation.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An excellent man; he has no enemies; and none of his friends like him - Oscar Wilde

Giggling slightly dazedly at how easy and simply Wade had responded, no hesitation, Justin then focused his attention back on his food lest he do something horrendously sentimental and cause them both more grief than they seemed to be experiencing as a continuous undercurrent throughout their otherwise amazing evening.

It would be a great lie indeed if Wade didn’t admit to himself at least that Justin was so distracting when he ate; he was so perfectly graceful and his manners were impeccable, making it look as though he was composing an opera as opposed to eating a meal.

When they had finished eating Wade wiped his mouth on a napkin and asked, “I have a dessert for us back at the Academy, is that alright?” Justin’s eyes twinkled in curiosity as he nodded his head hastily; as though Wade would have expected him to say no to that.

After Wade paid the bill, they left the restaurant and, as per Justin’s request, took a carriage ride back to the Academy. As they sat in the back of the covered compartment, Justin looked to Wade and asked, “So, what have you got for dessert?”

“I bet you know what I’m going to tell you,” Wade said with a teasing smile. 

“It’s a surprise,” Justin supplied, and Wade nodded. “Oh, come on, just a little hint?” he tried to goad Wade into telling him at least something. 

“Hmm… Well, it’s something that you and I both like. And that’s all that I’m telling you.”

“That’s not a hint! That’s pretty obvious, actually,” Justin said with a huff. Not as though he was actually angry, but he could never seem to get Wade to tell him any secrets until it was time for them to be revealed anyway. 

Damn… that didn’t help him much at all; there were numerous things he and Wade both liked in common, so it hardly narrowed the field of choice down. Justin pouted to himself in thought and Wade smiled slightly, rather keen for them to get back to the Academy.

Paying the carriage driver when they arrived back Wade then took Justin inside, the odd staff member and student greeting them if they saw them, all knowing the familiar-esque ties between the two and so not questioning their presence together.

In the room Wade got their dessert; a box of ridiculously expensive and _amazing_ chocolates of all different varieties, some cream and other sweets there to further compliment the finger-food style dessert. Wade watched as Justin’s pupils dilated; the younger was always so concerned about letting himself have too many sweets for reasons unknown.

Grabbing the box of gourmet chocolates, Wade held it out to Justin. “Which one would you like to have first?” he asked. 

Browsing the different chocolates, Justin tried to determine which one he’d like the most. “I think I’ll go with this one,” he said, starting to reach for a dark chocolate square, but Wade pulled the box away before he could get to it. 

“Allow me.” Wade reached in and pulled out the sweet that Justin was going for, then held it out in front of his young lover’s mouth. 

Smiling, Justin leaned forward, taking a small bite out of the chocolate. Pulling back, he chewed and swallowed, thoroughly enjoying it. After deciding that he indeed like the chocolate he picked, he leaned forward once again, this time taking the rest of the chocolate and Wade’s fingers into his mouth. 

Giving a kitten lick to the finger when he released it Justin gave Wade his sweetest, close-mouthed smile as he finished chewing the last piece of chocolate and then swallowed it. He then licked his lips, Wade fighting a whine at the action.

“Which one would you like, Wade?” Justin asked; Wade didn’t have much of a sweet tooth but there were some sweets that he couldn’t resist… and Justin could see him eying one after a moment’s consideration. Plucking the caramel from the box he then held it up to his lover’s lips, giving him an encouraging smile.

Momentarily torn between which was his greatest decadence Wade then obediently opened his mouth and allowed Justin to place the entire chocolate into his mouth. Sucking on Justin’s fingers with an obviously seductive undercurrent Wade then pulled back and chewed on the sweet confection. A hum of content left him as he swallowed.

“Would you like another, Angel?” Wade asked after he licked his lips. 

“Yes, please, Wade,” Justin answered, ever polite. He browsed the box again, looking for another good one. He picked one out and allowed Wade to feed it to him. However, this time when he took a bite, his face scrunched up as he chewed. 

When Wade looked at Justin’s face, all scrunched up after discovering that he didn’t like the taste of his chosen chocolate, he couldn’t help but laugh. He was simply too adorable. “I take it you didn’t like that one, then?” he asked, and Justin shook his head back and forth. “Here, pick another one out,” he said, popping the rest of Justin’s uneaten chocolate into his mouth, as he loved coconut. 

Justin selected another chocolate and was much more cautious this time as he bit down into it. When the pink, sweet fondant covered his lips as it oozed from the chocolate Justin gave a small sound of surprise and brought a hand up in case any of the sweet confection fell before he had the chance to lick it up. Goodness, how embarrassing!

Wade, however, didn’t think the sight was so much embarrassing as it was mildly arousing and so damned heart-warming; though he saw Justin act his normal self before his friends he seemed to hold something in him back until he was around Wade alone—and no, that wasn’t some sordid innuendo. As he watched the sweet African boy sheepishly licking the sweet from his fingers and lips he truly took stock of the fact that he really _loved_ the sweet little blighter.

“Would you like another… _Sir_?” Justin asked, giving Wade the most innocent of looks after he used the title. 

Wade’s eyes flickered with lust at the use of the title. People called him Sir day in and day out, but _no one_ could ever say it like Justin. “Mmm, yes,” he answered. He found a chocolate that looked similar to the first one that Justin had enjoyed and picked it out for himself, causing Justin to protest a little bit. 

That was until Wade opened his mouth and bit down on the chocolate with just enough pressure to keep it there without biting through it. He raised his brow, as if to question whether or not Justin was going to come and get a bit of his own. Once over the initial surprise of the action, Justin raised himself up on tiptoe for a sweet kiss.

Mindful of their teeth respectively the pair finished breaking the chocolate in half as they kissed, the sweet melting in their mouths probably faster than usual given that they were still kissing as it remained momentarily unheeded. Pulling back from Justin, Wade grinned slowly and chewed the chocolate in his mouth before swallowing and then licking his lips, “I don’t know what tastes better: you or chocolate.” He supposed he could solve the dilemma by covering Justin _in_ chocolate.

Feeling the tray being pulled from his hands gently but with purpose, Wade watched as his young lover set the box on his bedside table securely before then moving back to the bed. “I think we should get you out of these nice clothes,” Justin was blushing Wade could tell but he held his eyes, “Because I would hate to see them become all wrinkled and messy.”

“How very thoughtful of you, Angel,” Wade said. “Though I believe the same can be said of you. Your clothes are far too nice to get rumpled and mussed.”

Still holding Wade’s eyes, Justin whispered, “Well, why don’t you come over here and do something about it?”

“I think that that sounds like a brilliant idea,” Wade agreed, now making his own way to the bed. He crawled atop Justin, smiling all the way, ready for the prospect of undressing his young lover once again. 

When Wade was hovered over him, Justin took a deep breath and ordered, “Roll over.” Without question, Wade obliged and Justin was soon straddling Wade’s hips as they began to undress one another. 

Much to Wade’s mixed consternation and fond amusement Justin moved away from him to drape their clothing neatly over a nearby chair so that the items would not be creased… at home he was much less concerned about such things, though now and again Wade had awoken after a post-coital nap to find Justin tidying up.

As soon as the clothing was taken care of the dark skinned male was back on the bed and straddling Wade once more, leaning down and catching the elder’s lips in a kiss. The other’s lips were lightly sticky from the sweets they had been indulging in.

Though he had been far from impressed with the coconut chocolate before, Justin felt that such unpleasantness could be excused as he tasted Wade alongside it and his hands ran all over his lover’s impressive exposed torso.

Justin allowed his hands to roam everywhere they could, thinking with every ridge of muscle his hands touched that his lover was absolutely perfect and that he was the luckiest man on the planet to be able to touch and love the man beneath him. “I love you,” Justin whispered against Wade’s lips. 

“I love you, too.” He brought his hands up to curl into Justin’s hair, closing his eyes as Justin’s tongue parted his lips to deepen their kiss. As this kiss broke, Wade’s grip tightened as he locked eyes with Justin. “I want you to take me,” he said, his voice soft, though still strong and commanding, and he could practically feel the shiver of anticipation that went down Justin’s spine. 

“Oh, God,” Justin whispered. He loved when Wade took him, he loved feeling Wade moving inside of him, but it was just so rare an occasion that he had the chance to take Wade, he couldn’t hide his excitement. 

~~~

“I think I can be amenable to that,” Randy said with a languidly casual air, his fingers still tracing what seemed like vague words and symbols upon John’s spine. It might seem like sex was the most important thing to them but it wasn’t. He’d love John even if they’d never had intercourse, because it was _John_.

If it weren’t for the fact John had equally sentimental thoughts Randy would have been concerned by how soft he could become in the aftermath of their sex. A kiss was pressed over his gradually slowing heart and he smiled slightly.

They both took some time just to calm down John laid beside Randy and Randy’s arm and leg slung over him loosely, the brunette not minding even slightly. He hoped he never had to give this up.

“Randy?” John muttered after a while of lying contentedly in Randy’s arms.

“John, if you say that you’re hungry…” Randy trailed off. Of course that’s what John was going to say. He was _always_ hungry after sex. Always. They’d made many a late night trips to the kitchen in their years together.

“I’m hungry,” John said sheepishly. He couldn’t help that his body needed nourishment after strenuous activity. He always ate a ton after a sporting event, how was this any different? 

“Well… are you up for one more go before we find you food?” Randy asked. John’s body against his for all that time was enough to get him hard again, and the thought of fucking John this time was getting him harder still.

“Uh—“ the response John had been considering giving was cut off with a gasp when Randy’s fist suddenly enveloped his semi-erect shaft, starting to give the barest of strokes. As he did this his mouth went to the sensitive under-spot of John’s ear and he began slowly lapping at the area. John gave a full body shiver, his head tipping.

Smirking to himself slightly at the prospect that he was well on the way to distracting John from the prospect of food. Besides, if John was really _that_ hungry then Randy had something he could satiate himself with for a while.

“So… about the round?” Randy smirked against John’s flesh as a garbled sound escaped his lover’s mouth. With a quick movement John suddenly found himself face-down on the bed, Randy’s body resting atop his own almost immediately.

With John underneath him, Randy rolled his hips, grinding himself against his lover. As Randy’s hips rolled and rocked above him, John was arching his own hips off the bed to get more contact. “I’m always up for another round,” he said, turning his face to the side so he wasn’t completely smothered in the pillow. 

Randy rocked his hips harder this time, rubbing his cock along the crack of John’s ass. He knew that, while their day would have been spent together, it wouldn’t have been spent completely like this if John didn’t have to spend the night in the room he was assigned. But John _did_ have to stay in his own room that night, so at the moment, his biggest concern was fucking John _hard_. “Good,” he growled. 

“Randy… I want to be able to feel you all night… tomorrow night… all fucking _week_ ,” John then told him, and Randy was more than happy to fulfil those wishes.

After about a forty-five minute nap after their second bout of love-making John awoke slowly. Randy’s long leg was draped over his own, his lover’s chest to his back. Turning his head as much as he was able John quirked a small but genuine smile of affection; Randy looked so angelic when he slept, nothing like the sensual demon who had had his head spinning just over an hour ago as he ploughed him through the mattress.

Knowing it would be a very bad thing indeed to leave Randy in bed alone without telling him he was going, even though it was just to grab a snack from the kitchen, John gently shook Randy until the other stirred, “Rand… babe? I’m just going down to the kitchens for a snack. I’ll bring you something back, alright?” Randy muttered a barely legible sentence that he was sure was, “Hurry back,” before his eyes closed again and he snuggled into the warmth that John had left behind. John fought a smile as he closed Randy’s door behind him; Randy was so adorable.

When John reached the kitchen, there were still people in there cleaning up and preparing everything for when they were to come in the following morning to start making breakfast. A majority of the kitchen staff knew John on a first name basis, and none of the older women could resist his charming smile and personality. “Good evening, Mary,” he greeted.

She looked from the spot she was cleaning up over to John, returning his smile. “Good evening, John. Can I help you with anything?”

“Well, I didn’t have a whole lot to eat at dinner tonight,” he began, shrugging his shoulders sheepishly. 

“And you’ve come looking for some leftovers once again?” she asked, shaking her head slightly. 

“You caught me,” he said, still smiling. “Just a little something for me… and Randy,” he then added. “We were studying, and—” he went on to explain, but was cut off by Mary holding up her hand, just telling him to follow her so he could get his food. 

“Just like your father,” Mary clucked and John almost tripped over his own feet in a rare showing of clumsiness with his body positioning, head cocking as his eyes widened, “My father?” he repeated. Though he had known his father had been a graduate of the academy he had never excelled in either academics or sport—but it could have been his somewhat lower lineage which meant he escaped notice.

“Oh yes—“ she clucked as though annoyed but John could see the slight smile on her face as she bustled around making him and Randy a small pack each to have, “—always coming in here and asking for cakes and sweets… he has an awful sweet-tooth, doesn’t he?”

John accepted the lunch packs, rather awed; it was hard to imagine his prim and proper, but loving father as a child, let alone a little cheeky one who was forever badgering the staff to indulge his secret love of sweets… a love that he saw his mother kept a close eye on when he was home. “Thanks Mary,” he indicated the packs and then grinned, “I’ll tell father you said hello next time I see him.”

Grinning, John headed off to Randy’s room with the food, highly tempted to start eating on the walk back. He did manage to resist for those few minutes though, and was soon opening the door to Randy’s room. “I got some food for us,” John said as he entered the door and found that his lover had fallen asleep. Setting the food down, John then quietly closed the door and took a seat at the desk chair, watching him. 

After a few minutes of simply watching Randy sleep, John finally, softly, called his name. “Randy?” When he didn’t respond, John did it again, a little louder this time “Randy?”

~~~

Cody _loved_ when Ted said his name like that. Since they were children Cody had paid great attention to each and every way Ted said his name, and he had noted over time that no matter what emotion was the driving-force behind him speaking his name it always sounded as though Ted was _caressing_ the syllables with his lips.

Moaning around Ted’s length in response to the way he heard the other’s breathing hitch and voice waver, Cody then pulled off from Ted completely (the blonde mortifying himself momentarily when he whimpered at the loss) and took a deep breath.

Before Ted could ask Cody what he was doing, whether something was wrong, the ravenette’s lips were wrapped around him once more and he was sliding down on him—and then continuing way past his usual means of pause. As Ted watched Cody’s steadily reddening lips stretching around his cock he almost lost control then and there, but when he felt himself touch the back of Cody’s throat he was actively fighting for control.

“Codes, oh my—” Ted panted, unable to look away. He was all the way inside Cody’s mouth. He couldn’t see himself at all… because his cock was inside Cody’s hot, wet mouth. Sweet Jesus. 

Pulling back, face red from the lack of air, Cody smiled up at Ted. No, he _smirked_ up at Ted. He knew what he was doing, that was for sure, and he knew just what kind of reaction Ted would have. “Feels good, doesn’t it, Teddy?” Cody asked before flicking his tongue over the tip. 

“Yeah,” Ted answered, nodding his head. 

“Ready for me to do it again?” Cody then went on to ask, not waiting for Ted to say anything before his lips were once again going wide and sliding down the entirety of Ted’s cock. 

“ _Fuck!_ ” It was a good job that Cody was using Ted’s thighs for balance because it restricted the powerful convulsion that he wanted to give at the tight sensation surrounding his solid dick once more.

 _Oh, if only_ , Cody thought as he heard Ted’s curse, moaning and swallowing around Ted and bringing the blonde faster to the brink then he would have ever thought was possible. No, he couldn’t cum yet, he had to hold on… His eyes closed, knowing that if he kept looking then he was done for. Cody looked like a debauched angel.

The ravenette could feel the tension welling inside of Ted though, feel it spreading through the other’s body from head to toe. He doubled the effort of his suction because he wanted Ted to cum, wanted to taste him at his most intimate moment.

As soon as Cody did that, Ted didn’t stand a chance. His head banged harder against the door this time, and his hands tightened even further in Cody’s hair, yanking on the chestnut strands as his hips bucked, coming in the back of Cody’s mouth. “Fuck! Oh, Cody!” he shouted as he came. 

Though he was concentrating on swallowing Ted’s cum, he most certainly heard his name falling from Ted’s lips in the heat of the moment. It was perfect. When he swallowed down the last drops, he stood, looking Ted over to find that his muscles were still twitching from the force of his orgasm. “I take it you liked that, then?” Cody asked with a smirk. 

Nodding, Ted gave a weak reply, “Yes.”

“Now imagine what it’d be like to have your cock in my arse,” he whispered into Ted’s ear. “I think you’d like _that_ a lot, too.”

Groaning, Ted’s legs gave way and he slumped to the floor, Cody pulling back enough to watch as his lover slid downwards with that same inherent grace he did everything with. Despite the fact that he was still achingly hard, desperate to have his own release, Cody couldn’t help giggle at Ted’s behaviour.

The laughter soon left his lips though as he really got a look at Ted’s flushed and relaxed expression, the blow-job he had just received obviously feeling oh so very good to him. That expression (would he make that face after they had had sex?) reminded Cody of the tightness within his trousers and he groaned, moving to sit on his bed as he immediately freed himself from his trousers with a sound of relief.

Disregarding the gasp that he heard coming from the direction of the door Cody started to stroke himself swiftly. He knew that it wouldn’t take him long to go over, not after how passionately he’d just made Ted cum.

“Cody…” Ted breathed out at the sight. “What are you doing?” he asked, eyes wide as he watched Cody stroke his own cock. 

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m so fuckin’ hard… all because of you,” Cody added, biting his lower lip as he stroked himself ever faster. “Oh, god, I’m _so close_.”

“Stop,” Ted then said. When Cody merely looked at him and continued to stroke himself, he said, much firmer this time, “Stop.” He took a few steps until he was right there by Cody’s bed, looking down at a confused Cody. However, when he sank to his knees before the younger man, the look of confusion dissipated and a look of excitement took its place. 

~~~

Trying to pretend he didn’t notice the way his hand shook with excitement Justin reached into Wade’s bedside table and pulled out the small jar of lubricating substance that he kept there especially for their times together in his quarters. They rarely used it outside of the bedroom actually, but it was still just as good regardless.

Drawing Wade in for another kiss Justin shimmied down the others body a little more to settle between Wade’s thighs when the other parted them for him. No one would believe that they would be together like this, and he didn’t just mean because it was supposedly immoral and illegal for two men to be together like this. No one would believe that Wade would allow him to take him, or that their height and build difference allowed it.

As the first of Justin’s slick fingers entered him Wade moaned into their kiss lowly; he never could adjust to that initial sensation of penetration even though it hurt nowhere near as much as the first time he’d submitted to Justin, though Justin had been so good at following instructions.

“Tell me if I’m hurting you,” Justin whispered. He would never forget the first time that he’d taken Wade. It hadn’t taken him long to discover that no one had ever touched Wade there, and that he would be the first to breach the virgin entrance. Knowing from his own experience just how much it would hurt, he did everything that he could to try and lessen the pain. 

“You’re fine,” Wade whispered back as Justin removed his one finger to begin pushing two in, ever so slowly. He would never admit out loud that it still hurt at first when Justin entered him, his pride would never allow for that. Besides, he’d learned soon enough the pleasure that would eventually follow. However, even though he knew that he wasn’t fully prepared, he said, “I want you now.”

“Wade, you’re not ready,” Justin replied, his fingers stopping their movement at Wade’s words. 

“Please, Angel?” Wade asked, looking to his young lover with pleading, lust filled eyes.

How was Justin supposed to maintain his composure in the face of such an expression? Sending up a small prayer that he didn’t embarrass himself in his excitement, Justin then eased his fingers out of Wade and returned them into the lubricating substance. Covering his solid flesh with the chill liquid he shivered and gave a small moan before biting his lip as he positioned himself more comfortably between Wade’s legs.

Taking a breath and reminding himself firmly to keep the initial actions slow, Justin then started to push himself into Wade’s welcoming body inch by deliciously tight inch. A whimper threatened to escape him mere moments of feeling the head of his shaft entering Wade but he managed to lock the noise back. Wade’s dark head dropped back against his pillows as his back arched somewhat with the sensation of Justin moving deeper into him.

As soon as the other was completely inside of him Wade moaned his appreciation, his large hands enveloping Justin’s buttocks to keep the younger inside of him. “Oh, _fuck,_ Justin, you feel so goddamn good inside of me.”

“You… oh, you’re so _tight_ ,” Justin moaned. “I’d forgotten just _how good_ it feels to be inside you.” 

“Kiss me,” Wade whispered, and Justin was more than happy to. He leaned forward, and Wade rolled his hips up off the mattress as Justin did so. Justin still hadn’t moved from his place seated deep in Wade’s body, and he continued to remain still as they kissed. 

It wasn’t until their kiss broke, both men’s lips red as they caught their breath that Wade encouraged him on, “Come on, Angel, move inside of me. _Fuck me_ ,” he added in a breathy moan.

Those words, the way that Wade said those words, Justin had to fight with his own body to not come then and there on the spot. 

Shifting his stance just so, so that he could gain better leverage, Justin started to ease himself out of Wade’s body and then pushed back in again. As always when they first started he was always somewhat over-cautious and methodical until he got into the moment.

It was never a case of Wade missing any pleasure with Justin inside of him, but when the other stopped _thinking_ so hard about pleasing him and just moved with his instincts it felt _so fucking amazing_. “Justin—“ the low moan rumbled from his chest as his hips rose up.

Justin suddenly grabbed Wade’s thighs and placed them over his shoulders, Wade’s head lolling back as he choked on a sound of bliss as Justin seemed to press deeper inside him than ever before. “Oh Justin, my sweet, sweet, Angel…”

“Keep talking to me, Wade,” Justin said as he drew his hips back and then thrust them forward, once again going deep into Wade’s body. He loved hearing Wade’s voice, especially when it was filled with love and lust and want and need. 

“Oh, Justin. Oh, I can feel you inside me. Keep going,” he moaned, his deep, commanding voice washing over Justin with every syllable. 

Gripping tight to Wade’s thighs, Justin drew his lower lip between his teeth in concentration. 

Wade could tell that Justin was still thinking about things instead of just _feeling_ things, and despite how cute Justin looked in that moment, as though he were trying to compute some math problem in his head, he had to say, “Just let yourself go, Angel. Let loose and _fuck me_.”

~~~

This time, Randy groaned as he slowly woke back up to the sound of John’s voice. “You’re back?” he croaked as he attempted to raise his head off his pillow. 

“Yes, and I have a plate of food in front of me that I haven’t touched yet, so get your ass up, because I’m starving,” John said, smiling as he continued to watch his lover.

“Mhm…” Randy mumbled protests to himself but then began to sit up; he was pretty hungry according to the rumbling his stomach was giving, and so he figured that he shouldn’t waste his lover’s generosity. Not bothering to cover himself past pulling a dressing-gown on Randy then moved and seated himself unceremoniously onto John’s lap, head resting on a broad-shoulder; waking abruptly was not something that Randy was famous for by a long shot.

“Want me to feed you as well?” John joked affectionately as he dropped a kiss to Randy’s forehead and draped an arm around him. “No, I’m fine,” Randy said though he was chuckling softly. When he had broken his collarbone and was having to adjust to eating one handed and without his dominant hand, John had stepped up admirably to help him—though he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t felt inadequate and almost like a baby in those circumstances. Soon Randy had managed to rouse himself properly and the pair shared the generous plateful that John had gotten them. 

“That was delicious, John-John,” Randy said after they cleared the plate of all its contents. He nuzzled his head against John’s, pressing his lips into John’s hair. 

“My stomach and I both agree,” John said with a chuckle. They remained sitting together for some time, but it didn’t feel like very long at all before John mumbled, “It’s getting late.”

“It is,” Randy agreed, though he didn’t move from John’s lap. God, he didn’t want John to go. No, he wouldn’t be all that far away, not like he was in the summers, but he’d grown so used to having John in his room while at school, he didn’t know how the night would go. 

“I should be going back to my room. Phil’s not gonna know what to do now that he doesn’t have the room all to himself,” John said, though he was making no move to get Randy off his lap. Dammit, he didn’t want to leave either. Goddamn prefect.

Eventually though John knew that he had to get going or run the risk of that prefect really sticking his nose in and so he gently patted Randy’s partially dressing-gown covered thigh with a large hand, “Up baby, I gotta go.” There was clear regret in his eyes and voice but that didn’t mean Randy was forgiving him anytime soon considering that the other was even making him move at all.

John looked to the plate on the side but Randy waved a hand, “I’ll have it sent back to the kitchens,” and the other nodded. Moving to the door John turned to Randy once more, “So, I’ll still meet you for breakfast tomorrow morning Ok?” Randy came to a halt in front of his lover and nodded his head.

Before John could turn away from him after offering goodnight and pecking him on the lips, Randy drew the other into a deeper kiss before releasing him enough to let him open the door. “Make sure you dream about me tonight, won’t you John-John?” he grinned fondly.

“Always,” John said, returning the grin before he finally headed back to his room. His room that he hadn’t actually slept in since the first few days of the school year. As soon as John was out of his sight, Randy headed to his closet and pulled out the bear that John had given him and placed him on his bed, leaning against his pillows. 

John headed down the hall to his room, already feeling strange about being in school and _not_ sleeping in Randy’s bed. It was one thing when he was home, he could get into the mindset of sleeping alone better than when he was at the Academy. Randy was just right down the hall as opposed to being in a completely different county when they were home over holidays. 

“Ah, John, welcome back,” Phil said, looking up from the novel in his hands when his roommate entered. 

“Thank you. Can’t say it’s great to be back, though,” John admitted. 

“Well, I couldn’t say that, either. Not that I don’t like you, or anything, but it’s really quite nice having all this space to yourself,” Phil told him. 

“I can imagine… All I can say, though, is that this prefect better show up, because if he doesn’t, I will be damn well pissed off,” John muttered as he began rummaging through his drawers for some sleepwear, hoping he didn’t leave everything in Randy’s room.

Managing to locate a shirt that was probably an inch or two too small by this point, John started to shrug out of his clothes without care and pulled the shirt on. Phil barely looked up from his book as this happened, not paying attention to it any more than John to him when he undressed before him… though Phil always joked that John had to secretly want him.

The long-standing joke of course Phil used to playfully wind Randy up when he was with the two lovers, the Head Boy always threatening him playfully (at least, Phil assumed he was only joking) to castrate him if he found out anything untoward had been happening in their room between them. Phil tried not to think about what John and Randy got up to together. He fully supported their relationship but he didn’t want to think about it.

When John settled into bed the two friends chatted and caught up properly (Phil’s engagement to his long-time sweetheart was a great surprise to John though Phil admitted they were keeping the news on a down-mark until they had both left school. Beth attended the girls’ school next door) until a knock sounded at their door. John got up.

The Prefect was essentially unrecognisable to John, probably in the year below, and he seemed as shocked as though he had seen a ghost to see John in the doorway. Phil had collapsed into silent laughter at the reaction out of the Prefect’s line of sight. “Something wrong?” John asked genially.

“Not at all,” the Prefect replied after a short moment of stunned silence. “I just… I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

Raising a brow, John asked, “And just why wouldn’t I be here? It is my room, after all,” he added, much to Phil’s amusement. 

“Well… it’s just that… you haven’t been here the past few days,” he said with great amount of false bravado. 

“Just because I was on the john one day you decided to pop by for a visit doesn’t mean that I didn’t sleep here,” John reasoned. “As for last night? I felt bad enough being in the same room with Phil considering how sick I was… thank god that’s passed. Now, is there anything I can help you with further?” That time he actually heard Phil snicker.

“No…” the Prefect seemed very put-out by the fact that John was there and the brunette was really beginning to wonder just what was wrong with this kid and why he seemed to be making it his mission in life to try and catch John out. “Um, good evening then gentlemen.”

“Good evening,” John said with a deliberately sweet smile before then closing the door in the kid’s face with an undeniable amount of dismissal. As soon as the door was closed Phil burst into his usual hard laughter.

Phil made a point of being composed and always showing off his intelligence and pious lifestyle, but when you got to know him he loosened up somewhat—such as the laughter proved. “What a cock-end,” John rolled his eyes and moved to his bed, subtly easing his age-worn teddy from under the pillows.

“What’s that guy got against you, anyway?” Phil asked, pretending that he didn’t see John’s stuffed bunny. 

“I don’t know. He’s probably trying to get Randy and me in trouble with the Headmaster for fucking one another, or some bullshit like that. Of course he doesn’t know that Wade already knows about us, but that’s not the point. I really don’t know, but I’ll have to tell Randy what that kid looked like,” John said, not realizing that he’d lost Phil back at the part where he said Wade already knew about them.

“Wait, did you say Barrett knows you and Randy are…?”

“Yeah, it’s an interesting story, but I won’t get into it. Let’s just say that he happened to do the one thing that you say you never want to do.”

“Walk in on you?” Phil asked, and John nodded. “Well, that’s… embarrassing.”

~~~

Now, Ted wasn’t exactly over-confident with this yet but he knew he wanted to do it. He’d be a selfish lover if he didn’t offer Cody some method of relief in light of the other making him feel so good. Bracing his hand on Cody’s thigh the other wrapped around Cody where his lover’s hand had just vacated, mentally psyching himself.

Cheeks reddening and not daring to look at Cody’s face Ted sank his mouth down on the other. Mercifully his hand on Cody’s thigh kept the other down because when Ted had barely enclosed his lips around the head the other was convulsing so hard Ted was afraid Cody’d do himself an injury. Breathing through his nose as best he could Ted made a descent down Cody’s dick as far as he could go without gagging.

“Oh, Teddy,” Cody panted as he was surrounded by that wet heat for the second time ever. It was incredible. He hadn’t been expecting Ted to do anything like this to him, not at all. But he did know that he was close to coming before, and now? Now he was even closer. “I won’t last long, Teddy,” he warned. 

Locking eyes with Cody, Ted gave a slight nod in acknowledgement. With that, he drew his head back, delicately swirling his tongue around the head of Cody’s cock. He liked it when Cody did that to him, so maybe Cody would enjoy it being done to him. By the sounds that the younger teen was making, it certainly seemed as though he was enjoying it.

“Keep going, Teddy,” Cody moaned. “Oh, god, make me come.”

Cody’s hands were restlessly kneading at the covers upon which he was perched as Ted’s sweet and wonderful mouth worked him over and over again just so amazingly despite the fact he had very little practice in such matters. As Cody began to throb against his tongue Ted placed his mouth around the other properly, keeping still.

Managing to babble a warning Cody was helpless but to explode when Ted didn’t move his mouth away. The blonde tried his best to swallow without coughing and gagging and he managed amicably… but he did need to end up using the monogrammed handkerchief that he carried everywhere to clean that which had escaped his mouth and decorated his lips and chin. The ravenette fell back onto his bed, grinning and basking in his orgasm’s aftermath.

“Damn, Teddy,” Cody muttered, a satisfied grin plastered on his face. “That was incredible.”

“You think so?” Ted asked from his still kneeling position on the floor. He was still so unsure of his abilities, and even though Cody had quite a positive reaction, he couldn’t help but to question it. 

“It was like you were born to suck my cock,” Cody answered. “I’ve never had anyone feel as good around me as you have,” he then added, arms crossing under his head, not even caring that his cock was still hanging out of his trousers. 

“Do you have to bring up other guys when we’re doing this?” a now annoyed Ted asked. He knew Cody had been with others, and it never really bothered him (unless the guys were complete dicks and that was when his protective side kicked in), but now that he was with Cody and they’d decided that Cody wouldn’t go see other guys, just hearing about them wound him up. 

The casual manner with which Cody cocked his head somewhat from how he lay began to raise Ted’s ire further; the other was just so damn blasé sometimes that it made Ted want to grind his teeth in frustration. “What’s the problem Teddy? I’m paying you a compliment.” He didn’t see why Ted was so irritated all of a sudden.

The fact that Ted’s possessiveness and insecurities were roused at the mention of such boys wasn’t helped by the situation that they had witnessed earlier between their friends. Joe claimed to love Windham and yet he had strayed… what if Cody did the same?

“I just don’t appreciate you talking so carelessly when we’re intimate together,” Ted muttered, getting off of the floor and dusting his knees off, the previous euphoria he had been feeling dispelled in mere moments thanks to Cody’s words. “Sort yourself out, Cody,” he muttered, moving to his own bed and beginning to get his nightshirt ready. From his position still sprawled on the bed Cody watched the other confusedly. 

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Cody asked. Ted could be so weird at times. 

“What is it that you want, Cody? Do you want to be with me, or do you want to be with other boys? Because it can’t be both. And I _do not_ appreciate you bringing up all these other people that you’ve done… _things_ with,” Ted told him, though he didn’t once look at him.

“I _want_ to be with you! Otherwise I wouldn’t be here _with you_. All I was saying as that no one could ever compare to you and how you make me feel,” Cody explained. 

“There’s a difference…” Ted then said, finally looking to Cody. “What you said before and what you just said… there’s a difference between telling me that no one else has ever made you feel so good and saying that no one could ever make you feel so good. The latter implies that… that I’m the only one for you.” 

To say he was beginning to get annoyed would be an understatement; Cody had always known that Ted had insecurities, they all did, but this was getting beyond ridiculous. “Are you implying that I won’t be faithful to you?” he asked, frowning. Ted realised that his words had been somewhat misconstrued and made to amend them but Cody cut him off before he could really get started. “No, now it’s time _you_ listened.”

Moving so that he was essentially toe-to-toe with Ted, Cody looked him square in the eye as he enunciated two important facts, “You are my first real boyfriend. I am not a cheat and I never intend to be a cheat.”

The blonde had the grace to look minutely chastised but he wasn’t wholly cowed. “If I wanted more than you then I wouldn’t have offered you a relationship. I would have offered you fucking and sucking and that’s it.” Cody wasn’t going to make any bones about it, regardless of the strangled sound Ted made. “Doesn’t the act I’ve saved myself for you mean anything?”

“Of course it means something. I mean, considering it’s the _only_ thing that you saved for me,” Ted spat back.

“ _Excuse me_?!” Cody had never felt so hurt in his life. He knew Ted was protective of him, and that anyone he overheard saying nasty things about Cody would generally have bad things happen to them, but he never once heard Ted stoop so low about him personally. 

“You heard right. I’ve been here _the whole time_ , Cody. I’d never touched anyone else, never touched _myself_ , and then I allowed you to touch me, and after we have such a… such a wonderful, intimate experience you go and start talking about the other boys that you’ve been with.” He hated feeling so frustrated about the whole thing, but he couldn’t help himself. 

Silence seemed to stretch between them, suffocating in its impenetrable thickness. For a moment both were so still that they could be considered statues.

In the end Cody was the one to break the stalemate, grabbing his sleep-clothes he stalked past Ted, slamming the door shut behind him with unnecessary force. The crash echoed in Ted’s ears and he winced… though part of that wince could have been attributed to the tight, aching sensation in his stomach.

Truthfully he didn’t mean to lash out at Cody as he had been, it was just that… he was so _fucking_ jealous with the fact that he had been overlooked by the other, even once on something considered ‘smaller’ in those standards, since he had essentially devoted himself to Cody the first time they had met as small children. The fact that he personally hadn’t acknowledged or accepted his feelings until recently didn’t matter. 

Ted sat there, alone in the room, wondering if Cody was going to come back. He hoped so, hoped that Cody could maybe see where he was coming from. But after a few minutes sitting upon the bed, he had a feeling that Cody wasn’t going to be returning on his own. Heading out, Ted decided to do his teeth first, going to the bathroom before facing Cody. After returning his things to his room, he finally headed down into the common room where he found Cody sitting on the couch. 

“What the hell do you want?” Cody spat. 

“To tell you that you should come back to the room,” Ted replied, trying to keep his voice low so as not to draw attention from the few other people that were there. 

“No,” was all Cody said in response. 

For a moment Ted swore the world seemed to stop around him. Usually when he requested or suggested something to Cody the other might protest a little bit but traditionally he would act upon Ted’s suggestions unless he really, really, didn’t want to follow what was said… and damn, didn’t that make him sound like some kind of control freak? He wasn’t controlling, at least, he hoped not; he just wanted to keep Cody safe and prevent him from any harm.

“Cody, please—“ he started, still conscious of drawing attention in the now full common-room and Cody’s brows rose, “I said no _Theodore_ \--“usually when Cody said his name it sent warmth circulating throughout every fibre of his being, but this time it chilled him to his very bone marrow, “—and I would appreciate if you would actually heed my response.” 

“What are you going to do, then? Sleep out here on the couch? Cody, you’re being ridiculous,” Ted muttered with a roll of his eyes. 

“Fuck off, Ted,” Cody spat. “I’m done listening to it, ok? Just piss off.”

“No, I’m not—” Ted began to protest, thinking that Cody had completely taken what he said earlier and spun his words around into something they weren’t, but he was cut off by Cody. 

“Yes, you are,” he said firmly, holding his ground. 

Ted had a reply but bit it back as his eyes met Cody’s. “Fine… but I meant what I said earlier. I really have been here the whole time.”

The ravenette didn’t look at the blonde and Ted eventually turned and walked back out of the common-room. Honestly, if you asked which one of them was the most stubborn you’d be hard-pressed to pick one over the other.

Slowly but surely as time went on the common-room grew emptier and emptier until Cody was the only one sitting there, the fire dying in the hearth to his side and casting him in a weak light. Eventually he had to concede and go to bed.

Silently he crept into the room, easing the door open and entering. He then began to undress unaware of the fact that Ted was actually still awake and listening to his every movement, just able to make him out in the darkness.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars - Oscar Wilde

“Yes,” John chuckled, “For Randy and I anyway. Wade was pretty damned amicable about the situation… just told us to be quieter in future.” Phil groaned and made a show of covering his hands with his ears, “John, we’ve talked about your tendency of sharing things with me, haven’t we? And what did we say?”

Laughing lightly, John threw a pillow at Phil which caught the side of his head, the item being caught effortlessly by John when Phil threw it back. “Oh, don’t lie to me Philip; you know mine and Randy’s love-life is the only action you get, vicarious living and all that.”

Snickering lightly Phil gave a playfully haughty look as they both got under their covers and Phil turned off the lamp for the night, shrouding the room in rather impenetrable darkness. “I’ll have you know I’m doing just fine, thank you, John.” And he was, even though he and Beth had yet to actually do _that_ in its entirety.

“Whatever you say, Phil,” John muttered with a grin, and even though the room was dark, Phil could tell John still had that grin of his plastered on his face.

“Hey, you try going to a different school than the one Randy’s at and you tell me how easy it is for you to get together,” Phil retorted. 

“If he and I went to separate schools, then yes, our sex lives would probably be the same as yours. Non existent.” Though he was sure he and Randy would find ways to be together, just as he was sure Phil and Beth did. At least Phil and Beth were within walking distance of one another, had he and Randy been sent to different schools, who knew just how far apart they could be.

“Once we’re married, John, I assure you, our sex lives will be far from non existent.”

“You know you say I tell you too much? You’re telling me too much now,” John teased and Phil shrugged lightly in the darkness, chuckling to himself without much shame.

“I’d like to be able to look Beth in the eye and not picture her without her clothes on thanks to your comments,” John further prodded, trying to embarrass Phil.

That was easier said than done though and Phil merely snickered, “Whatever John. It’s not like you don’t know what a young lady looks like, is it?” the words were light but John knew in the undercurrent of those words that if Phil got so much as a _hint_ of someone sniffing around Beth he would be hunting them down without hesitation.

“True, but it’s been a while. Besides Randy’s body’s more gorgeous than any woman’s I’ve seen.” 

“Look, I’ve seen you _and_ Randy naked before, thankfully not while you were together, but you two’ve got nothing that I’m interested in,” Phil said. “There’s nothing like the soft curve of a woman’s body, a nice set of breasts—”

“Well, I’m certainly inclined to disagree with that,” John cut in. 

“And I’m going to disagree with you. She’s got the most wondrous body I’ve ever seen, one I could look at all day and never tire of… when I’ve seen any man naked in the showers before I’ve done nothing but beg them all to put clothing on again.”

“And the last time I was with a girl, all I could think was why am I not with Randy?” John told him. It was years ago, after he and Randy started sleeping together, and he was admittedly curious what it was like being with a female. They’d kissed, they undressed one another, she said that he could fuck her, but when he fingered her he just _knew_ he wouldn’t enjoy it. And he was right. That had been the worst fuck of his life. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if I end up marrying Liz.”

Even though he ripped the piss out of the pair as often as he could get away with, Phil was honestly John’s best friend (though he knew Randy would insist he was if you asked) and he did feel sorry for the challenges the pair faced that he’d never have to even consider.  
“You’re going to just have to find a way to overcome it,” he said, somewhat apologetic.

He knew that the words probably didn’t help much but that was all he could say; if John really couldn’t get himself aroused by a woman he was going to have to train himself to do so if he was married; Liz would find it odd if John didn’t make an attempt post-wedding day.

“Fuck,” John sighed miserably. It wasn’t as though even imagining Randy would help, because as Phil had said women were so much softer and had more curves, Randy was almost solid muscle. It didn’t bear thinking about, it really didn’t. John drew his teddy closer to him, holding the soft fabric to his nose in the darkness and inhaling the faint lingering musk of Randy’s cologne.   
“It’ll work out,” Phil said as supportively as he could, hearing the sound John made to acknowledge that he had heard him. After that silenced descended between the pair. 

~~~

“I—I can’t—“ Justin was always too scared of accidentally hurting Wade. He had vowed he would never do that and he was going to stick by that vow until the day he drew his last breath. Seeing how close Justin was to doing as he’d asked, Wade acted.

Taking Justin’s taut buttocks in hand he sat himself up slightly and then used a decent amount of pressure as Justin thrust to ensure the other drove into him more firmly. A loud moan of pleasure sounded in response to the action—from _both_ men.

“Do it Angel, give it to me the way you want to—“ sending a silent prayer to the heavens, Justin then braced his stance and started to pump his hips much harder, pushing deeper and deeper with each thrust. “Fuck!” Wade cursed passionately, his cheeks flushed and his eyes glimmering, “That’s it Angel, take me, I want you to mark me.”

Justin paused in his actions as he took in Wade’s words. “M-Mark you?” he asked unsurely. 

“ _Yes_!” Wade cried. “Please, Angel, give me a reminder as to who I belong to.” He had left marks on Justin’s body before, small ones, but whenever he saw those fading marks upon Justin’s perfect skin, he knew that he was the one that left them there. He was the one that Justin allowed there. Justin was his, as he was Justin’s. “Don’t be afraid.”

Wade’s hand reached up and took hold behind Justin’s head, drawing him down for a fierce, teeth clashing kiss. Justin’s hips began moving once again, allowing the passion to run its course through his body. Pulling back from the kiss, Justin dropped his head to Wade’s neck, licking and nipping at the tender flesh. “Oh, oh God, Justin, _don’t stop_.”

Hearing the impassioned cry Justin dared allowed himself to be a little bolder, biting down with more force.

A low cry of pleasure left Wade, his head rolling back as his hips started to work harder, legs tightening around Justin as he allowed the younger man to use his body for his pleasure. Surprised by the response but wanting to give Wade even greater pleasure he then dropped his head down to one of Wade’s shoulders and began repeating the action there instead, leaving a small mark behind each time.

When a hand slapped the one Wade had wrapped around himself the Brit jerked in surprise, eyes wide. Justin looked embarrassed by his actions, but determined; cheeks flushed and hair a mess, lips swollen and body glimmering with perspiration, “Tha-That’s my job,” he said, taking one of his own hands from Wade’s body and beginning to jerk his elder lover’s erection with swift movements, eliciting in another cry of bliss.

“ _Justin_! Yes, touch me, _fuck me_!” Wade cried. Both of them were allowing themselves to lose themselves in their bodies’ pleasure, and it was a wonderful thing to see. It wasn’t often that Justin allowed his body and his instincts take over, as he liked being in control. Not that Wade didn’t like having control, but as he was so often in the seat of power, he enjoyed the times that he could let loose whenever he was with Justin. 

Justin’s hand moved up and down, falling into time with his thrusts. He could feel each twitch of pleasure he wrought from his lover within the palm of his hand. The looks of sheer bliss were written all over Wade’s face, and it amazed Justin to no end that he was the one that was providing him with such pleasure. “Wade, you feel _incredible_ ,” Justin whispered. 

Wade’s body started to tighten in that familiar warning of euphoria and he pulled Justin into a final, sloppy kiss as his hips began to buck uncontrollably in an erratic fashion. The sensation of his lover’s muscles locking around him was enough to send Justin hurtling head-first into bliss and he called out, “Wade! Oh, God--!” before he lost himself to his desires and kept thrusting, spilling everything he had deep into Wade’s welcoming channel that was fluttering and pulsing around him.

The sensation of Justin’s cum inside of him had Wade groaning wantonly as his head rolled; his usually perfectly coifed hair was a mess and his cheeks were ruddy with exertion, body undulating and writhing. Justin’s hand was soon covered in pearlescent liquid as Wade’s own release was expelled from his body so hard that he saw stars and both men finally collapsed into a tangle of sweaty, sated, panting, limbs.

After cleaning up the mess Wade had made all over himself and Justin, the pair fell into a peaceful sleep, awakening hours later in one another’s arms. “I’ve missed this, Wade,” Justin whispered, knowing that his lover was also awake. 

“As have I,” he agreed. For him there was nothing quite like falling asleep with Justin in his bed, then waking up next to the young man in the morning. It was something they had never done while at school before, but now that they had, neither wanted to wake up alone again. But both knew that it couldn’t be a frequent occurrence. It was far too risky for the pair of them. 

“When will we be able to do this again?” Justin asked, his hand running over Wade’s side.

“That I don’t know, Angel. But let’s not talk about that right now, all right?”

~~~

“Cody,” Ted whispered, startling Cody as he was about to step into his pajama pants, causing him to stumble slightly. 

“Shit! What part of _fuck off_ did you not understand, Ted?” Cody asked harshly after regaining his balance. 

Sitting up and turning on a small lamp, Ted cast a small glow throughout the room. “Look, what I said earlier… that’s not how I meant it…”

“Like hell it is. You know I’d never slept in anyone else’s bed before, never been in anyone’s arms like I was in yours,” Cody told him, his eyes growing somewhat sad as he spoke. “And you tell me that you’ve been here the whole time, well, you know what? So was I.”

“I know, I know,” Ted said contritely, still quiet. He was aware his meaning had been misconstrued and he wanted to make it right.

Cody didn’t respond as he finished getting in his pyjamas, roughly jerking the covers of his bed back and preparing to get underneath them.

“Cody…” Ted’s soft voice sounded again, “Come to bed.” Cody turned his head just a fraction enough to look at the other, “I am _going_ to bed,” he said slowly.

Ted could feel a flush on his cheeks but he didn’t allow himself to be tormented by Cody like he often permitted. “Come to bed, Cody,” he repeated levelly and pulled his own covers back. For several moments Ted was on tenterhooks, breath catching somewhat as he perceived the chance that Cody might actually reject him.

Looking down to his own bed before glancing over to Ted, who was inviting him to join him, Cody wanted to give a big fuck you to Ted, but he simply couldn’t. Not when that bed, those arms and that comforting body all appeared so welcoming. Pulling the comforter up to cover his own bed, Cody walked around the foot of his bed to go join Ted by his. “Happy?”

“Yes,” Ted answered as Cody crawled into the bed with him. “Thank you. I… I didn’t think you’d come over, actually.”

“Well, I almost didn’t…” Cody huffed, rolling onto his side, his back to Ted. 

“I’m happy you did,” Ted told him, rolling so that he could wrap his arm around Cody and pull his body close.

Even though Cody had intended to remain stiff (not in the good way) and unresponsive in Ted’s arms, the way the other pressed their bodies together and surrounded Cody with his warmth and scent made it hard to do. Slowly but surely he began to snuggle back into Ted’s body as he mentally cursed himself for his weakness but then the internal tirade lost vehemence as consciousness started to slip away from him.

Pressing a kiss to the delicate under-spot of Cody’s ear that was within reach he whispered into it, “I love you, Cody. I love you.”

Those words shouldn’t mean anything, not after earlier, but damn it, he _felt_ them.

“If I didn’t love you I wouldn’t be around for you to make the same mistake again,” Cody muttered, probably without clarity, as he dozed off. 

~~~

As John slowly awoke, he found that he was still clinging to his worn and ragged Flopsy. “Morning Sleeping Beauty,” came Phil’s voice through his sleep filled haze. “Sleep well?”

“Not really,” John answered, slowly sitting up before tucking his rabbit back underneath his pillow. “Fuck, I’ve got to go meet Randy for breakfast.”

“I’ll go with you,” Phil said. It had been a while since he’d been able to talk to John, or Randy for that matter (though they would never claim to be good friends, or anything), and it would be a nice way to catch up with them. 

“Ok,” John agreed with that. Last night, they had talked a lot, but he was sure there was still more that they needed to catch up on. The fact that he didn’t know Phil was engaged until last night said something to that. 

It was amusing and oddly sweet in its way as John hastened to the bathrooms to wash and do his teeth before hastening back to their bedroom to get changed into a pair of casual, though still dressy, pants and a shirt.

Phil was equally dressed, though he was also clad in a jacket and looked infinitely more put together than John strived to be when they had to be out and around school.

As the pair made their way down to breakfast John seemed to light up as he spotted Randy, the Head Boy lounging nonchalantly against the banister, clad in a dark shirt and pants and with the sleeves rolled up, he and John daringly having their top buttons undone.

“Morning John,” Randy said, eyes glimmering lightly as he looked at his lover before his expression turned a little more neutral as he looked to Phil and nodded, “Morning Phillip,” he smirked, but then pouted a little as Phil returned, “Morning Randal.”

“Must you call me Randal?” Randy asked, raising a brow at Phil.

“Must you call me Phillip?” Phil returned, echoing Randy. 

“I’m far more used to referring to you as Brooks.” 

“It’s sad, really, that we shared a room for as long as we did and we’re still only on a surname basis. Anyway, I hope you don’t mind me tagging along with John this morning. I figured that you two can’t start fucking in the middle of the dining hall, so my eyes should be safe.”

Randy snorted at the comment, but replied, “Don’t put anything past us.”

“Here, there’s a thought,” John joked and Phil placed a hand over his mouth.

“No, no it’s not,” Phil returned with a playful warning look at John.

Anyone else and Randy would probably have broken their fingers for touching.

There was hardly anyone in the dining-hall but that wasn’t surprising, and as they made their way to the service-hatches to collect their meals John then recounted the tail of the prefect that had been needlessly stalking him. “—the kid looked as though he was about to piss himself!” John ended with a laugh.  
He then nudged Randy’s shoulder, “He’s that one sitting over in the corner, look.” 

He looked over to where John told him and saw the prefect in question. “That’d be Bryan Danielson,” Randy said, informing John and Phil of his name. He was one year younger than them, and he’d never had an issue with him before, and he couldn’t think of a reason _why_ he’d be all over John like that. 

“So, what’s his grudge against me, then?” John asked as they took their tray of food and brought it to their table. 

“Not a clue. But I can go find out,” Randy answered with a smirk. After setting his breakfast down, he said, “Hold my seat for me,” and headed off, just as curious to find out the reason Danielson was all over John as John himself was. “Morning Danielson,” he greeted, sounding very falsely cheerful.

Bryan looked up from the book that he had had in hand, the dry toast he had been absently nibbling at being placed down as he saw the Head Boy standing before him. “Orton,” he greeted with an incline of his head, offering a small, half-smile to the Head Boy. “Is there something I can do for you?” he asked, manners impeccable it seemed.

Randy wanted to say yes, he could, if he left his boyfriend alone, but instead he merely pulled a chair out besides Bryan and sat down.

“I’ve been receiving reports,” he lied swiftly, mind whirring as he thought of plausible ways to draw Bryan out, “-that you’ve been misusing your power as a Prefect to harass John Cena.” Bryan’s eyes immediately flew over his shoulder, undoubtedly looking to John and Randy knew that Bryan had to have been looking for where his lover was sat beforehand to locate him that fast.

Not looking back at Randy, Bryan asked, “Why would I do such a thing?”

Turning his head to follow Bryan’s line of sight, and just as he suspected, he was looking directly at John. “Funny. I was wondering the exact same thing.” He turned his head back to look at Bryan once more. “From what I hear you were practically camped out at his door.”

“Well… why should he be allowed to be above the same rules that apply to everyone else? All I wanted to do was see to it that he was following the simple rules we have set in place,” he reasoned. 

“Oh, ok, that’s all you wanted… well, he was in his room last night, was he not? And how come you’re _still_ not looking at me?” Randy questioned, tone growing harsher with each word.

The sudden tone made Bryan startle just a little as he turned and met his eyes.

“I didn’t mean to offend you, Orton,” Bryan smiled sweetly at him but Randy wasn’t biting. There was something off about this entire situation and one way or another he was going to get Bryan to fess up… though he wasn’t above using his own power to his advantage if he needed to do so in the face of non-compliance.

“Yes, he was in his room last night,” Bryan finally said, “But it’s the first in several visits that I have actually seen him.” Something about his insistence sent Randy’s internal alarms flickering pointedly and his eyes narrowed.

“If you continue to harass the Sports’ Captain then you will find yourself being stripped of your position. He hasn’t reported you to the headmaster yet but I wouldn’t be spending my last penny on badge polish if you carry on, Danielson.”

“Are you threatening me, Orton?” Bryan asked after practically picking his jaw up off the floor at Randy’s words. 

“No. I’m simply telling you how things will be if you continue this little game you’ve decided to start playing.” Randy was dead serious, too. Danielson had no reason to go after John such as he was. There was certainly more to the story that Danielson wasn’t letting on. 

“I’m just doing my job.”

“Your job is to make sure that people aren’t aimlessly wandering the hallways after curfew or smoking, not keeping an eagle eye on one single person,” Randy said. “And, really, why John of all people?”

~~~

Sighing, Justin nodded his head, settling it back onto the pillow besides Wade’s as his fingers continued to stoke over the other’s side slowly, up and down. “Thank you for last night,” Justin said suddenly and Wade chuckled softly, kissing his lover’s nose.

“You never need to say thank you, Justin,” he always knew just from the other’s expression that he was grateful, never doubted it even for a moment.   
Running a hand over Justin’s back in return Wade said, “I get breakfast brought to my room, stay here and share it with me.” Even though it sounded like a demand Justin once again sensed an undercurrent of query and unease in the sentiment and smiled.

“OK Wade,” he nodded, thinking he’d do pretty much anything so long as they could keep their time together going.

Wade couldn’t stop the smile that crossed his lips, “Excellent. Now, about my morning kiss?” 

“I thought you’d never ask,” Justin said, returning Wade’s smile. Leaning in, he pressed his lips to Wade’s, his tongue slipping past those parted lips. Pulling back, still smiling, Justin then asked, “When does your breakfast get delivered to you?”

Glancing to the side, Wade looked at his clock to check the time. “Should be quite soon. Would you like to go freshen up a bit before breakfast?”

He knew that he probably should, but really, all Justin wanted was to stay in bed right beside his lover. “Not really, no,” he said, cozying up to Wade once more. “Wade?” he then asked lightly. 

“Yes?” he replied, brushing his hand through the young man’s hair. 

“Can you… Do you still feel… I mean… that is to say… Can you still feel me?”

A slow, sensual and soft grin curled Wade’s lips and he nodded his head, reaching and stroking his fingers over Justin’s cheek and down his neck where he had left a bruise the night before, “I can still feel you,” he confirmed with a nod, voice low and deep in timbre.

“R-Really?” Justin knew he often felt Wade sometimes, for even two days after, but he was always concerned that he was alone in that lingering physical feeling.

Kissing Justin’s lips softly, Wade then took one of Justin’s slim, dexterous hands and brought it gently down to his backside, seeing the way Justin’s lip became caught between his teeth and his eyes seemed to darken a little more.

Oh, the stamina of youth. Not to say that Wade was lacking in that department.

“Can you feel how open I am, Angel?” Oh, could he ever. He could even feel his _seed_ in him.

“Oh God,” Justin whispered as the tip of his finger slipped inside Wade’s body. He knew that he was still able to feel Wade, and that was at least some reminder of what he had to look forward to the next time they could be together. Considering how infrequently they were able to be together, it was a welcomed sensation. 

“See what you did?” Wade asked. “I’ll be feeling you there all day.”

“Good,” Justin said, still rubbing Wade’s hole. However, he pulled back when a knock came on the door. He knew it was locked, but the fact that someone was just outside the room while he and Wade were naked in bed together was enough to make him pull away. Though it was somewhat thrilling at the same time, he had to admit. 

“That must be my food. I’ll be right back, Angel.”

Nodding, Justin sighed and curled underneath the covers as Wade left the bed. His body still tingled from the intimate way he had been touching Wade and he took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down; though Wade kept him far from neglected he didn’t like indulging in self-pleasure too much and so had learned to suppress his urges.

He had barely gotten settled it seemed when Wade came back, tray in hands.

His eyes widened slightly as he saw the piping hot crumpets and small dish of butter, as well as some cold meats and fruit. There was also a freshly ironed newspaper neatly folded and tucked underneath Wade’s arm. Justin had only learnt that ironing the newspaper stopped the ink from smudging from their housekeeper back home when he’d queried her doing it.

“I hope you’re hungry, Angel, I know I am,” he grinned.

“Starving,” Justin said. 

“What would you like, then?” Wade asked, watching Justin eyeing the tray. He had a feeling that the young man would go for the crumpets, and he was right. Picking up both a crumpet and the butter knife, Justin spread a fair amount of butter across its surface before setting the knife back down on the tray. 

“Did you want any?” Justin asked of Wade before he took a bite himself. 

“It’s all yours,” Wade told him as he picked up a piece of fruit to pop into his mouth. 

“So is this why I never see you at breakfast on the weekends? You’ve got it delivered right to your door so you don’t have to put up with a group of loud, annoying boys?” Justin asked just after swallowing his bite.

Wade chuckled at his lover’s deductions.

“I suppose you could see it that way, although one could assume that since it’s a weekend most of them don’t get up until midday,” Wade merely shrugged and said, “There’s no sinister motive, I just like being a little lazy myself, and when there’s the chance that you can come and eat with me like this, then, I’ll take the private breakfast.”

Justin flushed lightly as he took another bite out of his crumpet with a small grin.

Swallowing, he then watched as Wade unfolded the crisply folded paper and started to read.

“Anything interesting?” Justin asked after a few moments and Wade was about to say no when he saw the newest nuptial announcements, “Yes, actually. Seems one of our dear boys has gotten himself a sweetheart and a promise ring.” 

“Oh, really?” Justin asked. “Who is it?” He just wanted to see if he knew who the person was, and considering he had several advanced classes, he knew a lot of the older students. 

“One of our seniors, Phil Brooks,” Wade answered. “His fiancée, Elizabeth, attends our sister school.”

“Oh, I know Phil,” Justin said. Phil was in his math class the previous year. “I didn’t know that he’d been courting someone.” 

“I’ll have to congratulate him the next time I see him,” Wade mused. It wasn’t often that students got engaged or married while they were still in school, so this was a rare occurrence for him. It also got him thinking about he and the young man sitting next to him. He had him promise that he’d go to no one else, and while he knew Justin’s words were his bond, perhaps it would be nice for them to have something else between them. Something more tangible. 

~~~

Cody found himself opening his eyes, slowly focusing on Ted’s chest. Ted’s chin was resting on the top of his head, and those strong arms were wrapped around his body. Waking up like that, he decided that he was happy he didn’t resist Ted. God, he could get used to waking up like that. 

“Morning, Codes,” Ted greeted. He had been awake for a while now, but was more than content letting Cody sleep within in arms. 

“Morning,” Cody mumbled. 

“I really am sorry about what I said last night,” Ted then whispered, hoping they wouldn’t end up bickering again.

For a moment Ted thought Cody was going to ignore him, but when he saw the look on the other’s face he mentally sighed; Cody didn’t believe him. Or, more accurately, he did believe him but he thought he had to stand his ground… people were always saying that Cody was a pushover whenever it came to Ted.

Genuinely wanting to make sure his apology was understood, Ted lowered his head and began to drop gentle kisses to his lover’s face, “I’m sorry, Codes,” he repeated.

The ravenette was relenting, but Ted could feel it.

The gentle kisses continued, Cody being drawn as close as he could to Ted’s body. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I was a bloody prat and I know it. I love you, Cody.”

“I know you were…” Cody mumbled, looking annoyed (but Ted hoped that was just because he was so good at acting, not because he was actually still annoyed). He then sighed and relented, “But I know you do. And, well, I love you, too.”

“I hope you also know that nothing’s going to change that. I’ve _always_ loved you, Cody. Always.”

“I know. It’s the same with me,” he admitted. “Look, I know I’ve fooled around with others before, but it was only because I didn’t think you would be interested. You’re so… you know how you are. But I always hoped that maybe… and that was why I saved myself, because there was that glimmer of hope.”

“I’m glad you did, save yourself that way I mean,” he flushed, especially when Cody’s eyes focused upon his own and he continued, “I mean, if it drives me insane to consider someone _touching_ you, I can’t imagine how I’d get if I knew that someone had…”

A ghost of a smile pulled Cody’s thick lips for a moment before he said, “Come on Ted, you must know what you’d do.”

Well, he had some idea… and it’d make anything he’d ever done to anyone in lieu of protecting Cody in the past look like child’s play. “I do, but I shan’t tell you,” he said lightly before kissing Cody’s forehead. It was still early but he asked, “I don’t suppose you’d want to go to and get some breakfast already, would you?” he asked.

“I would actually really like some breakfast right now,” Cody answered. 

“All right then.” Ted pushed the covers off of them and sat up before stepping out of bed. “You coming, or not?” he asked when he saw Cody hadn’t moved. 

“Help me up?” Cody asked, giving Ted his most innocent look. 

“Really, Codes?” Ted asked, to which Cody pouted. Heaving a sigh, Ted walked around the other side of the bed and took hold of Cody’s hands, pulling him up into a sitting position. When Cody _still_ didn’t get up, he sighed again and pushed Cody’s legs over the edge of the bed. This time when he pulled Cody up, he stood right up and all but launched himself into Ted’s arms, smiling as he did so. 

The blonde stumbled with the sudden weight landing against, but kept upright.

“Oh, you—“ Ted muttered slightly, shaking his head but smiling softly to himself; they hadn’t performed this little morning ritual for a long time and déjà vu overwhelmed him.

Pressing his face into Cody’s soft hair Ted sighed gently, glad he was forgiven.

Wrapping his arms around Ted’s neck Cody held the slightly taller teen back, inhaling the light scent of Ted’s lingering cologne and the scent that had to be uniquely Ted because he had never smelt it anywhere else before. Breaking the embrace Cody leant up and kissed Ted softly, smiling to himself at the way Ted held him, so delicately, as though he would fracture at the slightest rough-handling. Oh, Ted would learn--- he wasn’t _that_ breakable.

“You know, Teddy, we should have woken up naked together after having just made love,” Cody said before taking Ted’s earlobe between his teeth and nibbling lightly. 

“Cody… Look, we _will_ , I swear to you. We _will_. One day,” Ted assured him. “When we know that the time is right.”

“If you keep putting it off like this, the time will never be right,” Cody said, removing himself from Ted’s arms. 

“I am not starting this again,” Ted muttered. “But I’m also not about to bend you over the bed and just fuck you, ok? I’m not like that, Codes, you should know that by now.” He wasn’t saying that he’d never do something like that, but for his first time? For their first time? He didn’t want it rushed; he wanted the moment to be remembered for the rest of their lives, and he wanted it to be more than some quick fuck because their roommate happened to be out. “I just need a bit more time, that’s all.” 

“Hm,” Cody muttered without much enthusiasm as he moved and collected his ‘casual’ clothing for the day. On Sundays all activities were suspended in keeping with tradition, but Saturday was a day that Mr. Matthews often scheduled aside so that they could have a proper, thorough practice—it didn’t start until after lunch though.

“I’ll be rehearsing today,” he said to Ted, though the blonde was well aware of this already, “You’re welcome to come if you want.”

He couldn’t promise though that he wasn’t going to attempt to make Ted jealous or punish him a little by kissing Mike in their scene due to the other’s behaviour. Though he could never truly stay mad at Ted he could hold hurt in for a long time and this situation wasn’t any different.

Ted, blissfully unaware of Cody’s plans for him, merely picked his own clothing for the day before then heading to the bathrooms to bathe. That was one thing he loved about the weekends; you could take your time in the baths without having others giving you disapproving looks if you took so much as a second more than needed to wash your hair.

Leaving Ted to his own bath, Cody took a quick one of his own (though he _wanted_ to get into Ted’s bath, that he couldn’t deny), freshening up for his day under the spotlight. 

“Are you ready yet, Teddy?” Cody asked once he toweled himself off. “I’m hungry and I don’t know when we’ll be able to eat again, since I don’t know how long practice will run today.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Ted said as he reluctantly got out of the bath, wrapping a towel around his wet body. After getting dressed, they made their way to the dining hall, finding it still rather empty (though they spotted John Cena sitting with someone other than Randy, and Randy sitting with someone other than John), and took a seat at one of the many free tables.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world - Oscar Wilde

“Wade—“ the sound of said young man’s voice in his ear (Justin had obviously been leaning over his shoulder to read the announcement for himself) causing the headmaster to startle just a little bit.

“Angel?” he turned his head enough to look at Justin and saw that the other was looking torn between amusement and concern.

“Is something wrong?” the determined look that had sprung up on Wade’s face out of nowhere had been enough to tip Justin to the other’s mind wandering.

“No Angel, I was just thinking that I must send a letter of congratulations to the family formerly,” it would be expected after all. Justin looked momentarily uneasy but then smiled and nodded, returning his attention to the breakfast, even feeding Wade some at the same time to allow the other to continue reading his paper. A jewelers, Wade thought to himself, that would be as good a place as any to obtain something to show his ties to Justin to the world, even if they couldn’t admit to being lovers. 

“I don’t want to leave,” Justin said after they cleared off the last bite of breakfast. They tray was moved aside, the paper set down, and Justin maneuvered himself into Wade’s strong yet comforting and so very familiar arms. 

“Then don’t. No one’s doing anything of importance today. Stay with me longer,” Wade said, inviting Justin to spend the afternoon with him. 

“You know that I’d love nothing more,” he replied, snuggling even closer to Wade’s body. “I never want to leave.”

“I wish you could stay. I wish I could see you all the time. All day, every day, like some of the young men here are able to do.” He knew that his students weren’t supposed to have relations between themselves, but who was he to stop two people from doing the same thing he and his own lover were doing?

The trip would have to take place another day, Wade thought to himself, because although he was excited at getting something for Justin that would show the world that he was claimed he’d much rather spend time around him whilst he could do so.

“I like your hair better when it’s loose,” Justin commented with a smile as his fingers combed through Wade’s messy hair, the older man chuckling somewhat.

“It looks undignified loose,” he joked. Actually, Justin felt it made him look even younger than he was, and rather roguish at that.

“I like that I can run my fingers through it,” he traced his nails gently over Wade’s scalp and watched as his lover’s eyes drifted closed. He had learnt it accidentally, that Wade liked when he played with his hair as they lay together talking, just like Wade had learnt it without intention that Justin occasionally enjoyed having his hair pulled during sex.

“It’s such a curly mess,” Wade muttered as Justin’s long fingers continued to move through his hair and over his scalp. 

“Well, there’s no one seeing you like this but me,” Justin said, “and I love your hair like this. Is this how your hair looked when you were my age?” he then asked.

Sighing, Wade opened his eyes and looked to Justin out the corner before answering, “Yes. It wasn’t until I went on to get my masters degree that I began to slick my hair back.”

“I wish I could have seen you. I bet you were an incredibly handsome teenager.”

“When we’re home, Justin, I’ll show you my small photo album and let you judge for yourself,” Wade told him.

It always amused him how something as small as that could excite Justin (not in _that_ way) and Wade couldn’t help but smile to himself.

“I’ll warn you now; it wasn’t until I was about fourteen before my rugged good looks kicked in,” Wade struck a joking pose, “I was like a bloody beanpole all throughout childhood.”

It had literally been an overnight thing when his body began to change, the sports he had been taking up finally seeming to be having some effect upon him. “I’ll bet you were adorable,” Justin said.

“You’re lucky I love you or I’d have to spank you for calling me something so un-masculine.”

Justin bit his lip coyly, looking up at Wade through thick lashes, “Say that again, Wade.” Wade adopted faux ignorance, “Say what again, Angel?”

“You know… what you just said,” Justin whispered, blushing deeply. 

“I’m still not too sure what you’re talking about, Angel,” Wade went on, fighting the smirk crawling onto his face. 

“Wade, _please_?” he asked.

“The part about you calling me something so un-masculine, or the part about me taking you over my knee to give you a good spanking?” he asked, trying to sound innocent while doing so.

“The latter,” Justin answered, holding Wade’s eye contact despite his slight embarrassment.

Heaving an overdramatic sigh Wade moved the breakfast tray aside safely.

Going forehead-to-forehead with Justin he started to let the smirk he had been hiding move onto his face as he gazed into Justin’s eyes.

“I am amenable to that spanking if you misbehave.”

A blush covered Justin’s cheeks, clearly embarrassed, but Wade knew that his games had continued enough when it came to _that_ particular topic. “I love you, Justin. You’re the centre of my whole bloody world.”

Curling his fingers through Wade’s own Justin used his free hand to cup Wade’s cheek, “Love me forever?” he whispered.

~~~

Bryan shrugged in a casual manner that Randy didn’t buy even slightly and his eyes narrowed. “Just remember this, Danielson.”

Though the Prefect looked suitably uneasy Randy was very unsatisfied with the way the situation had turned out and he made his way back towards the table where John and Phil sat, the Head Boy all but stalking back to his seat.   
“Something wrong, Randy?” John asked his lover immediately.

“I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.”

Exchanging clueless looks with one another Phil was the one to then ask, “What happened?” as he could see that John was using all of his self-control not to reach across the table and hold Randy’s hand or something like that.

“It was more like what _didn’t_ happen,” Randy said. “He was so… he’s a bastard,” was all he could finish with.

Entering the dining hall, Evan noticed Randy, and jerked his head to get Chris to follow him. “You ok, Randy?” Evan asked, standing by his side without making a move to sit down. 

“Not really, no,” he answered honestly. 

“Can we sit down?” Evan then wondered, his question sounding very uncertain.

“Of course, of course,” Randy told them absently. “I can’t even think of a reason that Danielson is trying to single you out,” he then said to John, shaking his head side to side, frown on his face.

Much to Randy’s consternation John really didn’t seem as bothered now; he obviously trusted that his lover’s threat would back the kid off.

“Maybe he likes you,” Phil said absently as he buttered some more of his toast and took a bite, three of the other four boys looking at him. He didn’t seem the least bit phased about this and continued after swallowing his mouthful.

“Maybe he’s just trying to catch you out to get you alone.”

It didn’t have to be for sexual reasons though Phil knew that that was often why either of the pair was sought out.

Evan saw Randy’s jaw working and prayed that this Danielson fellow backed-off soon; he didn’t doubt that Randy might cause him harm but that wasn’t what he cared about. He just didn’t like seeing his cousin upset. 

“You know, if you get that jealous every time there’s the prospect of someone approaching him for a _favour_ or two,” Phil began, “then I don’t know why you two just don’t become exclusive to one another.”

Looking at one another, they both shrugged. Chris then chimed in, “I know that my cousin was rather pleased they’re not exclusive to one another.” 

“Your cousin goes here?” Phil asked. He hadn’t talked with the Canadian exchange student much, so he really didn’t know a whole lot about him. 

“Went here. He was an exchange student last year. Christian,” Chris informed him.

“Oh, yes, I remember him.” He then looked between John and Randy, and asked with a raised brow, “He fooled around with one of you?”

Indicating with his head, John pointed to Randy. Randy didn’t look contrite and John didn’t look overly bothered. Phil honestly didn’t understand why Randy was so wound up suddenly. “Do you just not like that he’s so active in his perusal? Is that it?”

Randy grumbled slightly to himself and Phil merely arched a brow in some amusement as well as puzzlement until he then reached and picked up his drink.

John sent Randy a smile before getting up and heading for seconds, something that surprised no one. “So Evan,” Phil grinned at the smaller man, watching as he bit his lip expectantly.

“Anyone special on your horizon?” at the question Evan’s eyes immediately flickered to his side. Phil’s brows rose and he looked amusedly at Chris.

“You? And you’re still conscious and not sans any limbs? My congratulations to you sir.”

“I just found out myself,” Randy said, speaking before Chris could get a word out. “So long as everyone is treated right, then no one should have to worry about losing limbs,” he added, tone even and steady. 

“Believe me when I say that I’d do nothing to hurt anyone. I’m considering staying in England upon graduation from here. The universities here are much more to my liking, anyway, than the ones back home,” Chris told them. 

“Well, of course the universities around here are far more prestigious than anything you’ll find across the pond,” Randy said. Though he’d never been to America, he was certain that Oxford and Cambridge were much better than Harvard or Dartmouth, though he knew of some graduates from their own academy who went to America to continue their schooling over there. “I think that may be a good decision.”

“You’d do well over there, John,” Chris said as John sat down again, more eggs and bacon piled onto his plate. Evan and Chris eyed the amount the man had eaten/was eating with awe but Randy and Phil barely flinched at the amount.

“A’ what?” John asked around some bacon, careful not to open his mouth too wide. Phil rolled his eyes, “Jonathon, don’t be so bloody disgusting you tart.” John pulled a face at the other as Randy chuckled, muttering something about the comment being true.

“Schooling in Unis back in the States,” Chris said absently, “Many of them offer damn fine placements for sports participants as well as their academics. Have you given thought to where you’re going here?” Randy and John nodded as one, though Phil merely smiled and shook his head somewhat. Evan looked puzzled, “Aren’t you going to Uni, Phil?” Phil chuckled, “I doubt my wife-to-be would be thrilled.” They’d be married by that point after all. 

“Wait, wait, your what now?” Randy asked. Somehow in all the hassle of the morning, had he missed Phil announcing that he was currently engaged? Though, from the looks on the faces of the others at the table (aside from John, who already knew), he had a feeling he wasn’t the only one surprised by the news.

“My bride to be,” he repeated. Just a few days ago I proposed to Beth and—”

“And she was crazy enough to actually say yes to him,” John cut in, earning himself a chuckle from Phil himself.

“That she was,” he agreed. 

“Well, just because you’ll be married doesn’t mean you can’t go to Uni,” Randy said, but Phil shrugged. He wanted to get into the workforce, didn’t want to bother with four more years of schooling, not when he would have another mouth to feed.

“I don’t even think I was really planning on going to Uni beforehand either,” Phil admitted; he did enjoy academics but the thought of continuing his education hadn’t really crossed his mind; like most children of the age he already had a spot in the family business to push himself into as soon as he graduated the necessary schooling for boys.

“Pity any child that ends up looking like you,” John teased his friend with a smile.

“Tch, the child would be stunning, John, don’t pretend you haven’t noticed my animal magnetism—“ Phil retorted jokingly.

“Oh yes, it’s all I can do not to jump on you and beg you to have you way with me!” he said dryly.

As the playful bickering continued Evan noted that that didn’t seem to bother Randy, and yet the situation with Bryan obviously had because he was still sending deadly glowers over in that direction even as they spoke. It had to stop when Bryan left the room though. 

Randy’s eyes lingered on the door for a few seconds after Danielson left the room, though his scowl remained until Phil went and made one of his usual dry jokes about Randy and John, which brought him back to the conversation at hand. “So, when is the big day?” John asked. 

“Yes, when _are_ you going to lose your virginity?” Randy went on to ask, causing John to snicker. 

“July first,” Phil answered. “But that doesn’t mean that you two jackasses are invited to the ceremony. And for the record, Beth wanted to wait until we were married to make things more special between us.”

“Oh, so now you’re blaming her for the fact that you’re still a virgin. Tsk, tsk,” Randy said with a grin and a shake of his head.

~~~

Watching the angry way in which their Head Boy left the prefect Cody arched a brow somewhat before then returning his attention to his breakfast and Ted. The blonde seemed in better spirits, though was as reserved as ever.

“How’re your brothers doing?” Cody asked, remembering that he had been intending to ask the last time he had seen Ted with a letter from home, a few days back, but things had kept coming up and so he’d forgotten.

“They’re doing well,” Ted smiled at his lover, appreciating the question. Brett loved Cody, and Mike was fond of him too. Sometimes Ted wouldn’t deny he sometimes got worried Cody’d end up liking one of them over him even though he knew his fears were groundless; his elder brother Michael was already married after all, and Ted had no doubt they would be expecting their first child before long.

“That’s good,” Cody said. Ted’s family really was just like his extended family. They all cared for him like he was one of their own, and that’s exactly how Ted was treated by Cody’s family. 

“How’s your brother doing?” Ted asked.

“Very well. His wife’s seven months along now,” Cody informed him. 

“Really? It feels like just yesterday they were announcing that they were going to have a child.” Ted couldn’t help his smile. 

“Well, it feels like only five months ago we were having a wedding,” Cody joked. The child, admittedly, was the main reason for the wedding, but they did seem to truly love one another, and both Cody and Ted wished him the best in his future with her.

“So everything’s Ok between he and your father now?” Ted asked; Virgil had been pretty mad about the whole thing to start off with, more so than Ted had ever seen the laid-back man before. Cody nodded.

“He was Ok with it as soon as they intended to marry.”

He had asked Dustin once if the baby was the only cause for the wedding and he’d said no.

“It was something I intended eventually,” he had said, looking contemplative, “But this has just sped the process along a little bit that’s all.”

“Now,” Cody said, drawing from his own thoughts, “He’s ecstatic about the prospect of his next grandchild.” Ted nodded, and then asked, “And how’s Teil doing? Her little boy any better?” the child had been struck with sickness the last he had heard, poor thing.

“Much. He’s so lucky, that little guy. They lose a lot of people, healthy people, at that, to pneumonia. The doctors say that he’s more prone to illness now, and has a greater chance of getting pneumonia again, but he’s a lot healthier now than he was a few months ago,” Cody told him. He adored his nephew, and was excited to have yet another niece or nephew come into his life. 

“That’s wonderful news. Any more on the way for her, then?” Ted asked. 

“Not that we know of, no. But I imagine it won’t be too much longer before she’s pregnant with another.” His older sister had married young, seventeen, fresh out of school. It was nine months to the day after the wedding that she had her first child, and three and a half years later, the young boy was struck with a life threatening bout of pneumonia. 

Seeing the way Cody lit up as he mentioned his nephew and the potential niece/nephew that he had coming to him soon, always made Ted smile. He had seen Cody with the boy before, when he had been visiting one time with his mother, a while ago before his illness, and… he’d just been so perfect with him. “Do you want children, Cody?” he found himself asking and his lover looked surprised before leveling a smile at him.

“Teddy, it’s very sweet of you to ask me and all, but according to anatomy I can’t.”

Tossing a small bit of bread at his lover Ted rolled his eyes and blushed a little, “Oh hush,” he chuckled softly but continued to look at the other, awaiting his answer, and it seemed that then was when Cody realised that he was serious. The ravenette paused, looking honestly uncertain. “I don’t know. One day, maybe. Not anytime soon.” The blonde nodded, resuming eating once more.

“What about you?” Cody asked as he watched Ted sprinkle some more pepper onto his eggs. 

“Do I want children? Well, like you said, no time soon, or anything, but one day? I do think I’d like to,” Ted told him. The only downside to that being he couldn’t have children with Cody. And Cody truly was the love of his life. 

“Oh… well… just promise you’ll let me be their godfather?” Cody asked.

“Of course. So long as I can be your children’s godfather.” Cody gave Ted a grin and a nod for his answer. 

“Teddy… when you do have children one day…” he paused, taking a deep breath before continuing, “what about _us_?”

Something flickered across Ted’s face for a moment and Cody noticed his hand twitch against the table, as though he wanted to take Cody’s own.

“Although I am aware it’s selfish, and that it essentially spits in the face of any wedding vows we both may end up making, I don’t want to give you up Cody. I don’t want to consider you not being in my life like that, even though I know it will be difficult.”

This time Cody’s hand was the one that twitched, turning the action into reaching for his drink.

“I don’t want to give you up either,” Cody whispered. He could consent to Ted marrying, having the children he’d adore and spoil, but Ted’s heart?  
“Your heart’s mine, Ted,” Cody spoke softly, but with intense determination and Ted didn’t even hesitate as he nodded, “I think it always has been,” he confessed softly.

“Really?” Cody asked, at first stunned by Ted’s confidence, like he truly believed that in his heart of hearts. But he knew that Ted _did_ , otherwise he never would have said those words. 

“Absolutely. It’s always been you. Mind, body, heart, soul… it’s all yours, Cody,” Ted admitted, keeping his voice down so as not to be overheard. 

“Teddy… I may have been with other boys, but my heart? Well, it’s always been with you. I hope you know that. And my body? It’s yours for the taking,” Cody told him in his own confession. 

Drawing in a deep breath, Ted tried to fight against his body’s urge to drag Cody back to their room and take him upon his bed. But then he wondered just _why_ he was fighting.

~~~

“Of course, my Angel. No one but you,” Wade told him. No one had ever had his heart like Justin did, and no one ever would. His lovers in the past were merely for physical contact. Justin, though? Justin he let inside of him, literally and figuratively. “Tell me that you feel the same,” he pleaded. 

“Yes. I’ll love you forever,” Justin promised him. He didn’t care that they were of the same gender, of different ages, of different race, because he knew that Wade was the one meant for him.

“Oh, Justin,” Wade sighed, allowing his free hand to run through Justin’s hair now, just as Justin had been doing to him earlier. At that moment he wanted so badly to lay the young man back on the bed and make love to him then and there. And so he did exactly that, much to Justin’s delight.

“Oooh!” with the final shuddering cry of release Justin’s arms gave way underneath him, the front of his body collapsing down onto the bed as Wade continued to thrust, measured and deep, inside of him until he achieved his own release. Justin would never get tired of the feeling of his lover’s seed inside of him. Never.

Gentle kisses were being dropped across his gently undulating back and Justin’s hand gently squeezed the one of Wade’s which had removed itself from his hip to twine with his own, “Wade…” he sighed happily.

“Hm?” the sated hum returned from the older man and Justin smiled softly to himself before turning his head enough to kiss Wade from where his lover was still leaning against his back. “At this rate,” Justin started, breathless and playfully coy, “I may as well not bother getting a bath until I have to leave.” And he wasn’t looking forward to that.

“That sounds like a most wonderful plan of action. We can even bathe together, if you’d like,” Wade suggested. 

“Mmm, the point of bathing is to get clean… not dirty all over again,” Justin said, though he could never object to sharing a bath with Wade. “However, I would like that quite a bit. So long as I don’t have to bathe yet.” 

“Of course not. I want you here with me for as long as possible,” he told the young man. Rolling onto his side, he began running his finger down Justin’s back, following the gentle dip of his spine, stopping before reaching his buttocks. 

Turning his head to face Wade, Justin gave him his brightest smile. Wade was so good to him, in _all_ aspects of his life, and every day he found himself loving the older man more and more. 

Letting his touch linger for a while Wade then traced his fingers back up Justin’s spine. After a few moments he gave a soft sigh.

The sound made Justin arch a brow slightly as he cocked his head, still lain on his front and with his legs lightly swinging behind him as he watched his lover’s soft, somewhat far away expression. “Is something wrong, Wade?” he asked uncertainly.

“Hm? Oh, no, no not at all,” Wade assured when he seemed to come back to himself, sighing gently as he leant back on his other arm, his strong form stretched out for Justin’s greedy eyes to devour. “I was just thinking about how much you’ve grown.”

The African flushed softly, sheepishly. Sometimes Wade had nostalgic moments and that in turn had Justin’s mind wandering to hazy memories of strong arms and a calm, deep voice protecting him from an onslaught of rain where he had been curled in an alleyway. 

Wade had been with him for so long now. Did everything in his power to protect him. To watch over him. To love him. “It wasn’t until you came along,” Justin began, voice soft and shy as though he were a child once again, “that I actually felt as though I _belonged_.” 

Smiling softly, Wade shifted closer so he could wrap his arm completely around the young man. “Oh, Angel,” he whispered into his lover’s dark locks. He knew that Justin had lost everything so young in his life, and that he was the one that finally allowed Justin that sense of belonging? It made him a proud man indeed. 

“It’s true, though, Wade.”

“I know, Angel. I know,” Wade continued in his whisper. “I hope that you’ll always feel that way around me.”

“There’ll never be another,” Justin said in all seriousness; no one could ever hope of coming anywhere near Wade’s standing in his affections. Wade smiled softly at that because he knew he’d want Justin for as long as the other wanted him back. Hell, he’d probably want him even beyond all that.

After a few moments of silence Justin couldn’t help but ask, “I know we’ve never really spoken of it in depth before but… why did you take me in Wade? I mean,” he paused and amended, “—so completely. You could have just thrown me out as soon as the weather calmed.” That was what many other people did he knew. For a moment Wade didn’t respond.

“You looked at me like I was the answer to all of your prayers.”

Holding his lover’s eyes Wade continued, “I did what any decent human-being would do, but the way you looked at me… I know now I needed you as much as you did me.”

“I’m grateful of that fact every single day. Who knows where I’d be now if it weren’t for you,” Justin whispered. “Who knows if I’d even still be alive.”

“Don’t think about that,” Wade told him. “It didn’t happen like that, did it? No, I’m here for you, and I will be here for you for as long as I’m alive. Don’t think about what could have happened. It’s not worth worrying yourself over.”

“I can’t help it, though. You took me in and saved me from a life of poverty, but sometimes my mind can’t help but think what if? What if you _hadn’t_ been there that one day. If you’d come by on a different day when the weather wasn’t so horrible, would I still have been so lucky?” Justin asked, voice soft and quivering somewhat as he spoke.

“I believe so,” Wade answered. “One way or another, we would have found one another. We were _meant_ to be together.” And he firmly believed that.

A sunny grin curled Justin’s lips as he heard that; Wade didn’t much believe it fate he knew but he was touched the other thought it existed at least in their case.

“My saviour,” Justin spoke the old endearment and Wade got that adorably embarrassed smile on his face as his ears flushed a shade of red that never seemed to occur unless he spoke that simple sentiment. That was all he’d called Wade when he was little.

That and ‘Mr. Wade’, now he thought about it. It hadn’t been until he’d been with the other for over a year that he felt comfortable enough to address him without a title. In his defense he also got confused because of the way the servants always addressed the elder as “Master.” When he’d addressed Wade like that once though the other had gone an unusual purple-red, spluttering somewhat.

Needless to say he hadn’t called him it again. Wade’d never explained the reaction and Justin hadn’t understood it recently any more than he had then. Never mind though, aye?

“You saved me, too, you know,” Wade then confessed. 

“What do you possibly mean by that?” Justin asked, quirking an eyebrow. “You’re the one that took me in. I imagine I was a complete pain in the arse at times.”

“Well, at times isn’t everyone?” he teased. “But what I mean is that you saved me from a life of loneliness. I can’t deny that have had my share of women before,” he said, very open about his past, “but I never felt right with any of them. And I have my servants, yes, but they simply work for me and clean my house… But when I first saw you, I knew I had to take you in and care for you… then as you grew older into the man that you are now, I knew that I finally found the one for me. I knew that I wouldn’t be lonely any longer.”

Moving closer to Wade once more Justin nestled into his chest.

A sweet kiss was exchanged between the pair and he shook his head slightly, “You’re not going to be lonely ever again, Wade,” he assured him before then giving a slight chuckle.

“I bet you’ll be pretty much bloody irritated with my constant presence before too long,” he joked, though admittedly there was a small part of him that was concerned he would one day need to leave Wade’s house for whatever reason. However selfish it may be though he wasn’t intending to ever bring the topic up and alert Wade to it.

Letting his hand span over the soft, smooth skin of Justin’s back Wade then kissed the other in return. Suddenly, Justin gasped and Wade arched a brow before joking, “I haven’t even started touching you yet—“ but his joke was short-lived when Justin seemed about to hit himself before asking, “Wade, what would you like for your birthday?” it was coming up soon and Justin had been saving his pocket-money especially to buy him something.

~~~

Even though he’d been insisting on it Ted hadn’t been so sure if he’d _really_ feel it when it was the right moment, but this feeling right here? If that didn’t indicate the right moment then he didn’t know what would.

“Cody?” his hands were sweating slightly, face flushed and heart racing, making him feel as though he was suffering a fever as his lover looked across to him at the call.

“Wi---“ Ted licked his dry lips to wet them and tried again, “Will you come upstairs with me?” he then asked, voice low but serious and without any of his former stammering or hesitation. Cody looked confused before his eyes widened.

“Teddy,” he breathed, “Are you sure?” Cody felt his groin immediately stirring to life as Ted nodded, the ravenette having to resist the urge to grab Ted’s hand and tow him from the room, following at a respectable pace instead.

Cody didn’t say a word as he followed Ted back to their room. But when that door shut behind them, he couldn’t help but ask again, “You’re sure about this?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” Ted answered in a whisper. “Last night… I… I don’t know, it didn’t seem right. But hearing you at the table, oh Codes, now I know. _I know_.”

Without wasting another second, Cody closed the gap between them and pressed his lips to Ted’s, his hands clinging to his shirt fabric as he began pushing him backwards towards his bed. “I love you so much,” Cody said during a break between their kisses before claiming Ted’s lips once more. 

“I love you, too,” Ted replied when they broke apart once again. The back of his legs hit the bed and he paused, staring into Cody’s eyes. “I want this.”

“I’m so glad you said that,” Cody murmured, Ted’s body slowly falling backwards onto the bed and his own landing on it, continuing to kiss Ted some more. Absently Cody kicked his shoes off whilst trying to keep the contact between their bodies.

“I don’t think I could stop now,” he admitted as they pulled away for breath, a small string of saliva connecting their lips before it snapped as Cody licked his own slowly.

“I don’t want you to stop,” Ted assured softly, cheeks flushed already from Cody’s kisses and the growing anticipation of what they were going to be doing. A hand came up and cupped one of Cody’s cheeks and he reveled in the way the other’s lashes fluttered as he leant into his hand before pressing a kiss to the palm.

As they kissed again Cody began to work on Ted’s shirt buttons, wanting to get the other’s skin available for his eager hands as much as possible. He pretended not to notice that he himself was shaking somewhat with excitement and anxiety.

Ted’s hands were shaking, too, much more noticeably than Cody’s, though. He tried and fumbled with the buttons on Cody’s shirt, a light sheen of sweat forming on his forehead as his nerves really began to kick in. “Sit up,” Cody whispered once he had Ted’s buttons undone (his shirt had all but one button still done up, but they’d take care of that soon enough). Once Ted obeyed his command, he pushed the shirt off his shoulders, but found that the buttons were still done at the cuff of Ted’s sleeve. “Dammit, why do you have to dress so properly, even on weekends?” Cody muttered as he wound up yanking the sleeves over Ted’s hands. 

“I’ll remember not to for next time,” Ted replied, his heartbeat getting faster by the second as more of his skin was revealed and the enormity of just what they were going to do truly hit him. Cody then began unbuckling Ted’s belt and undoing the fly, but hands flew to his wrist before he could begin working the pants down his hips. “Wait. Wait, you’re still… You’ve got…” he stuttered, but Cody picked up where he was heading with it.

“We’ll get to me. Right now I want to see every inch of you.” They had sunlight streaming into their room, and the way that it glinted off Ted’s skin was one of the most magnificent sights he’d seen in his short life. “Lift your hips up,” he whispered, gently pushing Ted onto his back once again. Once Ted lifted his hips, Cody pulled everything down and stopped to remove Ted’s socks, as well. “Oh my god,” he said, breath catching as he took everything in.

Underneath such an open and admiring stare Ted became embarrassed by his nakedness and (even though Cody had seen him in the bath before this was _completely different_ ) he started to curl his legs back in towards himself somewhat to hide it. The fact that he was already half hard and growing with every brush of Cody’s fingers against his skin didn’t help at all. However, Cody’s hands caught his thighs in a gentle but firm grip, forcing them back down again, “Don’t hide from me, Teddy,” he said softly, voice thick with emotion, “We have nothing to hide from one another.” And that was true.

Even though Cody’s attention was so obviously fixed on him Ted’s was upon the other, seeing as Cody stripped himself of his shirt finally before removing his own belt, pants, undergarments and socks. The movements had had much less care in them than the ones he had used to undress Ted. Soon, Cody was as naked as himself and Ted swore that he was going to choke on the sheer force of desire and love he felt for this other. Oh, this was definitely the right moment.

Sitting up, Ted caught Cody’s cheeks between his palms and pulled the other in for a kiss, the sunlight caressing their skin the way eager fingers did, their positions reversing so that Cody lay out underneath Ted as they kissed. The kiss was messy and lacking in finesse but neither cared; moans and gasps beginning to build as their naked bodies began to rub and slide together for the first time. When they pulled apart for breath Ted rested his forehead on Cody’s, “I want you so much,” he whispered.

“I want you, too. I want to feel you inside me,” Cody replied, running his fingers through Ted’s blonde locks. 

Cock twitching at Cody’s words, Ted sat up a little bit and then whispered, “I… I don’t know what to do.”

“Well, this _is_ new for me, too,” Cody reminded him with a shy smile. “But from what I’ve heard, you need to slick me up and stretch me out first.”

“With um… with what?” Ted asked, becoming somewhat uncertain about everything. He knew he wanted to make love to Cody, it was just all the preparation he needed to do beforehand that he was uncertain of. 

“A lotion, or something,” Cody answered. “You know, like when you jerk off and need something to help your hand along.” Ted blushed even deeper, reminding Cody that he’d never jerked off before. 

Brow furrowing momentarily in thought Cody then clicked his fingers before getting (reluctantly) off of Ted and heading for his side-table.  
Pulling a small bottle out of his drawer he shrugged casually and threw it back to Ted, the other fumbling and catching it.

“Hand lotion will probably work,” Cody nodded, “Leaves the skin smooth too,” he winked and Ted blushed even darker at the dirty allusion he could sense under the comment.

Moving himself back over Ted, Cody looked down at the blonde and then watched as his Adam’s-apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed. “Is there… is there any easy position to do this?” he didn’t want to hurt Cody more than he had to.

“Don’t know,” Cody admitted, laying himself on his back and opening both his arms and legs, beckoning Ted closer. The blonde did so with only a small hesitation, kissing the other sweetly as he held the lotion tightly in his hand.

~~~

“Tch, just ‘cause you didn’t have the self-confidence to wait five minutes,” Phil threw back, giving his usual playful haughty sniff even though his cheeks were a little pink. He really wasn’t ashamed of still being a virgin; Beth had asked and he would admit there was very little he wouldn’t do for her.

“It’s nothing to do with self-confidence,” Randy smirked slowly, “I just have a high sex drive.” Chris grinned, “So you’re basically just a horny bastard?”

John laughed brightly at that as Evan gasped and whacked his lover’s arm lightly to chastise him, Chris not looking at all repent and Randy not looking at all ashamed. “Well,” John managed as his chuckles quieted, “He’s not wrong.”

“Don’t make excuses John you’re just as bad. You forget how long I was tortured sharing a room with you both for,” Phil gave an exaggerated shudder.

“You two did _not_ do _that_ while he was in the room with you, did you?!” Evan asked, shocked. 

Randy shrugged. “Well, it’s not like we had anywhere else to…” was his casual reply. His cousin certainly was learning a lot of things about him in the past few days, that was for sure. 

“Every time that I’d confront them about it the next morning, they would claim that they thought I was asleep. As though I could actually sleep through the sounds of those two fucking. I admit, I’m a deep sleeper, but they were a little ridiculous at times,” Phil informed the others at the table. 

“We were not,” John protested with just a hint of a blush, “And sometimes we were just faking it to mess with you,” he admitted.

“I should have known that night you went several times it was fake—“ Evan’s eyes widened at his cousin but Randy cut in before the smaller could comment, “No, that _was_ real. Why do you think we were so tired the day after?”

By this point they had finished their breakfast but none of them made any move to leave. The dining hall was open all the time even if food wasn’t served and it was often allowed as an unofficial place for casual congregation as long as you behaved and didn’t make too much mess or noise. “That had been a good night.”

“Oh, Jesus, Randy,” Phil said. “I had one little glimmer of hope there that you two were faking it that one horrid—”

“Wonderful,” Randy cut in. “It was a wonderful night.”

“Horrid. I didn’t sleep a wink that night. I should have requested new roommates,” he muttered. 

“I’m surprised you never did,” John said with a grin. 

“I thought about it, but decided that I’d just take one for the team. And then I would be the one that was moved to a different room and packing up would be too much of a hassle.”

“Quit lying, Brooks, just admit you liked listening to us,” Randy teased.

“Please--- I should’ve booked myself into an asylum the first time. I can see trauma making me a disappointment on our wedding night.”

“Don’t be blaming us for that. You should be thanking us for tips.”

“Somehow I doubt the way we’re going to make love will benefit from _your_ help, Randal,” Phil said dryly.

John winked at Chris and Evan, “Phil loves us really,” he stage-whispered.

“I’d love you both more if you could keep it in your pants more often,” Phil muttered with a wanly amused chuckle as Randy commented, “Well, where’s the fun in that? We can’t all be vestal virgins you know.”

“It wasn’t _my_ choice,” he repeated, then looked almost ashamed for saying so.

“Not like I _mind_ waiting,” Phil said, trying to backpedal his way out of his words.

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” Evan chimed in after having been extremely quiet through the duration of the conversation. “Waiting, I mean, that is... I, um, well, I always thought that I would wait until I was married.”

“Married? But, uh, you’re with,” Phil said, jerking his head just slightly towards Chris, as though he didn’t already know who he was talking about. 

“Yeah, well, he threw a wrench into the plan in a few different ways… not only did I lose my virginity before I was married, I lost it to a man… Definitely not what I had had planned for my life,” Evan told them. 

“You’re so terrible Chris!” John mocked swooned “Corrupting our poor little Evan!” he winked to show he was definitely just playing.

Even though Chris grinned and chuckled to John’s teasing there was a momentary flicker of unease in his eyes that Randy saw at least. Though the blonde knew Evan loved him and hadn’t seemed to regret their time together he did often wonder.

A hand suddenly settled atop his and his head looked down to his lap where his hands had been resting, and then towards the owner of the third hand. Evan was blushing.

Quirking a slight smile Chris squeezed Evan’s hand in a silent gesture of him being alright, expecting that the smaller man would move his hand away afterwards. But he didn’t, and Chris couldn’t exactly say he was sorry for that one.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life - Oscar Wilde

Wade was slightly taken aback by the question. He honestly hadn’t even realized that his birthday was so close. “I don’t need anything, Angel.”

“But surely you must _want_ something,” Justin went on. 

“You don’t need to spend your money on me,” Wade told him. He had so many things already that he really didn’t need. He was sure that he could live with his house, food and water, some clothing and Justin. 

“But I want to get something for you. You’re always getting things for me, but this is for your birthday, and it’s something that I really want to do,” Justin said. “So, what is it that you want for your birthday?” he asked again.

“I really don’t know,” Wade admitted; it wasn’t as though he struggled for material possessions and he really didn’t want Justin wasting his money on him.

Justin pouted somewhat and gave him a reproving poke, “Well get thinking.”

“How about you wrapped in nothing but ribbon?” Wade said, only half joking and Justin chuckled somewhat thinking that he was joking alone, “You’ll be asking me to wear a lady’s corset and stockings next--- or even heels!”

He had remembered many a night in the common room when he and his group of friends had had absolutely hours of entertainment watching the young actor struggling about in heeled shoes for some part or other; it had been like watching a new-born foal on ice.

“You know I could easily get my hands on all those things,” Wade told him with a raise of an eyebrow, “but I much prefer you in men’s clothing… that and no clothing at all,” he added. 

“Wade, you’re avoiding the topic,” Justin said. Of course he loved being with Wade, but he really wanted to know what to get him for his birthday. 

“Angel, I really don’t need anything for my birthday, I swear to you. All I want in my life is my students to do well and most of all, for you to be happy and healthy,” he answered. 

“A pocket watch?” Justin asked, deciding to throw out ideas. 

“I have a million of those,” he said, and repeated time and time again with every idea that Justin proposed.

Eventually, Justin couldn’t resist hitting Wade with a pillow after ten fruitless minutes of questioning wherein he hadn’t been able to get an answer from the other that provided him with any help at all.

It wasn’t often that Justin allowed himself to show when he was getting wound up and Wade couldn’t help but grin even as he caught the pillow as Justin swung again. “Are you pouting, Justin?” he teased.

“You’re so frustrating!” Justin relinquished the pillow with a sigh.

“I know, it’s one of the many habits I never grew out of,” Wade said with a bright smile, Justin trying not to smile despite himself.

“Well, then what am I supposed to do for you? Your birthday’s supposed to be a special day for you, and I don’t even know what to get you,” Justin said after a while, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. 

“You make each day special for me,” Wade told him. 

“But your birthday’s supposed to be _extra_ special.”

“Shall we make a deal? On my birthday, you come here. That’s all I want. I want you to be here with me, ok? We can have a nice dinner, have some cake, and then you can spend the night in my bed once again,” he said, and that truly was all that he wanted, to have Justin with him by his side. 

“OK,” Justin agreed without hesitation though internally he knew he was going to find _some_ way to do something special for Wade even though the other seemed insistent he needn’t. They’d danced this dance before but Wade usually gave.

“Thank you,” Wade’s lips pressed against Justin’s own and he sighed.

“You’re more than welcome,” he said, caressing Wade’s cheek lightly.

As the elder man slowly grinned at him Justin couldn’t help but smile back. Despite being very well off and socially popular Wade was pleased by the most seemingly innocuous things as far as he could tell. He seemed happier to be the one benefitting or rewarding others as opposed to taking such things for himself.

“How much longer do you think I’ll be able to stay?” Justin asked after lying in Wade’s arms for a while more. 

“Do you have anywhere you need to be?” Wade questioned, to which Justin nodded his head. 

“Well, no… there’s certainly no where else I’d rather be than right here, but do you think people will start to wonder where I am?” Justin couldn’t help but wonder. 

“It’s a Saturday morning. Everyone’s sleeping in. As of right now, people are probably too tired to even notice that you’re missing,” Wade said, attempting to assure his young lover.

With a slight nod, Justin couldn’t help but to agree. Wade was right about that. Ted and Cody knew where he was, but at this hour, neither Windham, Heath nor Joe would give two shits about his location, considering they were probably still fast asleep. 

After a few more minutes of remaining lounged together Justin then started to get up. “You mentioned something about a bath?”

~~~

“Well, I think you’re all crazy for passing up women, the most beautiful beings in the world,” Phil told them. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”

“Yes, I do,” Randy and John replied at the same time. While Randy had never fucked Sam (as she also wanted to wait until they were married, and expected Randy to do the same), they had fooled around and didn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as he did with John. 

“Wait, _what_?” Evan asked. He never knew that Randy had been with women, too. He always thought that Randy was like him, the good Christian boy. How wrong had he been?

Randy simply shrugged and said, “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m just like Phil over here and have never actually fucked a woman before.”

Evan stared at his cousin and to the amusement of the other three at the table Randy’s cheeks started to colour somewhat--- though it was hard to tell with his tan.

Turning to John, Evan cocked his head and arched a brow. John couldn’t help but think how much Evan looked like Randy’s mother when he had that somewhat confused and reproving expression on his face. Though their statures were very different one could see the fact they were related.

“I did. Once. Sort of.” Sort of because although _she’d_ got something out of it he had barely mustered enough enthusiasm to ensure that and he sure as hell hadn’t come. “Randy already knows about that time though.”

“You’re both insatiable, my God,” Evan placed his head in his hands and shook his head somewhat. Randy and John exchanged amused looks; poor boy was so sheltered.

“I can’t deny that,” Randy said, still looking at John. “But you can’t tell me that it’s not wonderful to be able to let loose of your inhibitions when you’re in the middle of it,” he went on, now looking to Evan. He knew that his cousin was blushing, even though his face was still covered by his hands. 

“Please, I don’t need to think about you two letting loose of your inhibitions upon one another anymore,” Phil cut in. 

“You’re just jealous that we’ve had a very healthy sex life for so long now. Your right hand doesn’t count,” Randy said. 

“Beth has a very talented mouth, thank you very much,” Phil retorted. He and Beth had done everything _but_ having intercourse, so it wasn’t as though he was completely wet behind the ears. 

“I’ll be sure to tell her so the next time I see her,” John teased and Phil tried to reach over the table to grab him, “You will not!” he said, looking momentarily stricken even though he knew John would never do any such thing. “Oh, calm your passions,” John ruffled the other’s hair fondly, making   
Phil yelp in protest as the slicked style was mussed.

A bell tolled somewhere off to tell them the time and Phil stood up, “I have to get going,” he tried to smooth his hair back down.

“Oh ho, going to see the missus already?” Randy grinned, “I didn’t think they’d let you both alone, engagement or not,” he mused.

“They don’t, her friends are usually with us, and we have to stay on the grounds,” he rolled his eyes somewhat but sighed with a slight smile.   
Apparently he didn’t think it was all bad; at least he got to see her which was more than some could say.

“Well, you have fun you two. And don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do,” Randy teased. 

Phil simply rolled his eyes again and said his goodbyes to the people at the table. He then headed out to go meet with Beth and her friends for the day. 

Once Phil left, Chris turned to John and asked, “So, what are you up to today?”

“Not sure, really. I would like to—”

“Make up for all that time we lost last night,” Randy said, cutting him off. “At least that’s what I had in mind for us to do today,” to which John smirked. “How about you two?”

“Actually, we’re going into town at lunch,” Chris said casually and Randy saw Evan twitch violently.

“Ev?” he queried, immediately concerned by his cousin’s reaction. Chris however merely laughed and placed what seemed to be a companionable arm around him.

“Why are you going into town?” John prompted curiously after a few moment of quiet.

“Christian’s family is coming to visit, so I want Evan to meet my cousin.”

John’s brow arched slightly before his dimples appeared in his smile; suddenly it made sense why Evan had seemed so fidgety whenever he thought no one was looking, even though he was admittedly restless anyway.

“From the little I knew of him, I do remember him being a good guy, so I’m sure you’ve got nothing to worry about,” John said. 

“Except for the fact that he got John saying bad ass non-stop for all of six months, I’d have to agree with his assessment of him,” Randy added. 

“I wish I met him when he came here,” Evan said. “But he was never in any of my classes, or anything… I feel like this afternoon would be so much easier had we met before.”

“You really have nothing to worry about, I swear to you,” Chris said. “He’s not going to have a problem with us and what we’re doing, considering the things that he did while he was here.”

“Maybe he won’t, but… what about his family? Do they know of the things that he did? That we’re doing? I’m sure you’re not planning on telling them, but if they’re going to be there, what if they manage to figure it out?” Evan asked, all in a rush, getting himself more and more worked up over the upcoming introductions. 

Randy sent his cousin an amused look, “And here I was thinking you’d grow out of your panicky tendencies,” he said fondly.

Evan looked embarrassed for a moment, pausing in his ramblings, but then he went right on back to chewing his lip and imagining all sorts of bad events.

Chris gently placed a hand on Evan’s lower-back, the gesture somewhat intimate but still less intimate than the gesture which he wanted to use--- kissing Evan on his poor abused lips.

“Really, Evan, you needn’t worry,” Chris assured him once more, “Everything is going to be fine. And, I can tell you here and now that my family will absolutely adore you.” It was impossible not to like him.

John grinned, dimples appearing as he bracingly commented, “Just act as you always would, don’t go making an extra effort… and don’t make implications that you’d happily take any ladies (or gents) of the house to your bed like this one here did—“ he indicated Randy, jokingly referring to all the effort Randy had put in upon first meeting John’s family. 

“But you know how I am around new people,” Evan said. “I get all… all…”

“Yeah, you get all like you are right now. But they’re still part of Chris’ family, you know, so you’ve probably heard about them before,” Randy reasoned, to which Evan nodded. “Then just tell them that you’ve heard so much about them and are so excited to meet them.”

“To be honest, the rest of the family probably won’t hang around with us for very long before telling us to run along with Christian. When the two of us get together, things tend to get pretty loud and obnoxious,” Chris said with a grin, “so the family is more than happy to get rid of us. Ev, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Now that his lip had been worn raw, Evan brought a finger to his mouth and began chewing on a nail. “I think I’ll go take a bath,” he said, standing from his seat and bringing his tray of hardly eaten food up to be disposed of. 

Chris let him walk away, knowing that Evan had to deal with his nerves in his own way. Even if that meant him taking his fourth bath in two days. 

~~~

“Teddy,” Cody moaned, tilting his head to the side to allow Ted to kiss his neck. “Oh, god, _I want you_.”

“I’m scared,” Ted admitted, whispering against Cody’s smooth flesh. 

“I am, too,” Cody confessed. “That’s only natural, though, don’t you think. We’ve never done this before… we’re learning together.”

“But what if I do something wrong and I hurt you?” Ted asked. 

“Then you’ll know to not do that again. Now, please, Teddy… _Please_ ,” he begged, ready to feel Ted inside of him. He didn’t really know what to do with himself to make it more comfortable for them both, but his body was telling him to draw his knees in closer to him, so he did just that, his legs pressed to Ted’s sides. 

Swallowing hard Ted sent up a fervent, whispered prayer to God that he wouldn’t mess this experience up _too_ badly.

His hands fumbled as he got the cap of the lotion off, “This will be messy.”

Even though he had really been talking to himself Cody responded anyway, “It’ll be messy and perfect,” he knew it would, the pain was just an unavoidable consequence.

Blushing, Ted moved his slickened index finger to Cody’s entrance, biting his lip.

Nodding hastily when he realised Ted was waiting for permission Cody’s head then fell back onto the pillow with a moan as he felt the digit breaching the tight ring of virgin muscle. “Unh—“ he bit his own lip and his eyes fluttered closed. A gentle kiss was pressed to his neck as Ted wiggled the finger just a little bit, sounding breathless as he spoke, “T-That alright?”

“Yeah. Yeah, so far it’s ok,” Cody answered. It was really quite something to feel Ted’s finger actually twisting around within him. 

“Should I, um…?” he trailed off, not quite sure what to do next, and not sure how to go about asking it, either. 

“Keep moving it around. Or… or try adding a second finger,” he said, finding himself actually blushing. “Just go slow with them.” Nothing had ever breached him before, no one else’s fingers, not his fingers… nothing. “This is… this is the first time anyone’s been inside me like this,” he decided to tell Ted, hoping to spur him on.

Sending the other a fleeting smile before his brow furrowed in concentration, Ted then began to wriggle his finger around a little more before easing in a second.

A slight groan left Cody and Ted froze in concern as Cody immediately shook his head, a hand going to Ted’s chest as best he could reach, “It’s Ok.”

And it _was_ Ok, it was just… well, it was a sensation that was going to take some getting used to. Seeing that the lotion on his fingers seemed to be drying Ted added some more, unsure what instinct was guiding him but not arguing with it. Gently he began to scissor the digits, wondering with rather bemused awe, how he was supposed to fit inside of him.

He heard a small groan from Cody as he tried to widen the gap between his fingers, and he took in the pained expression on his face. Immediately he withdrew both fingers and asked, “Are you ok? Oh, god, I hurt you, didn’t I?”

Not wanting to appear weak in front of Ted, especially since he had been asking for this for a while now, he answered, “No… I just… maybe go a bit slower?” he suggested, taking a deep breath. 

Nodding, Ted applied even more lotion before pushing his fingers back inside. He gave the digits a small twist, and yet another groan came from Cody. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked.

“No!” Cody replied instantly. “Keep going. We’ll just take it slow… and hope Justin doesn’t come back,” he joked, trying to lessen the thick atmosphere that had developed in the room.

“God forbid,” Ted managed with a slight chuckle, though he was obviously focused on what he was doing still. “It’s one thing for us to be talked about but another thing for him to walk in and witness it. And I think I’d get performance anxiety if he did walk it.”

Not that he wasn’t already pretty damned anxious about what he was doing because he could tell that he was hurting Cody, even if it was just a bit and that the other wasn’t going to admit it to him. After a moment he eased a third finger in.

Once again Cody made a pained sound but gripped Ted’s wrist to stop the other from pulling away. Ted let his fingers remain, biting his lip at the way the muscles flittered around his fingers, trying to force him back.

Eyes locked on Cody’s face, Ted then gently began to move his fingers after too long, slow and easy, feeling Cody’s muscles parting for him but also knowing that the other was going to be so very tight despite the preparation.

“Oh, Teddy, I don’t know if I can wait any longer,” Cody pleaded. It hurt, yes, there was no way he could deny that, but knowing that he was _so close_ to having Ted… he could handle the pain if it meant that he would be Ted’s. 

“Are you sure, Codes? You’re still so tight,” he whispered, still moving his fingers in and out of his lover’s tight hole. 

“I’m so sure, Ted. I _need_ you inside me. Please, Teddy,” he pleaded with him, his eyes dancing with emotion as he looked into Ted’s. “Please,” he repeated, this time in a soft whisper. 

“If… if you’re sure,” Ted said, withdrawing his fingers. Hands shaking from his nerves, he spread a generous amount of lotion onto his cock, slicking himself up good, once more meeting eyes with Cody. 

~~~

Wade grinned slowly, nodding his head. Justin padded across to his adjoining bath-chamber.

Though he really had no problem decadently lying around nude and admiring the equally nude state of his lover there was only really so long he could stand to be messy for.

When the bath was ready Justin called back through to Wade and the Headmaster reluctantly roused himself from the comfortable heat and softness of the sheets to join him.

As Wade was taller he got into the tub first, Justin being helped to get in alongside him, sitting between Wade’s legs. The water felt very pleasant on his comfortably aching muscles and Justin sighed, leaning back against the muscled wall of Wade’s chest.

“I wish I could have you here more often, Angel,” Wade said as his hand slowly caressed Justin’s chest. He missed having that warm body next to his as he slept, and hearing his soft voice and touching his smooth skin. 

“I know. Believe me, I wish I could be here more often. I miss you,” Justin confessed, though he knew that Wade already knew that. 

“You’re here now, though, so let’s continue to make the most of the time we have left together,” Wade told him. He picked up a sponge and some soap, smiling as Justin sank even further back into him as he began cleaning the young man off. “Don’t fall asleep on me, now,” he teased. 

Keeping his eyes closed, Justin merely hummed, completely and utterly content with his current position. 

As the last of the suds was rinsed from Justin’s skin, Justin forced himself to rouse some more. He loved the intimacy of bathing with Wade, even when the bathing didn’t involve into something dirtier, he just loved the private moment with him.

“What are you doing, Angel?” Wade asked amusedly as Justin started to move, carefully wriggling in the confined space to straddle Wade..

“We can’t move around too much,” Justin pointed out, voice soft and airy, movements graceful and unhurried. The slight impromptu massage he had just received as Wade cleaned him had further relaxed him. He took the soap and cloth and began to clean Wade’s strong shoulders and chest.

Wade leant his head back against the bath edge, thinking to himself that Justin’s look of concentration was so adorable.

Justin could feel Wade’s eyes upon him, but he found that he enjoyed it now. When he was younger, Wade always looked out for him, and as he grew, he noticed that Wade continued to watch him. After he’d come to realize that he’d truly fallen for Wade, he noticed it even more, and he found it strange at first how the older man kept his gaze upon him when doing even the simplest of tasks. But after a time, he grew used to it, found it comforting even. And now he welcomed it. “Wade?” Justin began, a lazy grin on his face. 

“Yes, Angel?” Wade returned, the same smile on his own face as Justin continued to wash him.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked. 

“I have the most wonderful man on God’s green earth not only in my bath tub, but actually giving me a bath… what do you think the answer to your question is?”

“Don’t get cheeky,” Justin admonished playfully before then moving and rinsing the suds from Wade’s skin. Once the other was clean Justin made a motion to move again, but Wade’s arms slipping around his waist prevented him from doing so. “The water’s not even cold yet,” Wade pointed out, “We can stay in at least until then, right?” Smiling in return to the sentiment Justin nodded, “Certainly, Wade.” He was in no rush to leave his lover’s side; any excuse to stay longer and Justin would admit without hesitation that he’d take it.

Cupping Wade’s cheek with his hand Justin then leant down and brushed his lips against the others.

A quiet sound emitted from Wade’s throat in pleasure.

Giving a soft chuckle Justin leant down and repeated the action again, not pulling away as quickly this time since Wade chose that moment to begin to return the kiss.

Justin’s hand slid upwards from Wade’s cheek as their kiss deepened, fingers curling into his lover’s hair. “Mmm,” he moaned, still engaged in their kiss. His other hand worked its way lower, down Wade’s chest and abdomen, finding its way to Wade’s slowly hardening cock. He stroked lightly, keeping his strokes long and slow. 

“Justin,” Wade whispered upon breaking off for air. “You’re insatiable.”

A small smile found its way to Justin’s face at that. “That’s your own fault, you know. Since you’ve never been able to deny me anything. And it’s not as though you’ve ever complained about my insatiable needs before.”

“Believe me, I’m still not complaining, nor will I ever. You keep me young,” Wade said with a grin before pulling Justin in for another passionate kiss.

When the kiss broke to allow them both to breathe Justin let out a throaty chuckle, head tipping back as Wade’s lips latched onto his throat and his hand continued to stroke the other with teasing lightness, “Young? Wade, you’re hardly old,” he pointed out. Wade was always so conscious of the age-gap between them.

“I’m reaching the male equivalent of a spinster, as my friends kindly remind me.”

It was apparent that Wade really didn’t care what was said about him but Justin gave the other’s cheek a playful poke with his free hand anyway. “If you were old then you’d never be able to keep up with me,” he was only half-joking.

Wade gave a small moan as Justin’s thumb rubbed him just right, but then jokingly gasped, “Angel, did you just make a crude joke?” he feigned shock.

~~~

“Don’t even think about it,” John grinned as Chris startled just slightly, “Huh?”

“If you’re thinking of following him to the bathroom—“ John was obviously joking and Chris managed to realise this before he lashed out as he was wont to do when embarrassed or wrong-footed, “I wasn’t going to,” he responded anyway. He knew Evan needed space.

“Has he always worried like this?” he asked Randy, wondering momentarily if the other was going to start being standoffish with him because Evan was no longer there. To his surprise and slight gratitude however Randy merely responded with a wan, “Yep. Even when he was little he always got so flustered and worked up.”

When he was younger it had been a dangerous tendency though because Evan had had poor health when he was younger and his emotional states often triggered attacks. You wouldn’t be able to tell it now when you looked at him though.

“Pass on my greetings to Christian, won’t you?” Randy added after a moment and Chris nodded. It was funny how John didn’t even bat an eyelash at the request.

“You know… I don’t mean to intrude, or anything of the sort, but you two… you two have one of the strangest relationships I’ve ever seen,” Chris stated. 

“How do you mean?” John asked. Loads of boys their age fooled around with other boys. There was nothing strange or unusual about that, he didn’t think.

“Well, that is, I mean, you two just so obviously belong with one another,” he said. 

“And that’s why we are with one another,” Randy added, glancing to John out of the corner of his eye, keeping most of his attention on Chris. 

“But you’re still messing around with other people. Before I met Evan, when I was back in Canada, I can’t deny that I was doing the same… but like I said, that was _before_ I met Evan. Ever since him, I haven’t so much as thought about gaining pleasure from another. Yet you two, who love one another more than anything else, do,” Chris tried to explain his thoughts as best he could. 

Shrugging, John said, “That’s just the way it’s always been.”

“And do you plan on continuing as such when you go to University?” Chris asked curiously. Hell, if he could he would have had a ring on Evan’s finger long ago.

Randy’s mouth opened, and then closed again, a sincere expression of blank confusion appearing on his face. He had honestly not given it much thought.

It was a given they would be at the same university of course, still together, but exclusive?

John looked equally thrown for the loop and Chris held his hands up, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get so serious there,” he then checked his watch.

“I suppose I should think about going to get changed,” he stood up, brushing down the shirt and trousers he had just thrown on for casual-wear, nodding to both John and Randy. “No doubt we’ll see you both later and you can quiz Evan on how the meeting went.” On that note the Canadian turned and headed out of the hall, leaving the two lovers sitting in a somewhat heavy silence.

“So,” Randy cleared his throat, “Fancy going for a smoke?” 

“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” John said. He was never much one for smoking, but every now and again he’d allow himself one, and right then seemed like the perfect moment.

The pair stood, and after dropping off their trays to be washed, headed outside. When they reached the storage shed, they found someone behind it already taking a drag of their own cigarette. Their eyes grew wide when they saw Randy, and they tossed the smoke to the ground, stomping it out. Randy just smirked at the look of fear on the young man’s face. “I suggest you fuck off now,” he said, pulling his own cigarette tin out of his pocket. “I never saw you here, and you never saw us.”

With a nod, the kid scurried off, glad to not be in trouble with Randy. 

“Give one here,” John said, holding his hand out. Randy handed him a cigarette and lit him up before taking one of his own. 

“So…” Randy took a drag and leaned back against the side of the shed, blowing the smoke through his nose. Rolling his head to the side, he looked to John and said, “About what Chris said…”

“Yeah…” John turned his head and looked to his lover. There was something about Randy smoking that was highly appealing to him even though the athlete in him was unimpressed.

The expression on Randy’s face momentarily showed that he had been hoping John might be more forthcoming but John didn’t bite right away. He took a drag or two of the cigarette, composing himself for the pseudo-declaration he was about to give Randy. Just as the Head Boy opened his mouth to speak the Sports Captain turned to look at him. “Randy… you know I love you, right?” his vice dropped a little, a blush colouring his cheeks at the natural embarrassment that accompanied more sentimental moments.

Randy looked much the same, “And you know I love you too, right?”  
John nodded slowly, taking another drag of the cigarette and trying not to give an inexperienced cough at the acrid taste.

“So, that being said…” John continued, knowing he was procrastinating somewhat but being unable to help it, “If you ever wanted me to be exclusive to you then all you have to do is ask.” There, he’d said it. 

~~~

Seeing the nod Ted took his bottom lip between his teeth in concentration as he moved up on his knees over Cody. He had no idea what position would be comfortable for him, so reached and wrapped Cody’s legs around his waist. Breathe, he told himself.

The head of his aching shaft just breached the tight ring of muscle and both boys gasped in unison; one in startled wonderment and the other in minor pain.

Though instinct demanded Ted just sink himself into Cody and have done with it Ted forced himself to remain still--- the effort visible to Cody as his lover was shaking. “Go, Teddy,” he pleaded, “Just go slowly.”

Ted still looked uneasy at the prospect of hurting Cody but he did as he was bid, bracing his hands on either side of Cody’s head on the bed as he started to push into him some more, inch by inch. Oh sweet Mary, it was… indescribable.

“Oh, God,” Ted whispered as he found himself fully seated within Cody’s tight body. 

Face scrunched up, trying to fight the pain that accompanied the entrance, Cody attempted to smile and said, “And you tell me not to take the Lord’s name in vain.”

“Cody… Oh…” he trailed off, never having felt pleasure so intense in his life, needing to take Cody’s lips with his own. He bent forward, cock buried, as his lips met Cody’s and their tongues came together. He had yet to move his hips, content to stay right where he was until Cody looked more comfortable. When their kiss broke off, he held Cody’s eyes and asked, “How’re ya doin’?”

“It still hurts,” he said honestly. “But, Teddy, it feels _so right_. You’re actually _inside me_ right now.”

“I never wanted to hurt you, Codes,” Ted told him, a worried look appearing on his face.

“I know, believe me. But this is exactly what I wanted. _You_. Yeah, it… it hurts, but I’ll take it all… I’d go to Hell and back for you,” he said, stroking his fingers through Ted’s hair. 

Ted sighed gently, “Oh Cody,” he brought a lightly shaking hand up to stroke Cody’s cheek.

“My sweet Cody… my angel…” Cody’s eyes drifted closed, mind separating from the pain somewhat as he listened to the sweet endearments Ted was giving him.

After a few minutes Cody finally felt as though he was somewhat ready to try having Ted move. Opening his eyes to find Ted watching his face closely the younger man quirked a slight smile and then nodded, “Teddy, you can move now. Just…” Ted nodded, not needing Cody to finish the plea. He understood completely: go slow. Biting his lip he braced his hands down anew, readying himself.

Carefully, as slowly as he could, Ted eased his hips backwards, easing his shaft out of the tight confines of Cody’s sheath.

Half-way he made a forward thrust and eased himself back in, biting his lip to muffle a groan.

The first few thrusts had the pain flaring anew but it was most certainly less than before, definitely not something he couldn’t bear, Cody aware as the pain finally seemed to ebb away.

The sensation of Cody’s tight hole around his cock as he thrust inside had Ted’s body in overdrive. It felt _so good_. Too good. And he didn’t know if he’d be able to go on much longer, even though they’d only just started. 

Reaching a hand down, Cody took hold of his cock, which had softened as pain flared up in his body as Ted penetrated him. But as he began stroking, he found himself slowly growing hard again. “Teddy, I’m getting hard again,” he said aloud, rubbing the tip of his cock against Ted’s stomach. 

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit,” Ted repeated, trying to get control over his body. “Stop, please Cody, don’t. I— I can’t…” he trailed off. He didn’t want it to end before it even really began. But at the rate he was going, it would be. 

Cody grinned, but he didn’t stop rubbing his hard cock over Ted’s abdomen. He knew how long he’d lasted the first few times he’d been on the receiving end of a blowjob, and that hadn’t been long at all. He couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to actually be fucking someone for the first time, but he figured it’d have to feel incredible. “There’ll always be a next time,” he whispered. He quite honestly didn’t care if their first time was spectacular, just so long as he was with the one man he loved.

Slamming his eyes shut Ted was all but holding his breath as he continued his slow movements. This was the sweetest, most unbearable torture that he had ever experienced; the stimulus surrounding him conspiring to make him embarrass himself.

Even though Cody said he didn’t mind Ted was sure that deep down he would, and he knew that he would never be able to look at himself in the mirror again if he disgraced himself this first time. His body was shaking with effort and Cody greedily drank in the sight of his understated muscles bulging and tensing.

The urge to arch his hips overtook Cody as the sensitive head of his shaft kept glancing over the ridges of Ted’s abdomen, and as he arched them just right it caught Ted’s movement perfectly and sent him going deep and all at once into Cody.

As Cody gasped Ted gave a strangled moan, eyes flying open. “S-Sorry. Oh, shit, C-Cody, did I hurt you?” the stricken expression on Ted’s face warmed Cody’s heart, the other really did care so much. Leaning up he pulled Ted into a kiss after murmuring, “Do that again, Teddy.” Now that it wasn’t hurting so much he enjoyed the sensation of Ted so deep within him. 

Their bodies were pressed closer together now, Cody’s erection being sandwiched between them as Ted’s hips were pressed against Cody’s thighs.

Buried to the hilt, Ted rocked his hips, eliciting yet another gasp and moan from Cody. “Is… is this ok?”

Nodding, Cody reached up and ran his fingers through the short, sweat soaked hair covering Ted’s forehead. “It’s... it’s gotten a lot better,” he said as Ted managed to hit that spot again. His hips bucked up of their own accord, and his legs seemed to wrap even tighter around Ted’s waist. 

As Cody’s hips bucked, his hole seemed to constrict even tighter around Ted’s cock, and once again he found himself wondering just how long he’d be able to hold out until the inevitable happened. “Codes… Oh my Lord, Cody, you feel so good,” Ted breathed out, trying to concentrate on his movements. That and not finishing too soon. But the more he moved, even if it was merely a subtle roll of the hips, had his body begging more and more for release. 

Soon, once he was positive it was no longer causing Cody pain, Ted allowed his instincts to begin guiding his movements.

He thrust deeper into Cody, seeking the elusive spot that he had heard-tell of before, feeling himself pulsing and throbbing and finding enough wherewithal to bring a hand from clenching the sheets to wrap around Cody instead. His strokes had to be clumsy, unused to trying to do both at once, but Cody didn’t seem to mind it.

Sweat was trickling down Ted’s back and front, and he could feel a bead of it tracing down his spine. Cody’s own skin seemed to shimmer, face flushed with exertion and lips open just slightly in pleasure and panting gasps and mews. Gritting his teeth Ted sent up a prayer, hips working just that bit faster, that bit harder, sensing the tell-tale heat pooling in his lower-body and knowing that despite his best efforts he was soon due to be done. He couldn’t hold it.

“Cody, I… I just can’t,” Ted choked out. His own body felt as though it were on fire it felt so damn good. But he had no idea if Cody was receiving any pleasure at all from his awkward and still rather uncertain movements, and therefore had no idea if he was anywhere near as close to completion as he was. 

“Then do it… Teddy, I wanna feel what it’s like when you come inside me,” Cody said.

“Oh _fuck_ ”! Ted cried, bucking his hips as Cody spoke, those words doing things to his body that no words should have the power to do. His eyes screwed shut as his orgasm finally took over. 

Cody watched Ted’s face from below, taking in all its beauty as Ted was overcome with complete pleasure. He felt Ted’s body convulsing atop his, could feel his dick twitching inside of him, felt the seed as it spilled from Ted. He began stroking himself faster, wanting to reach his own completion while Ted was still inside of him, but he didn’t know if he would. 

In the end Cody did manage to get his completion as Ted was inside of him. He had thought he was still quite a ways off, but when Ted had lifted himself up a little more on shaking arms, his face a relaxed and blissed mask as he whispered, “I love you Cody. Thank you,” that had touched Cody deeply.

A strangled gasping cry left him as he covered his hand and their stomachs in his seed.

The suddenness of his climax had surprised even him and his spent body dropped down against the sheets, feeling them sticking to his skin somewhat with perspiration. He moaned weakly; he was so sticky but it felt so good.

Seeing Cody coming had Ted swearing that his own shaft twitched again even though realistically he knew that there was absolutely no way he could possibly be ready to go again. He was exhausted. Shocked and dazed, completely overawed by what had happened. He was still shamed he had finished before Cody had, but he wouldn’t have changed any of the event.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you - Oscar Wilde

“Very funny. I’ve got a sense of humour too, you know,” Justin said. “But I hope you know that even when I’m fifty and you’re pushing one hundred fifty, I’ll still want to be with you, simply because you’re _you_ ,” he added, teasing, yet being completely serious at the same time.

“You’re just a boat load of laughs tonight, aren’t you? My angel’s got such a quick wit about him… obviously I’ve raised you well.”

“Obviously. Really, though,” Justin said, stopping his motions as he went on, “you were the one that raised me, and I’m most grateful for it. Without you…”

“I know, Angel. I know. There’s no need to think of that now, though,” Wade told him.

Justin smirked as he looked into Wade’s eyes. “I try and have a sentimental moment with you, and all you’re doing is thinking with your cock.”

“Just trying to keep up with you, is all.”

“Now who’s making with the humour?” Justin commented but allowed the moment to pass. Not always, but a good portion of the times wherein he had attempted to bring up the past Wade always cut him off before he got too far--- truth be told he felt like it bothered Wade more than it did him to consider ‘what if’s?’

His grip tightened as he continued to stroke Wade and he felt the way a full-body shudder ran through his lover in response to the pleasure.

“Angel—“ Wade knew that he was quite honestly several strokes away from coming on Justin’s hand and he wasn’t sure he was quite amicable to the idea.

Not the idea of release but the idea of a release without Justin achieving one too.

Justin gasped softly as Wade’s hand enveloped him the same way he held the other, his skin even more sensitive than usual thanks to the water’s warmth.

He mewed, face pressing into Wade’s strong shoulder as the other started stroking.

“Mmm, oh _God_ Wade,” Justin said, speaking right into Wade’s flesh. He swore every touch of Wade’s hand upon his body drove him up the wall. Damn, if his lover didn’t know his body better than he knew himself. 

Wade kept his pace in time with Justin’s, who was still attempting to keep things moving teasingly slow. “Come on, Justin, you tell me I can’t keep up with you, yet you’re the one moving as slow as molasses,” Wade goaded, now allowing himself to stroke Justin faster. 

“I was simply warming you up,” he returned, now moving his hand to keep up with Wade. He tilted his head upwards to begin pressing kisses into Wade’s neck.

“Justin… I’m so close.”

Now pulling his head off Wade’s chest, he looked his lover dead in the eye, and just before he met his lips with his own, he whispered, “I know.”

Well, fuck. Wade’s eyes closed as his lips met Justin’s, kissing the other passionately as a final handful of strokes took him over the edge. The sensation of Wade’s shaft twitching violently in his grasp had Justin’s head spinning.

The way Wade squeezed him reflexively and moaned into his mouth was what eventually sent Justin over the edge though, pulling back from their kiss to mew and gasp as he shuddered. As his body tingled and shook with aftershocks Wade gathered him close into his grasp.

Kissing Justin’s cheek lightly Wade murmured, “Mhm, good thing we’re in the bath really isn’t it?” Justin chuckled lightly and nodded his head in sated agreement.

They lounged for a few minutes before exiting the bath.

Justin drained and rinsed the tub more out of habit than needing to do it (they did have cleaning staff in school) clad only in the soft towel Wade had given him.

 

“I should get going now,” Justin said once he stood after rinsing out the tub. “Otherwise I’ll end up spending the rest of the day here.”

“I would love if you spent the rest of your day here,” Wade told him. Hell, he wished that Justin _could_ spend the rest of the day there with him. 

“I would love that, too, but you know as well as I do that I can’t.”

“Then at least get dressed before leaving,” Wade said. “And let me help you.”

~~~

Realization dawned on him that he was still inside Cody. Reaching down, he brushed over his cock, touching Cody’s entrance, where they were combined as one. “Holy shit,” he muttered as he withdrew his cock, “we just made love.”

Smiling up at Ted, Cody ran his hand down Ted’s face. “That we did, Teddy. And it was wonderful.”

Rolling onto his side (Cody remained on his back, but his head followed Ted so they were still looking at one another), Ted shook his head lightly. “Are you sure? I mean… Did I hurt you? You’re not lying, are you?” he asked. 

“Of course I’m sure, yes it did hurt but obviously I made it through and no, I’m most definitely _not_ lying. It may not have been the most glorious love making ever, but that’ll come with time,” Cody said. “I’m sure next time will be even better.”

“So… so you do actually want there to be a next time?” Ted asked, face flush.

“Now that’s a dumb question. _Of course_ I want there to be a next time. I want there to be _many_ next times with you,” he answered. “Each time better than the last.” 

“Sorry for hurting you,” Ted brushed a gentle kiss over Cody’s flushed cheek, “And, um, sorry I couldn’t hold on for you---“ his eyes dropped, clearly embarrassed, “But you just… it felt so good.” He trailed off weakly and Cody chuckled softly.

“Teddy, really, it’s all completely fine. We knew it would hurt, and you took really good care of me…” he then looked sly.

“What?” Ted prompted lightly when he saw the other’s expression, hand absently caressing Cody’s stomach from where they lay and uncaring that his hand was currently traversing through Cody’s previously spilled seed.

“I was just thinking that I love how I made you lose control like that,” Cody said honestly, “And how much I enjoyed the feeling of you coming inside of me.” Ted’s cheeks went red anew, pressing his face into the crook of Cody’s neck, “You’re terrible.”

Cody laughed softly once more before giving a yawn, suddenly feeling very tired.

“You just wait until I’m inside of you, Teddy; you’ll see what I mean then.”   
And personally he was a little glad Ted had finished quickly since now it meant that it wouldn’t matter if he did the same when he topped.

“Wait… you mean _you_ want to… to… _me_?” Ted asked, eyes growing wide. 

“Well yeah. Don’t you want to know what it’s like when the positions are reversed?” he asked. 

“I… I guess I never really thought about it,” Ted answered. He’d only just had his first kiss less than a week prior, and he never thought that he’d be sleeping with Cody so soon afterwards, so he truly never thought about whether or not he’d be the one to take Cody, or what it’d be like to have Cody inside him. 

“Don’t worry, Teddy, we won’t rush that, ok? Not until you’re ready.” That was the last thing that was said before they both drifted off to sleep once again, Ted pulling the sheet up to cover their nude forms. 

When Cody awoke later, at what must have been lunch (or even past it) he ached.

It was a good feeling though, pleasant even in its throbbing. It was proof of he and Ted.

Turning carefully (and wincing slightly as he did) Cody smiled softly as he looked at Ted’s sleeping face. The blonde’s hair was still mussed from where Cody’s fingers had been combing through it earlier, and his face was completely peaceful. There was even a slight smile curling the edge of Ted’s plush lips.

Cody rested his head on Ted’s chest absently, listening to the even and steady thudding underneath. The sound lulled him into a minor stupor, his hand absently caressing Ted’s abdomen underneath the covers.

“Hey,” Ted greeted as he awoke, glancing down to see Cody’s head resting upon him, feeling his hand moving on his stomach, as well. 

“Hey…” Suddenly his eyes grew wide when he realized just what today was. The impromptu love making with Ted had seriously thrown him off his normal Saturday schedule. “Oh shit!” He sat up and pushed the covers off of himself, giving Ted a nice display of Cody’s naked body. 

“What? What’s going on?” Ted asked as Cody scrambled back into his clothes.

“I have theatre practice today, remember?” Cody said in a rush. “And I have to be there… five minutes ago. Shit.”

“Oh… Did you still want me to, uh…?” 

“If you want to come with me, you can, but hurry up and get dressed. I know the theatre’s a pretty easy going place, but even they don’t appreciate it when people show up nude.”

Needless to say it wasn’t quite the gentle awakening Ted had imagined for the aftermath of their first time of making love. Oh well, next time perhaps.

He managed to dress quickly enough, realising after a few moments that Cody was limping slightly as he moved around the room to collect his previously scattered clothing. Immediately guilt flared through him, “Oh, Cody, I’m sorry—“ he started but Cody immediately waved him off. “I wanted it, didn’t I?”

Well, he couldn’t deny that but it didn’t mean it made the situation easier.

The younger was so harried as they headed downstairs that he completely missed Justin sitting in the common room.

And, Ted was so focused on Cody that he missed him too.

Cody could feel a small pain flaring in his backside with every movement that he made but he reveled in it. Rehearsal was going to be an absolute nightmare but he didn’t mind.

~~~

Somewhat reluctantly, Justin allowed Wade to help him dress before giving him one final, deep kiss before heading out. As soon as he was out the door and down the hall, he wished he could get back to his Wade. The common room was pretty much dead when he got there, so he headed up the stairs to his room before anyone could see him just coming back from his night out. However, when he unlocked the door and found Ted and Cody asleep in the same bed, presumably naked with the heavy scent of sex in the air, he quickly shut the door and headed right back into the common room. 

Justin was honestly unsure whether to laugh of have a private moment of smugness over the fact Cody and Ted had taken that final step.

He would be lying though if he said he wasn’t just mainly glad that the two had made use of Cody’s bed and not his own… the joke had lingered in his mind.

Giving a quiet sigh he leant back on the couch, arms going around himself.

He had been without Wade beside him for not even half an hour and already he felt bereft.

The South African allowed his mind to wander to potential gift ideas for Wade. He supposed if all else failed he could just buy Wade some of his favourite sweets, but he really wanted to get him a proper present. He knew the sort of things couples got one another (boys gossiped about what they’d brought their sweethearts quite often) but he doubted a hair-decoration would be Wade’s sort of thing. Plus, they didn’t exactly have the freedom to be as open as everyone else about such things. He sighed, his brow furrowing, and knew that he was going to agonise over this for a long time to come.

After seeing Cody practically run out of the room, Ted following close behind, Justin stood from his spot on the couch to go and change into new clothes. He hadn’t brought a change of clothes with him, hadn’t brought anything with him, since he didn’t want anyone asking him anything about the bag he would have been carrying. The smell of sex still lingered in the air, and he was certain that people would be able to smell it on both Ted and Cody, wherever they were going. It hit him that it was Saturday, and Saturdays meant theatre rehearsals. That could get interesting if someone picked up on that. 

He changed out of his clothes and into another casual weekend outfit. Once he brushed his hair and did his teeth, he headed back into the common room, and a few more people had trickled in. “Morning, Joe,” he greeted, finding him sitting alone at one of the tables, setting up a game of solitaire. 

“Oh, hey, Justin,” he returned. Finally set up, he moved an ace off the board and asked, “Nice night?” without looking up from the game. 

“Yeah, can’t complain,” he answered, and wished that he could say the same about every night. “So, where’s your partner in crime?” Justin asked, having no idea what went on between Joe, Windham and Heath the previous day.

~~~

“Well, if I knew it was that easy…” Randy trailed off, smirking until he received a smack on the arm courtesy of John. “Ok, ok, in all seriousness… maybe it wouldn’t be too bad of a thing to just be exclusive to one another.”

“It couldn’t hurt, right?” John added. He’d certainly contemplated it before, being with no one but Randy, but knowing that he could have someone else as a little piece on the side if he wanted it meant that more often than not, he took that opportunity. 

“Probably not, no… But…”

“But?” John asked. He took a deeper drag than usual and couldn’t hold back his cough as he breathed in too much smoke. 

Randy waited for John’s small coughing fit to finish before he went on, “But I think, well, maybe we could wait until Uni to be exclusive?”

“Why not just start now?” John asked, but before Randy could even reply, he said, “It’s because of Runnels and DiBiase, isn’t it?”

At least Randy had the grace to look somewhat contrite. He was more than ready to give up other people for John, for obvious reasons that were not just physical, but he wanted to have just that final dalliance before he did. Just that one.

Sighing, John took another drag of the cigarette and said, “I still think you could be pinning your hopes on the wrong ones, Randy.” He really wasn’t sure how either of those two would take to being approached. “But fine. Uni it is then.” It’d probably take that long.

“John—” Randy started slowly.

Holding up a hand John cut the other off before he got started, “Randy, if I was against it I would have said so already.”

Thinking quickly Randy said, “Just those two. I won’t mess around with anyone else but those two.” And once he’d had them he’d commit to John fully.

Their likely future wives didn’t fall into the equation really; duty never was exactly their primary consideration in their lives after all.

“So, that’s it? Just those two?” John asked for confirmation. 

“Just those two. I swear. And you’ll be right there with me the whole time… so are those two the only ones you’re going to mess around with?” Randy wondered. 

John nodded. “Yeah.” He took a drag, then said, “Though I’d love to meet that new student you’d been telling me about first.”

“Hmm, that’s right… well, I may have to take back what I said about Runnels and DiBiase,” Randy muttered, smirking.

“And I wouldn’t mind having another go at Dupree, just so I can then go about watching you rip him apart,” John added. He did love when Randy’s jealous and aggressive side came out, and he hadn’t seen anyone get Randy as riled up before as Dupree had managed to.

“Whoa, whoa, hang on—“ Randy’s eyes widened at John’s comment.

“What?” John said innocently, batting his lashes at Randy, “If you can have one outsider from the agreed last pair then I can too, right?” Randy snorted lightly, pouting.

“Not that bastard though. Seriously John, anyone but him.” Already it was riling Randy up and John wondered if he should push further.

“It’s not like I’ll let him fuck me…” John pretended to muse, seeing the way Randy put a bit of extra force into stamping his cigarette out.

“You better fucking well not an all. Anyone but him.” Randy muttered. He was more than ready to smash Dupree’s face in for the personal satisfaction alone, let alone having the knowledge that he had attempted to get more out of John than he had already been given.

John smirked the whole time at Randy’s reaction. “He’s really not _that_ bad. It’s just his culture.”

“His culture my fucking arse,” Randy muttered. “He’s a bastard, that’s all there is to it. And you’re not going near him. That fuck is _not_ getting any more of you, no matter how bad he wants it.”

“You know how much I dislike being told what to do,” John said. 

“I swear to god, John, if I find out that he so much as looks at you like that again, I will do something that will land me in jail. And such a pretty face as myself wouldn’t do well behind bars.”

John simply rolled his eyes. “Fine, then, no Dupree. But I’ll find one more person outside of our agreed pair to have on my own.”

“Fair enough,” Randy agreed. He went to pull out his cigarette tin for another, but John’s hand was on his arm, reminding him that he said they were only going to have one.

“One more?” Randy tried and John pointedly shook his head, making Randy pout and give a small whine.

Conceding that John wasn’t going to let him have another Randy then said, “Let’s go back to my room for a bit.” A night without John and he was keen just to get the man alone so he could kiss him properly.

“Can’t wait to get me alone, hm?” John joked as they headed back in.

“Of course not,” Randy said without preamble or shame. It was funny to think if situations allowed it he would probably have laid public claim to John long before now. Hell, he’d probably be engaged to him if he’d been a girl.

Grinning despite himself John’s hand caught Randy’s just briefly, giving it a small squeeze before he then pushed the door open.

The trip back to Randy’s room took very little time at all and as soon as they were inside John flopped down onto the comfortable bed with a small sound of delight. Much better than his own.

Randy smiled at just how _right_ John looked sprawled out on his bed like that. “You’re acting like it’s been years since you’ve seen a bed.”

“It feels like it,” John muttered. “Now, come here. You’re the one that was so set on getting me here all alone.”

Randy didn’t have to be told twice. In two strides he was across the room. After toeing off his shoes, he laid his body over John’s, hands coming together next to John’s head as their fingers twined, and finally Randy’s lips met John’s.

“You taste like cigarette,” John mumbled.

“You do, too,” Randy reminded him before deepening the kiss, himself not caring about the cigarette taste he found on John. 

“You’re sleeping in here tonight, right?” Randy murmured against John’s lips as they pulled back from one another to breathe. John thought for a moment.

There was every chance that that Danielson kid would stalk his room again, but at the same time he really didn’t care.

“Probably,” he said, not wanting to make an outright promise just in case. Randy nodded in understanding, though mentally cursed the little prefect who had an unnatural fixation on his lover, regardless of what sort of motivation it was.

John nibbled Randy’s lower-lip and then licked it.

Ok, maybe he really didn’t mind the taste of cigarettes too much when the taste was mixed in with Randy. It was actually pretty good. 

“I missed you last night,” Randy muttered against John’s lips. 

“I missed your comfortable bed… _and_ you,” John added after getting an evil eye from his lover. “Most especially you.” He wondered if Randy had taken the time to put away his bear, so as Randy once more kissed him, his hands reached above his head and searched under Randy’s pillows, smiling into the kiss as he grabbed hold of the fuzzy leg of the stuffed animal. 

Raising himself off John, Randy was about to say that they had far too many clothes on when he saw that John had in his hand his very loved teddy bear. “What, do you want him as our audience, or something?”

“No! I just wanted to see if you’d slept with him or not,” John said, shrugging his shoulders against the mattress. 

“Well… you had nothing to worry about. Kinda glad you’re holding him now… he was losing your scent,” Randy told him, the slightest of blushes touching his cheeks.

“Is he now?” John’s dimples appeared, pulling the teddy free gently.

John’s strong arms enveloping the teddy reminded Randy just how fragile the old thing was. When it started falling to bits he’d either have to have it repaired of buy a new one--- he’d probably go for the repair first if he could. 

Not many people knew of his sentimental side, but when it came to John, Randy was just like any other boy. “There,” John said, breaking the hug with the bear, “That should do it.”

“Good job too,” Randy said as he took the bear and sat it on his bedside table, but made sure to place it with its back to them much to John’s amusement. “Oh yes?” he questioned, “Why is it such a good job?” he cocked his head.

“Because I was getting jealous of the bloody bear,” Randy said as his hands immediately went to John’s shirt, “I think you should make it up to me for being so cruel.”

John laughed slightly but made no attempt to stop Randy as the other undid his buttons, “Well, if that’s what you think, then we should rectify that shouldn’t we?”

“Most definitely… I missed you so much, John.” It was never until they parted that they realized just how accustomed they’d become to sleeping in one another’s arms. And while he didn’t miss John’s snoring, he did miss everything else about him. 

“I missed you, too, Randy.” He sat up as Randy pushed the shirt off over his shoulders and tossed it towards the chair. He missed and it landed on the floor, but neither cared at the moment. “How much longer will it be until you’re inside me?”

“Doesn’t have to be that much longer. How quick do you think you can get your pants off? All I have to do is unbutton and slick myself up.” 

“No… no, don’t want to rush things. I want you naked as the day you were born so that I can feel every last inch of your body,” John said. 

“Well, if that’s how you want it, that’s exactly what you’ll get,” Randy replied, beginning to unbutton his own shirt as John shucked off his trousers, removing his socks as well. Shirtless, still wearing his own trousers, Randy couldn’t help himself as he reached down and took hold of John’s cock through his underwear. “Hard for me already…” He noticed the small wet patch near the tip of John’s dick, rubbing his thumb over the spot. “And leaking… someone’s excited.”

John whined and his hips bucked, “When you’re involved I’m always excited,” he groaned quietly, his head rolling backwards onto the pillows. His hand grabbed Randy’s wrists after a few moments though, sending him a look, “You want this over early?”

A wicked smirk crossed Randy’s lips, “A night without me has already got you like this, huh?” he teased, his own trousers tight and without compassion as he squeezed his own groin. John growled softly and rolled his hips, “Pants off, now,” he tugged at them.

Lifting his hips up Randy allowed John to pull them off (“Mind the button, John, you broke the last ones, remember?”) before he kicked them aside.  
Before John could get Randy divested of his boxers though Randy beat the other to it. Yanking John’s boxers down he watched as his shaft sprung free.

“Mhm… all for me,” he rumbled, pleased with how hard John was for him already. He stood tall and proud and Randy pressed him flat against his stomach before letting him spring up again. A bead of pre-cum welled around the head of his shaft and Randy ducked his head down and flicked his tongue around it. John gasped and cursed, a fist pressing against his mouth as the other gripped at the covers; even that light touch had fire building in his abdomen. 

“Ohhhh, God, Randy. Suck me, please,” John begged, that little flick of Randy’s tongue just a small taste of what Randy was capable of. 

“Well, you did ask so nicely,” Randy said, wrapping a hand around the base. “But I haven’t even had any time to get reacquainted, and you already want me to take you all the way into my mouth? That’s asking a little much, don’t you think?”

“Randy, don’t tease me like this. I just want you, please.” He was prepared to go on longer, pleading with Randy, but he didn’t have to. The next words out of his mouth were, “Sweet fuck!” as Randy moved his hand away and expertly took all of John’s cock in one go. 

While Randy wasn’t the only person he’d received a blowjob from in his life, far from it, he was one of the few that could take him all the way in, and he was by far the best at it. That, John was sure, came with the years of practice. And he was also sure that he would never get sick of feeling that tight throat constricting around him, or that tongue dragging along his cock just right… “Fuck, Randy, I want you,” John moaned, hand gripping lightly in Randy’s hair.

~~~

“Oh, he’s still asleep,” Joe said airily. Justin could see a slight tension in the other’s jaw and moved to sit alongside him since he had been standing beside the other when he had first addressed him. “Joe, are you alright?” he asked. The other looked up and quirked a faint, somewhat tired but genuine smile, “Yeah, I am.” He and Windham had had a long talk the night before, both with and without Heath there, and they still had yet to come to some sort of… well, some sort of agreement he supposed. At least they had managed to work through the tension that had plagued the three of them somewhat.

“Where were you last night then?” Joe asked casually, placing another card down and flipping another. It was funny to think that he had such a penchance for concentration needing games when he was notorious for the fact that he could barely sit still long enough to last through his required lessons.

“Oh, I was—“ he started, falling silent after a moment. The others might tease him for Wade, but if any of them actually knew for sure he didn’t really know.

“Don’t worry, I won’t say anything,” Joe placed a finger over his lips. He then indicated his collar and nodded at Justin’s own neck, “If I were you I’d pick a shirt with a higher collar.” He wondered if Wade hadn’t pointed that out deliberately. 

Blushing fiercely, Justin reached up and covered his neck with his hand. “I, uh… thanks,” he said. 

“No problem. I’ve had my fair share of those, too. Is it, umm…” Joe flipped over a small stack of three more cards and continued along with his game before coming out with it. “Is it from Barrett?”

“Shit,” Justin hissed. “Just… you can’t tell anyone, ok?”

“So it _is_ from Barrett?” Joe asked again, this time actually glancing up from his cards with a smile on his face. Justin nodded and dropped his hand from his neck. “We all suspected… And who exactly would I tell? I’m sure your roommates already know… and if Windham or Heath found out for sure, they wouldn’t be at all surprised. And none of us would _ever_ tell anyone else about you two, from my lips to God’s ears.”

Justin finally smiled slightly. It wasn’t often Joe spoke of God, so when he did make a promise to the Big Man, it was usually pretty serious. “Thank you. Oh, uh, black five on that six there,” he pointed out, earning him an annoyed look from Joe. 

Holding his hands up apologetically Justin then returned to adjusting his collar to hide the marking.

Joe seemed to be paying attention to his game but now and again commented with a, ‘Nope’ if he obviously hadn’t covered it properly. “I must say though,” Joe wiggled his brows playfully, “I’m surprised you’re even walking.”

“Joe!” Justin groaned, covering his face with his hands.

He should have known that their serious moment was too good to be true; the other couldn’t resist teasing him, it was like a compulsion. “I’m only saying,” Joe mused as a few more cards were moved, “I mean, Barrett’s a big bloke, you know? Stands to reason the main part of him would be too---“ he then eyed Justin, “And, no offence mate, but you are rather small.” Justin waved a hand at that; he was aware that he was shorter than most boys were.

He wasn’t small where it counted though so he was assured in that part at least, “I won’t see you laughing when you finally take that step,” he warned. Walking after his first time had admittedly been agonising. Thank God it had been at home on that Christmas holiday.

“Whoa, what—” Joe paused his game and looked at Justin. “What do you mean when _I_ take that final step?”

“Please, even Wade takes it up the ass, I’ve no doubt that you will, as well,” Justin reasoned. A blind man could see that Joe and Windham should be together… at least he thought it was fairly obvious. 

“Wait… did you just say _you’ve_ fucked _Wade_?” Joe asked, totally disregarding the second part of Justin’s sentence. 

“That’s not the point of this conversation. But, yes, for your information, I have. Now, back to you. You won’t think it’s very funny the first time you get fucked, I promise you that.” He thought back to just a bit ago when he saw Cody sprint limping past him. “I’m sure he’s no Wade, but Windham’s not a small guy—”

“How the fuck do you even know it’s Windham?” Joe asked. Justin hadn’t even been with them the previous day! 

Justin shrugged, “I thought it was pretty obvious.”  
“Well, fuck,” Joe said eyes wide and staring at Justin. The other was so fucking composed that it made him feel all the most flustered..

“You noticed? What, how? I mean I was so…” he trailed off, not even sure what he really wanted to say. He had so many contrasting thoughts running through his mind that he couldn’t settle on one.

“Joe, I don’t mind,” Justin pointed out, “I mean, from your reaction I’m assuming everyone else knows and is Ok with it, right?”

Joe snorted softly and then sighed, his head suddenly resting on the palm of his hand as he sighed, “Not exactly.” The South African frowned when he saw the way the other seemed to deflate, moving closer to him, “Joe?   
What’s wrong? What’s happened?” suddenly he wondered what he had missed the night before.

“I don’t want to get back into it… though your input would probably have helped last night,” he admitted rather wanly.

“Uh, sorry?” Justin tried, pretty confused by now.  
“Fuck,” Joe muttered again, interest in his game dwindling as everything that happened the previous few days came back to him. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to… talk about it?” Justin asked. Joe had said that his input would have been helpful, that had to count for something, right? 

“I’m sure,” Joe said rather stubbornly. “But, _Christ_ , why can’t it just be… easy? Like Ted and Cody, or you and Wade?”

“Hold on one goddamn minute. I’ll tell you this now, and I’ll tell you this only once,” Justin began, his voice nothing but serious as he spoke, “there is nothing about Wade’s and my relationship that’s easy. Understand?”

“Shit, that’s not what I meant, Justin, I swear,” he apologized, knowing the words came out wrong. He could see how hard it was for those two to be together, their whole relationship a taboo. “Just that… well, you two know that you love one another, but I… _Fuck_.”

“What are you going on about? You just said you were with Windham, what’s there to be confused about?”

~~~

“Ah, Mr. Runnels, you finally showed up,” Mr. Matthews said once he saw Cody coming in the backstage entrance. 

“Sorry, I, uh, lost track of time,” Cody replied. He wished he had time for a shower, since he knew he smelled of Ted and everything they’d just done, and he looked a mess, as well. 

“Apparently. We had your understudy stepping in for you while we ran scenes. I’ll let him know that you’re here.” As Josh went back around the curtain to view the current on stage action, he waited for the scene to end before informing people that Cody had finally arrived. While he was around front of the curtain, he saw that they had someone in their audience now. Seems as though Cody invited Ted along. 

“What happened to you?” Mike Mizanin asked when he headed backstage and saw Cody standing there. “Get mauled by a bear, or something?”

“Do shut up, Mike,” Cody muttered, fingers combing through his hair to straighten it out somewhat and adjusting his clothing.

“Wow, someone’s tetchy today,” Mike snickered, “Maybe if you got your end away once in a while then you might not be so bitchy…” his eyes widened as Cody was suddenly in front of him.

His smile was innocent but his eyes spoke of pain for the person to piss him off. He liked Josh and so hated when the teacher scolded him, and he was angry with himself for having to cut his after-glow with Ted over their first time short because he’d picked the day of rehearsal to finally break Ted’s walls down. “It’s because I got my end away not half an hour ago that I’m not beating your face in, dearest Michael.”

The venom in the threat had Mike freezing in place, Cody recovering to be all smiles and in character as he strode onstage after hearing his cue.

Mike had to recover quickly from Cody’s comments, as it was just a matter of a few lines that he’d be going back on stage himself. 

Watching from the second row of seats, Ted watched on as the scene went on, jealousy rising in his chest as knew that his Cody would have to kiss Mizanin at one point or another. He didn’t recognize the scene they were at now, so they could have already passed the part where they kissed the first time, but he couldn’t know for sure. Still, the thought of Cody kissing someone else other than him tugged at his heartstrings, even if it was only for the theatre. 

Cody found that the current scene was pretty easy for him to act out, as he lashed out at Michael, taking all his frustrations and pouring them into his character. And to think, just that morning he wanted to make Ted jealous by kissing Mike in front of him… now he wished he’d never invited him along, because after making love to him, he didn’t want that at all… though maybe a little jealousy would go a long way… he wouldn’t object at all to Ted taking him again as he claimed his ownership of his body… no, that wouldn’t be so bad at all. 

There was no kissing in that first scene they did, much to Ted’s delight, but the timbre of a following scene was very much romantic.

Of course, given the propriety of their times the most that would be allowed onstage was a kiss, possibly the removal of a jacket or hair-ornament in the case of Cody’s character when he was in full costume, and for that Ted was eternally grateful because even the kisses were gnawing at him with a fiery jealousy. At one point he was actively gripping the sides of his seat to keep himself from storming onto that stage and giving the whole theatre troop a show as to who Cody belonged to.

There was a part of him that wanted to demand that Josh take all kisses out of the play but he knew he couldn’t do that. The teachers might turn a blind eye (and to be honest he had his suspicions about Professor Matthews and their English teacher, Professor Striker) to the affairs of their students but what they would do when actively confronted with it he had no idea. He ground his teeth together as Mike’s hands took place of Cody’s hips where his own had been not an hour or so before as he thrust himself into Cody over and over again.

He _knew_ it was an absurd thought, he _knew_ it would never happen, but the images came anyway. Of Mizanin and Cody together just as he had been with Cody earlier that morning. He tried to shake those thoughts and images out of his head, but it wasn’t working. Not with what he was currently seeing on stage. Mike’s hands were constantly touching Cody’s arms or his hips or his face. God, it was infuriating. 

As the scenes were playing out, Cody kept thinking to himself that he had to picture Ted in Mike’s place. Those were Ted’s hands on him, not Mike’s. Those were Ted’s lips touching his, not Mike’s. Though after they kissed on stage, he didn’t know if the imagining thing would work, since each kiss he’d shared with Ted had much more passion in it than the ones with Mike, or with anyone else in the past for that matter. Maybe, he thought, it would be best to just be kissing Mike, because then he could compare it to what he and Ted had. 

At the end of the first act, Josh called a break and gathered everyone to the stage for a little conference. He simply told everyone that he was looking forward to the play being performed live and that everyone was doing well. Then he made sure to point out thing to people that they could be doing better. What he told Mike and Cody was that their chemistry while they were arguing was always spot on, but they needed to be a bit more passionate at other times. 

Mike leaned over to Cody and whispered, “How about I take you to my room and show you just how passionate I can be?” He’d say anything just for a reaction. 

A snort left Cody and he gave Mike a black look, “Please. After what I experienced earlier you’d be like a lifeless mannequin in bed.” Mike’s jaw dropped somewhat; sure, Cody had alluded to what he had done earlier, but Mike hadn’t paid it much heed, but this--- this he could hardly ignore, could he? He recovered swiftly though, his cheeks flushing a dull red of anger, “I could teach your little lapdog a thing or two, Runnels.”

“Sure, Mike, sure,” Cody said, moving away from his co-star and heading over to where his lover was seated in the audience area. The blonde had an odd expression on his face and Cody immediately moved in as close to him as he could get away with to speak to him. “Teddy, is something wrong?” at first Ted nodded, but then he shook his head, and that really didn’t help Cody at all. “You really enjoy acting, don’t you?” Ted asked suddenly and Cody blinked rapidly a few times, caught off-guard, “You know I do,” he nodded.  
A pensive nod greeted his words but it didn’t take Cody long to figure out that Ted wasn’t actually paying attention to him for the moment; he was looking somewhere over Cody’s shoulder and Cody turned his head to follow the gaze. Mike was looking in their direction and even when caught out he made no move to hide himself. Instead he merely threw them his customary smirk and wink. Ted frowned, feeling even more unimpressed with the other boy then he had before.

“I really don’t like him,” he mumbled quietly, a flush covering his cheeks lightly as he knew a good portion of his dislike came from a juvenile, unfounded jealousy.

“Believe me, I don’t like him, either,” Cody muttered. “I’d kiss you right here if I could,” he then told Ted. He wanted Michael to see them together, let him know that he did indeed belong to Ted. “But since I can’t, I just want you to know that he’s a lousy kisser, and has absolutely nothing on you.”

“Break’s over!” Josh called from on stage, ready for them to begin their second scene. 

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. I’d understand,” Cody said. He would, too, hell, he wouldn’t want to see Ted kissing Mike, either. 

“I think I’ll stay for a bit longer,” Ted replied, a smile gracing his face as he looked into Cody’s eyes, the anger over Mizanin dissipating as he did. Though when Cody walked back up to the stage, back to Mike, that anger returned. And he found himself hoping that Mike was never one of the boys that Cody had fooled around with in the past, because if he ever found out he was, he was liable to rip his throat out with his bare hands.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess - Oscar Wilde

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Joe muttered, not wanting to risk having another one of his friends momentarily pissed at him.

He was still a little sore with Ted and Cody for the way they had reacted to the situation; no-one seemed to understand just how conflicted he really was.

Placing a hand on his friend’s arm Justin looked wanly amused, “You’d be surprised at what I’d believe.” He then sighed and sent him a small smile.

“If you don’t want to tell me that’s fine, I won’t make you, but just know that I’m here if you need someone to talk to.” Little did Justin know that it was talking that had gotten Joe into all this bother in the first place, “Thanks,” Joe returned.

He cleared the cards up a little after that because he was no longer in the mood to play. “So, aside from a night of taking our headmaster up the arse, and having him take you up the arse—“ he ducked the slap Justin aimed at him, “-how was the rest of your night?”

He was obviously seeking to change the subject, and because Justin was such a nice friend he allowed it without fuss.

“My night was wonderful,” Justin told him, smiling. “After he had me on his desk, we bathed, then we went out to dinner—”

Justin hadn’t even gotten very far into recalling his night with Wade before Joe was cutting him off. “He took you to dinner?” he asked, more surprised about that then the fact that they had sex on Barrett’s desk. 

“Even Headmasters like to go out to dinner every now and then, believe it or not,” Justin teased. “And he _is_ my guardian, so it’s not as though it’s _that_ strange to have him take me out somewhere.” 

“Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense…” 

“So, we went to dinner in a taxicab, but we got to take a carriage back here. Then he had dessert waiting in the room for me,” Justin recalled. 

“You better not tell me that he was your dessert,” Joe muttered, though, honestly, he was in awe of all the things that Justin and Wade did together. 

“No—“ Justin paused and amended, “At least, he wasn’t at first.” Joe mewed in protest, wrinkling his nose as Justin just laughed.

He stopped his semi-serious protests after a few seconds though, genuinely interested in the fact that Wade and Justin seemed to do normal things together outside of the sex that they had. The normal made it less… scandalous, sort of.

“So, he takes you to dinner and buys you expensive cakes and sweets for desserts?” the other hadn’t said what the dessert was and so he had guessed the usual sweets for after meals. Justin nodded, “Oh yes, often.”

He was always getting a little package of some confection or another.

“Wow…” Joe’s face took on a frighteningly pensive look and Justin had the oddest urge to hug him; the expression in his eyes was just so profoundly sad.  
“So you know you love him, right? No conflictions…” he sighed and let his head drop to the table-top, ignoring the pain that flared through his forehead.

“Uhh… right?” Justin said, still really, really confused about what was going on. “No conflictions at all. Umm, why do you ask?”

“Because I don’t know what the _fuck_ is going on with me!” Joe answered, speaking into the hardwood table. 

“But, uh, I thought you and—”

Joe cut him off, though, before he could go on about him and Windham. “We’re trying to give it a shot,” he said, lifting his head up. “But I also might have feelings for Heath a little maybe,” he finally admitted to Justin, this time folding his arms across the table and dropping his head upon them. 

“Wait, Heath is involved in this?” Justin asked, now more lost than before. 

“Yes! And, Christ, I don’t even know what attracted me to them… I’ve only ever been with girls before, and they were always great, but then, I don’t know… I slowly started to realize that— Fuck, I just don’t even know.”

“Hey,” Justin placed a companionable arm around Joe’s shoulders, “Joe, whatever it is it’s Ok, I promise you,” he tried to reassure his friend.

“No it’s not,” Joe mumbled weakly, “I fucked up big time. I should have just left well enough alone and not bothered.”

Didn’t mean he was sure he could give Windham (or Heath) up though.

“Look,” Justin waited until his friend had looked at him before he said, “If you tell me exactly what happened then I might be able to help,” with what he had been told so far he really couldn’t make too much out. For a moment Joe looked as though he might protest but then his shoulders sagged.

“I guess an unbiased opinion would be nice,” especially after the last reception.

He looked to the other again, “But can we go to your room to talk? I don’t quite fancy an open forum…” he trailed off and Justin nodded, the pair getting up and heading back up the stairs that led to his dorm-room.

It wasn’t hard for Joe to miss that heavy scent of sex, but he decided not to comment on that or on the one bed that was not made up, even though it was Ted’s, and he _always_ made up his bed… ok, he would comment on it after he and Justin talked about himself. 

“So, ok, what exactly is going on here with you?” Justin asked once they were both seated on his bed. 

Joe took a deep breath, then began, “Well… Cody came to me and told me all about how he and Ted finally kissed or some such, and I was surprised since I thought they’d been fucking for ages now… anyway, he asked what was going on with me. Well… I told him that I think I might have feelings for Windham, but that I really wasn’t totally sure… and I told him that Heath and I, uh, kissed while we, uh, jerked ourselves off.”

“Wait, _what_? When did that happen?” Justin asked, suddenly feeling so cut off from his friends. 

“A couple weeks ago. We swore we wouldn’t tell anyone. Then, uh, yeah, I told Cody about it, and he kinda encouraged me and Windham together… but, uh, then the next day I went for a smoke and ran into Heath and he, uh… sucked me off?” Joe looked over to Justin and shrugged. He was never good with expressing his feelings, or anything like that, nor was he very good at embellishing stories (unless he won a scuffle, then he could elaborate it like no tomorrow), so he had no idea just how his story was coming across. 

~~~

And wasn’t every admission John made to that effect music to Randy’s ears? He moaned around his lover in reward for his pleasing.

Occasionally John might indulge another to suck him or to suck, but he’d bet that John didn’t beg for them the way he did him. Personally Randy knew he’d never begged for anyone but John and he never would beg for anyone but John either.

After several minutes Randy felt John’s thighs beginning to tense and quiver and so he pulled off of the other with an obscene popping sound and licked the other from base to head, holding John’s eyes all the while. That alone would have had John cumming had Randy not held him in such a fashion that rendered him incapable of doing so.

“Fucker!” John mewed in protest, his body shuddering and shivering as pleasure washed over him but he couldn’t achieve the end that he sought. “Good things come to those who wait, John,” Randy chided mockingly, thrusting three fingers into John’s open mouth before the other could give the smart-Alec retort that Randy knew was just bubbling away in John’s throat, “Get them good and wet, there’s a good boy.”

Naturally, John obliged Randy’s orders, practically slobbering over Randy’s fingers. Good and wet, just like he said. He moaned around the fingers, as well, just for his lover’s pleasure. 

The fingers were pulled out of his mouth with a pop. “Legs up, John-John,” Randy muttered, and John brought his knees up to his chest, raising his ass off the bed. “Perfect.” He began working a single finger into John’s ass, slowly pushing his way through that ever tight ring of muscle. 

“Hurry, Randy,” John encouraged. He wanted Randy inside him sooner rather than later. 

“Wanna do this right, John. Nice and slow.”

“Since when do you _ever_ do anything nice and slow?” John asked. 

“Since now?” Randy replied, a smile pulling at the corner of his lips, a teasing light in his eyes. 

A rare moment indeed when Randy was the one to go slow--- usually things couldn’t move fast enough for him. “Randy---“ John’s slight growl was cut off with a moan as another finger was added inside of him.

“If you don’t hush it,” Randy’s eyes twinkled, “I’ll gag that slutty mouth of yours, John-John, don’t think I won’t.” It wouldn’t be the first time he had had to gag the other in some fashion; one time they had had a sneaky quickie in a classroom and it was only Randy clapping a hand over John’s mouth that stopped them getting caught.

That had been a pretty fantastic orgasm though, he wouldn’t deny, the added thrill and all.

John pouted at him and said, “You love when I talk to you.”

“True,” Randy agreed, three fingers working inside John a bit longer before he eased them out.

“But I much prefer it when you’re begging for me,” and on that note Randy pushed into John—still so very slow.

“ _Yessss_ ,” John hissed as his lover’s cock entered his body. “Oh, Randy, oh, you feel so good.”

“Start begging for me, baby,” Randy encouraged. John, well, the both of them, were so used to being in charge around other people, that when they broke down and just went with their pleasure seeking instincts, begging the other for sex, it got them both good and riled up.

“I want you to fuck me. I want to feel your cock in my _gut_ you’re fucking me so hard.”

“Is that what you want?” Randy asked, holding around John’s ankles. “Huh?”

“Goddammit, Randy, _yes_! Please!” John began to beg. It seemed like one night without Randy had wound him up, as well. “Just stop with the slow going, not right now… now I need you to fuck me.”

“Mhm,” Randy pretended to consider, “Maybe I really do feel like taking it slow tonight, John,” he teased.

“No! No!” John mewed his protest, wishing his legs were free so that he could use them for leverage to pull Randy closer, “Randy, don’t!” he moaned in protest. He could feel the other inside of him, long and thick, stretching him and driving him crazy by just remaining still.

“Don’t what, John?” Randy grinned, drawing back and out of John’s body, “Don’t do this?”

“Not—“ John cut off with a low moan of bliss as Randy’s hips snapped back in hard.

“This what you wanted John?” the thrusts were much too slow for John’s liking, but they were hard and deep and rocking his body with the force and as such he momentarily struggled to regain his coherency past moans and curses.

“Come on, John, tell me how much you like it,” Randy said, slowly drawing his hips back. He stayed like that for a moment, just the head of his cock still inside John’s body, before driving his hips forward hard. 

“Fuck, Randy!” John cried. Even though the fucking wasn’t fast, Randy was doing _exactly_ what he wanted, as he swore he was going so deep he could feel him in his gut. “Keep going, oh fuck, _please_ , keep going.”

“Are you begging me, John?” Randy asked, still deep within John. He rocked his hips a few times, waiting for John’s answer. 

“Yes! Randy, I’m begging you!” John responded. Randy was the only person in the world that would be able to get those words out of his mouth. For no one else would he ever beg, because no one else could ever know him inside and out like the one man he loved more than anything. 

“Well, when you say it like that…”

John released a delighted moan when Randy finally began to get something more akin to a rhythm going in his thrusts, and the sound made Randy twitch inside of John’s tight heat. “You little whore,” he said affectionately.

John’s dimples appeared at Randy’s low words, his eyes hooded and his face flushed from desire and exertion, “I’m getting a sense of –oh, fuck, yes—déjà vu Randy,” he teased the other breathily and Randy gave a low chuckle.

His pace was still slow but now he was giving more than just a thrust John really didn’t mind, “What say we call it even?” Randy growled a little as John tightened around him deliberately.

After all, as demonstrated before if either of them wanted the other to be their willing whore then all they would have to do would be to ask the other and they would get it. They were so enamoured with one another that there wasn’t much they wouldn’t do for each other--- even let their pride go for a time.

“D-Oooh, fucking hell, Randy!”

“That’s it, John,” Randy said, leaning forward to practically bend John in half, hands still gripping tight around his lover’s ankles, “scream my name. Let everyone know the one person who can have you screaming like a little bitch.”

With the change in position came what felt like even _deeper_ thrusts, and when Randy hit that one spot inside him, John’s toes curled in pleasure. “Yessss, right fucking _there_! Fuck! Randy!”

No matter the context, be it in the middle of a fuck, whispered to him late at night before drifting off to sleep, or even whilst being called an asshole or worse, Randy absolutely loved hearing his name coming from John’s mouth. “You wanna touch yourself, John-John?” Randy asked. 

John nodded. His cock was aching with need, twitching with each thrust into his prostate. “Please.”

“Go on, then,” Randy said, “but only because you asked so nicely.”

~~~

And now that thought was in his head it wouldn’t leave him alone. He would have to ask Cody just to put himself at ease because although he really couldn’t see those two having fooled around even he wasn’t naïve enough to pretend that sexual tension couldn’t be displayed outwardly as negative emotions.

Despite his tumultuous thoughts he did enjoy watching the rehearsals, that was no lie.

Seeing the play in its working stages and then seeing the final polished piece with everyone else really emphasised to Ted how much work those involved had really done.

After a few more hours Josh called them all together for a final talk and to wind down the practice, Cody clad in his more-completed costume by this point and driving Ted to distraction as he looked upon him in it. As the talk ended Cody went backstage to change and Ted got up from his seat, heading down towards the stage to wait for his lover. Professor Matthews stopped by him to have a small chat about what he thought of the play so far.

Ted was somewhat surprised that Josh was talking to him, but he gave his honest opinion. “I think it’s incredible how far you’ve come along.” He was around when Cody was assigned his part and was just beginning to learn his lines. 

“Isn’t it astounding watching the progression? Just a few more weeks and we’ll be doing our final performance for the school.”

“I know. It’s all Cody talks about. The play. He’s so dedicated to the theatre; he just enjoys it so much.”

“And you’re enjoying his performance, I take it?” Josh asked. 

“Well, yes. But I’m enjoying everyone’s. It’s just amazing how they can become a completely different person depending on whatever role they’re given. I could never do something like that, I know that for a fact,” Ted told him. He had a hard enough time letting loose enough to run lines with Cody, but Josh didn’t need to know about that incident. 

Josh was pleased that Ted liked what they were doing so far; he was critical of all of their performances, sure, but he knew what these kids were capable of, and just because he thought it was good didn’t mean an un-practiced eye wouldn’t.

The door opened across the theatre and Professor Striker’s head appeared around the door, Ted noticing the way Professor Matthews seemed to straighten up even as he blushed.

Leaving the professor with a quiet murmur of goodbye Ted then let himself up onto the stage and headed into the wings.

He had long since learnt where the dressing-rooms were located.  
He knocked on Cody’s door but received no answer, and yet he could hear movement inside. Easing the door open a bit Ted’s words died on his tongue as he took in the sight before him, mouth dry and eyes wide; Cody was without the plastic piece that held up the dress he had to wear, but he was still wearing the high stockings and silk underwear. Good Lord.

Turning around when he saw a pair of eyes in the mirror he was standing before, Cody took in the sight of a very stunned looking Ted. “You act as though you’ve never seen me dressed as a woman before.”

Ted’s mouth opened and closed several times, and still he couldn’t get words to come out. Cody, his Cody, was standing there wearing stockings, panties, garters and his corset, giving him a perfect hourglass figure. 

“Teddy? You can come in, you know. Or did you forget how to walk, just like you’ve forgotten how to talk?”

“I— You—” was still all that Ted could manage to say, though he did step closer, and he did close the door behind him. 

“Would you mind helping me with this? I just can’t seem to reach the ties,” Cody said, reaching for the lace of the corset, making a show of it. “Please, Teddy? You can remove the stockings and panties if you’d like to, too,” he added, sucking his lower lip between his teeth so Ted could see him in the mirror. 

Never before had Ted considered seeing Cody in lady’s garments particularly attractive, but there was something about the seductiveness he was displaying, coupled with the vulnerability of his look that was making Ted’s blood sing.

Moving across the room stiffly, Ted then reached up and began to attempt to undo the lacing that bound Cody inside of the undoubtedly uncomfortable corset. He fumbled, admittedly, never having attempted one before.

Of course, the way Cody was watching him in the mirror didn’t help, or the way he’d bent over to ‘allow Ted better access to the ties’.

“Are you sure you’re Ok, Teddy?” Cody cooed softly, drinking in the flush on Ted’s cheeks and the way he could feel his lover’s fingers shaking a little.

Clearing his throat softly Ted managed a rather gruff, “Fine,” before he finally got the last tie free and the garment fell down to the ground without care. Slowly, clad now only in the silky panties and stockings, Cody sent Ted his best sweet smile and ran his hands up his lover’s chest, “Thank you, Teddy, that was so tight—“

Ted didn’t know what to say to that, so he did the only thing he could think of. He kissed Cody, even managing to take the younger teen by surprise. As they kissed, his arms wrapped around Cody’s waist, and Cody’s hands slid up over Ted’s shoulders. What took Ted by surprise was when Cody’s legs wrapped around his waist. He stumbled back a bit, but it wasn’t too far until his back hit a wall. Their kiss continued as Ted managed to flip them around so that now Cody’s back was pressed against the wall. 

When their kiss finally did break, both teens were panting. “Fuck, Teddy, where did _that_ come from?” Cody asked, though he knew he couldn’t stop smiling even if he wanted to. 

“I… I don’t know,” Ted answered. He could feel his trousers getting tighter with each passing moment, and the urge to take Cody in the dressing room was so strong. But, at the same time, he didn’t want to risk hurting him any more. 

“Well, I like this side of you,” Cody told him, his palm cupping Ted’s flushed cheek. “A lot,” he added before going in for another kiss. 

Kissing was Ok, Ted reasoned with himself, and then he would leave the dressing-room to allow Cody to change and to take himself away from temptation. However, it seemed that Cody had another idea in mind because those thighs were tight around his hips and the hand that wasn’t cupping his cheek had threaded into his hair and was tugging lightly enough for him to notice but not enough to cause pain. Subconsciously Ted began to rut himself against Cody’s pert little backside encased in that ridiculous silk..

“If—“ Cody rocked back down on Ted when he realised what the other was doing, reveling in the broken moan that left Ted, “I’d known the sight of me in woman’s garments appealed to you so much I would have tried this sooner,” he was only half-kidding.

“Don’t make a habit of it, Cody,” Ted moaned, hips beginning to work properly now, despite how hard he fought to get his body to stop. “You might end up killing me—“ he groaned.

Unbeknownst to them, a certain motor-mouthed brunette was watching the proceedings with wide eyes though a small crack in the door. Damn, Mike never would have thought Ted had it in him.

“Fuck me,” Cody whispered, grinding back against Ted’s hips. 

“W-What?” Ted asked, gulping. He’d heard Cody perfectly well, and God help him, he honestly didn’t know if he could deny Cody that request right then. His body seemed so out of his own control. 

“I want you to fuck me. Right here. I’m so _hard_ ,” he moaned, glancing down to his silk clad cock. “God, I want you.”

“H-Here? I-I can’t do that _here_ ,” Ted told him, though his hips were still thrusting against Cody. “We just… I don’t want to hurt you,” he tried to reason to both Cody and himself. However, his cock was telling him differently. 

“On the dresser,” Cody said as his head fell forward onto Ted’s shoulder, kissing Ted’s neck, “I have lotion I put on before changing. _I want you_.”

Mike’s eyes grew wide as he overheard their conversation and witnessed everything happening between the two, wondering if he’d _really_ be getting a show.

~~~

It was apparent to Justin that Joe seemed genuinely afraid of his reaction and he could only imagine how this news must have been received when he had told… whoever he had told. His behaviour wouldn’t have stemmed from this being kept to himself, Justin knew the other well enough to know that.

“So… Who did you tell about this?” Justin asked slowly, deciding to get all the facts before he past judgment.

“I felt guilty so I told Windham… he was not happy,” Joe shook his head. Before Justin could point out that that was expected though Joe added, “I seriously thought he and Heath were going to come to blows.” That had   
Justin’s brows raising in surprise; though arguments often happened in their little group not once had any of them raised a hand to one another, which meant that this was most definitely a serious situation.

Joe seemed to be getting more wound up as he finally ended up the tale with Cody and Ted joining in and then he and Windham trying to talk.

Once the other had stopped talking Justin took a few minutes to gather his thoughts and then said, “So, you’re confused as to which of them you want to be with more?” Joe nodded and then shook his head before groaning and raking his fingers through his hair, “I feel exactly the same for both of them, and I don’t really want to take a step back from Windham in case it means I miss some chance but at the same time…” he looked so genuinely upset that Justin couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, placing a companionable arm around him..

“Hey, it’s ok… You’ll figure it out, ok? Whatever’s supposed to happen _will_ ,” Justin assured him. He truly believed that, in life, everything happened for a reason. His family came from Africa, he was left to live life on the streets, so that Wade could find him. His long journey led him here, led him to Wade. 

“But what if it doesn’t? What if I end up making the wrong choice?” Joe asked him. “Shit, what if this is all just some… some weird phase, or something?”

“Then that’s all it was supposed to be… but I highly doubt that,” Justin said. “Don’t worry about making the wrong decision, ok? Just let things play out, do whatever feels right.”

“That doesn’t mean I know which of them to…” he trailed off, not used to feeling so uncertain about all the things happening in his life. “Cody said try being with them both, which… I don’t know; it seems like that’d be more trouble than anything.”

Justin rubbed soothing circles around Joe’s back as he said, “This may not happen often, but I think I might agree with Cody on this one.”

Joe pulled away from Justin enough to have the leverage to push both his index fingers into their respective ears and then removed them again after a few seconds. Justin looked confused at the action but the confusion cracked into a reluctant smile as Joe said, “I’m sorry--- did you just say you agree with Cody?”

“Yes, I did. And yes, I am aware I don’t say that often,” Justin added in before Joe could make some other comment, “He’d be devastated to hear you say such a thing.”

“His ego would shield him from the blow,” Joe grinned momentarily before the smile slipped again and his face turned into the pensive frown he had been wearing often that day.

“Do you really think that might be the best thing to do?” tapping a finger against his temple in thought Justin then nodded his head, “Yes, and I’ll tell you why. Being with them both will clear up the confusion without leaving you pining for the other---”

He held a hand up, forestalling Joe’s forthcoming interruption, “And if it’s just a phase then that way you’ll get both out of your system.”

“Well shit,” Joe muttered. 

“You asked me for my thoughts on the matter, and I gave them to you. Look, if you’re feeling however it is you feel for both Heath and Windham, then Cody was perfectly reasonable in suggesting that you just… have them both,” Justin said with a shrug. 

“It’s not me who has a problem with trying to be with them both… but it is me who has a problem with how either of _them_ are with the idea of, um, sharing?” Joe told him, not sure if that was the word that he was looking for or not. “I mean, Windham seemed so unsure at first, but then when he found out that Heath sucked me off, he got really possessive over it.”

“So, what, you’re still working it out? What if they, uh, or that is, all of you…” he trailed off, hoping that Joe was picking up on his suggestion. 

“What? That all of us have one big merry fuck fest?” Joe finished, to which Justin shrugged once again.

“Well, I don’t think I’d have worded it quite like that.”

“But that’s what you meant?” Joe asked.

“Ultimately, yes,” Justin said, placing his elbows atop his thighs and resting his chin on his hands, “From the sound of things you’re the one who’s having to do all of the work to try and make this work. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do your share, but they need…”

He trailed off for a minute, momentarily unsure what word would illustrate what he meant correctly. Joe watched the other closely, not wanting to miss a word of Justin’s reasoning even though he knew that realistically things were probably not going to work out so neatly. “They need to be more… forthcoming?” Justin tried, “Have more of an input as to exactly how they’re feeling about it.”

Joe supposed that he understood that, but then he sent Justin a wan look, “So what? I’ll just go and ask them both shall I?” he didn’t mean to snipe, it was a reflex.

More than used to his defensive tendencies Justin merely overlooked his waspish response, “Do you have a better idea?”

Shoulders sagging Joe shook his head and responded honestly, “No.”

“Well then, there you go. Let them talk it out, don’t get all defensive like you’ve a tendency to do,” Justin added. 

“But they don’t _want_ to talk about it! Especially Windham.”

“It’s all new for you, though, isn’t it?” Justin had heard plenty of their stories about various girls over the last couple years, from Joe’s first hand job to the first time he performed oral sex on a girl to the first time he fucked a girl, to know that anything with a man was indeed a new experience for him. 

“Yeah,” Joe answered. “But—”

“Don’t. The only way that this whole thing is going to get figured out is if you actually talk about it. Or, like you said, go have one big merry fuck fest. I don’t really care what you do, but you’re all my friends and I want you all to be happy.”

“I don’t know if that’ll happen, though… I don’t know if anyone’s going to come out of this happy,” Joe muttered. 

Justin placed his hand atop the other’s and gave a companionable squeeze, Joe’s lips quirking into a weak smile of thanks.

“Fancy going outside for a bit? Maybe a walk will make you feel better.”  
Joe’s fingers sought his inside pocket reflexively, almost crying when he realised that he no longer had any cigarettes. He needed to go into town soon--- or, better yet, he needed to seek out someone who he knew always had a constant supply that he could buy from them. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Yeah, alright,” he nodded, “Let’s go.”

He was always the fidgety sort, and now he had all of this anxiety in him it was worse than ever and he was beginning to feel claustrophobic as a result.   
Running a hand through his hair Joe stood up, Justin following him out of the room moments later.

Outside though, Joe couldn’t help but quip, “After the night you’ve had are you sure you can manage walking far?” 

“Really, Joe?” Justin asked with a roll of his eyes. “Yes, I can walk just fine, thank you. He uses a good deal of lubrication, which makes—”

“Ok, ok, I get it,” Joe said, cutting him off. “I don’t need all the dirty details.”

“Oh, thank god. I tried that with Cody once, and all he did was ask me for _more_ details,” Justin told him. 

“Speaking of Cody, where was he? And Ted, for that matter.” He figured that they were together, since normally wherever one was, the other was close behind. 

“I think Cody had theatre practice,” Justin said. “He usually does on Saturdays.”

“Ah… So, umm… about those two… Do you know if they finally fucked?” Joe asked. When he walked into the room, all signs pointed to yes, but he could still be mistaken. Though he really didn’t think he was.

~~~

Without hesitation John took himself in hand, stroking himself with an almost brutal intensity that stroked Randy’s sexual ego to consider he managed to rile John up so badly he was so desperate for release--- and begging like a common whore.

No longer able to stave off his own need Randy began to work his hips harder and faster, John’s body rocking as much as it could with the force of his motions as he continued to all but hold the other down.

The sensation (and sight) of John coming over his hand and their stomachs was enough to have Randy hissing out multiple obscenities interspersed with John’s name under his breath as he emptied himself inside of the other until he had absolutely nothing left to give. His arms shook as he panted, tingling in his aftermath.

“Mhm—“ Randy’s eyes widened as he watched John lazily lick some of his own come from his fingers, “We’re all sticky.”

“We’ll take a bath later,” Randy said dismissively as he eased from inside of John.

“That’s fine by me,” John said. “I can’t believe how hard a night is without you.”

“I know… I— Yeah, I know,” Randy agreed. He didn’t know what he’d do if they had to sleep apart every night while at school. Well, technically they were supposed to be sleeping apart, but it had been years since they slept in separate beds while at the academy. 

The pair of them fell into silence after that, quite content to simply be in one another’s arms. Something they both missed greatly the night before. Neither one ever lay with another person before (even though the girl John had been with tried, but he quickly shot her down), yet they already knew that no one’s arms would ever feel quite so comforting as one another’s. 

After a long while, John broke the silence with a question he’d had running through his mind. “Are you going to talk to Bryan again? He’s got to have some kind of motive, even if it is just to get us in trouble for fucking each other.”

“Like he’d actually come out and say that to me. I just don’t understand him… And I do _not_ understand why Wade allowed him to become a prefect, either, considering he probably has it in for Justin and Wade, too,” Randy mused, clinging John tighter to him.

“I doubt he’d have the balls to try and take a shot against Wade or Justin though.”

Randy nodded his head in agreement but then shook his head and sighed, “I just… I don’t like it. He was so fucking arrogant--- and he couldn’t stop staring at you.” Randy might not be considered too much of a people-person, but he was rather adept at reading them.

And he hadn’t been able to read Bryan or his motives, and that had made him edgy. “Maybe he’s just a suppressed young man who’s got a bit of a crush on me,” John shrugged, only partially joking, “And he’s jealous because although we are subtle we’re not entirely a secret, are we?” and yet no one had ever come and challenged them over it before, he’d note.

“You wouldn’t actually consider doing anything with him though, would you?” Randy asked, unable to help feeling a little wary at John’s words.   
Honestly, he shook his head, “Nah. He’s cute enough but he’s irritated me too many times to win any favour.”

Randy’s arms squeezed John in silent acknowledgement of his words though the Head Boy was too lost in his own thoughts to verbally respond. One way or another he was going to find out what Danielson’s motives were, and he was going to put a stop to his little game.

Changing the subject, John asked, “So did you want to do anything today aside from fuck?”

“Well, I really don’t have any objections to that,” Randy answered. “But if you had something in mind, by all means, do share.”

“Oh, I was just thinking maybe we could go outside for a bit. Sit on the quad, or something,” John suggested. Not that he didn’t love each and every time with Randy, but he really did enjoy getting outside, being the sportsman that he was. 

“If you’d like that, I suppose we can. We could walk into town, too, while we’re out.”

“You’re not trying to run into Evan and Chris in town, are you?” John asked.

“Huh? Oh, right!” Randy said, just then remembering that Evan was meeting Chris’ family in town that day. “No, I actually had forgotten about that. Look at that, Johnny, your arse made me forget about everything else that happened earlier today.”

“Well, yes,” John turned his head as though looking to his own arse, “It is one fantastic arse.”

Snorting lightly at the play show of arrogance but not denying the sentiment, Randy said, “Chances are we might not even see them.”

“But if we do happen across them you would not be against following them all a little bit?” Not even to be nosy, really, though that was a part of it--- Randy would do anything for his cousin and John knew it. Hell, as youths he’d been jealous of it.

Of course, it didn’t help that the first time he’d seen Evan he didn’t know they were related.

“Well, I should at least say hello to Christian again,” Randy maintained innocently.

“So we’ll head out in a bit then,” John chuckled, stretching and reclining back. He had no inclination to get up anytime soon, and from the way Randy had reclined back himself he wasn’t that keen to go and spy on his cousin’s all important meeting.

“Damn,” John said after some more time lying there contentedly on Randy’s bed, Randy’s arm tucked under his head. 

“Hmm?” was all Randy managed in form of a question, as he found himself slowly dozing off. 

“I have to take a piss. But I don’t want to move.”

“Well, you’re not pissing in my bed,” Randy said, turning his head to face his lover, quirking a brow. 

“But your bed is so comfortable,” John whined.

“And it won’t be at all comfortable if you piss in it. So go on, get up. I guess we can head out after that, too.”

Reluctantly, John rolled over, pointedly rolling atop Randy, giving him a quick kiss before getting off the bed completely. “Will you actually be up and dressed by the time I get out?”

“I doubt I’ll even be up, much less contemplating dressing,” Randy answered as John headed into the adjoining bathroom.

~~~

God forgive him, but he was only human. Ted couldn’t resist.

Cody was like some fallen angel siren sent to coax Ted from the righteous path… and fuck if he wasn’t happy to keep straying so long as Cody was leading him. “Don’t hate me when you ache tomorrow.”

“It’ll hurt so good—“ Cody moaned, “Will feel you all---” his words were cut off with a gasp as Ted suddenly ripped the silk underwear right off.

A high mew left Cody as the chill air of the dressing-room hit his aching cock and exposed arse, shivering and arching as he clutched Ted’s shoulders and hips to keep from falling. He could feel Ted fumbling for the lotion with one hand.

How they were going to explain the mess he had no idea, but as Ted slicked himself with the lotion and covered his fingers in the substance he really didn’t care.

Mike’s eyes were wide as saucers as Ted’s hand lowered, unable to see because of the blonde’s back but guessing what was happening. Holy Mother of God.

Cody’s head hit the wall as the first of Ted’s fingers entered his still raw body. He bit his lip as he was stretched out again, but his sheer need to be filled by Ted yet again was overriding a lot of the pain. Now that he knew what it felt like, he wanted to experience it all over again. “You ok?” Ted asked, forcing himself to look up into Cody’s eyes. 

“I’m wonderful, Teddy,” Cody answered. He wanted to tell Ted to go faster, but he knew that his own body wasn’t ready, and he also knew that there was no way Ted would allow for that, either. 

Ted kept working the finger in and out, then slid a second one inside. He repeated his actions, in and out, until he could feel that Cody was looser around him. “Did you… want more?” he asked of Cody. 

“Teddy, I want it all,” he replied. “I need you inside of me. Right now.”

Having already slicked himself up after quickly undoing his pants just enough, he tried to adjust himself so he was positioned right under Cody’s entrance, which he found was a difficult task as he was still trying to hold up Cody’s body weight. But when all his fumbling around was done and Cody was sinking down onto him, engulfing his cock for a second time that day, it was magnificent. 

All the while Mike was unable to move. He watched the way that Ted took such good care of Cody, how much time he put into making sure that he wasn’t in pain, and the way that Cody reacted to his touches? Maybe he really had underestimated DiBiase after all. He couldn’t believe what he was witnessing, though, as he just knew that Cody’s body sank down onto Ted’s cock, and Ted was slowly pushing upwards. It was easily the most erotic sight he had ever seen. 

Their first movements were mildly awkward because of this brand-new, and somewhat challenging, position for their second bout of love-making ever, but soon they began to get into a rhythm. Ted, conscious of not hurting Cody, was going slowly, but his body was refusing to go any less than ball-deep with each thrust. Not that Cody minded.

The ravenette bounced himself lightly atop Ted’s shaft, head occasionally hitting the wall in his passion but causing him no pause. He knew they should probably not be taking such leisurely time, but he’d rather get caught than rush.

A low moan left Ted that sounded so sinful when combined with Cody’s mews and gasps, and Mike bit his lip before slowly reaching a hand down to palm himself from his pants. He couldn’t help himself, God’s truth.

He suddenly had the overwhelming urge to be in both Cody and Ted’s places respectively.

And considering he’d never especially been attractive to either before the urge was slightly surprising, especially due to its intensity. What shocked Mike to his very core though was what happened next. Ted’s face pressed into the crook of Cody’s neck as he moved, the material of his shirt bunch tight against his frame, and Cody’s face was completely exposed to him. His hands clutched at Ted desperately, head rolling to one side---

And suddenly he winked at Mike, startling the brunette almost to the degree where he fell away from the door and flat on his arse. He managed to hold up, though undoubtedly he gaped; how could Cody see him? Why wasn’t he saying anything? Suddenly Ted made a move that Cody must have really appreciated because the sound that left the smaller boy could only be described in one way: wanton. Mike’s hand went inside of his pants then, almost of its own volition.

There was no way that Ted could miss that noise as it spilled from Cody’s delicious lips. He swore that those were the most beautiful sounds he’d ever hear in his life. And that sound? Well, that sound he wanted to hear again. He repeated his previous action, drawing forth even more delicious moans and cries from his lover. His lips pressed to Cody’s throat, tongue flicking out over the glistening flesh, a salty taste filling his mouth as he did. 

“Ohhh, Teddy,” he moaned. “Kiss me?” he asked, and his request was granted as Ted lifted his head up and let his lips meet Cody’s. He continued to bounce slightly, as well as rock his hips, quickly overcoming the pain that accompanied the entrance. He wondered if it would always hurt… but then quickly decided that he didn’t really care, because Ted was worth it. 

Mike looked on as the two kissed. God, he wished someone would kiss _him_ like that. A blind man could see the passion between the two of them. The passion between them was practically tangible it was so strong. His hand continued to work himself, sliding up and down, spreading the precum over his cock as it leaked from the tip. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he was so hard, so turned on. And the fact that Cody knew that he was watching and was _still_ riding Ted’s cock like he was born to do it was only turning him on even further. Cody always did like performing for an audience. 

“Oh fuck, Teddy,” Cody said as he broke off their kiss, panting for air. “Are you close, baby? I know I am… and I want to feel you come inside me. Again.”

Well, fuck, he had always known Cody had a mouth on him, but to hear something like that being said--- well, it had as profound an effect on Mike as it did Ted. And the noise Ted made as he bent his knees a little more and started to work his hips harder still as he chased his own climax didn’t hurt any. Mike came before either of the pair he was watching--- and he could say without shame that he didn’t care and it had been so worth it.

Not trusting how loud he might be as he came, Ted caught Cody’s lips in another deep kiss as a powerful shudder wracked his entire body and he gripped Cody tighter on reflex as he spilled himself once again into the tight channel that Cody possessed. It was probably a good job that they hadn’t had the time to clean up properly earlier or it would have been wasted.

The sensation of Ted coming inside of him once again, and the deep guttural moan that he swallowed almost thanks to their kiss, was more than enough to send Cody over the edge. That, and when he broke breathlessly from the kiss he saw Mike looking beyond dazed and even awestruck and jealous through his sated appearance, conspired to prolong Cody’s orgasm to an almost impossible degree as he moaned shamelessly as he shook.

Ted vaguely realised that his shirt was a mess and even though the fabric was white the stain was noticeable—and he thanked heaven that he had taken a jacket along with him, said item currently lying abandoned on the floor by the door where Ted had dropped it in his initial shock at seeing Cody as he was. A gentler, much more loving kiss was exchanged between them as Ted shakily, but carefully, set Cody on his feet.

“Wow,” Ted muttered as he looked into Cody’s eyes once he set the younger teen down. “That was—”

“Wonderful?” Cody asked, standing against the wall in nothing but torn women’s panties and socks and garters. 

“Yeah,” Ted agreed with a nod, tucking himself back into his pants. 

“I never knew you could be so spontaneous,” Cody said, beginning to feel Ted dribbling out of him. Curiously, he reached around and felt his hole, stretched and sore from not only fucking Ted once that day, but twice, Ted’s cum making its way down his leg. He couldn’t help but to smile, knowing that this was Ted’s mark on him.

“I never knew either,” Ted chuckled, blushing. Finally, he turned towards the door to where his jacket was, and froze in place when he met a pair of eyes through the smallest of cracks in the door.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One's past is what one is. It is the only way by which people should be judged - Oscar Wilde

“Really? Yes,” Justin admitted, “I’ve never come into our room and seen in it such a state before, and the—“ he trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

“Scent?” Joe added helpfully and Justin nodded, “Yeah,” Joe nodded, “I noticed.”

“Well… I can only say it’s about time. Maybe now they’ll be more concerned with their own relationship as opposed to mine or yours.”

“I wouldn’t hold out much hope in Cody’s case,” Joe pointed out and they both chuckled. They loved Cody to death but he was the nosiest little tart they knew.

They made their way through the common room and then out down the stairs.

The grounds were rather empty and Justin deduced everyone must have headed into town; it was considered the popular choice on weekends, even if people only took the small time to nip home if possible and see family.

“This is nice. Just… being out here,” Joe said as they walked along the pathway. “So much better than some stuffy little room that reeks of sex.”

Justin actually chuckled at that one. “I agree.”

Reaching to his pocket, he fingered his cigarette tin, then tapped it a couple times. God, he needed a smoke. “You don’t have any ciggies on you, do you?” he asked, knowing it was a long shot.

“No, I don’t. That’s such a filthy habit, smoking,” Justin said. 

“Filthy or not, it does wonders on the nerves, and I could really use one right about now.”

“First off, just relax about the whole thing. You’re still new to all these feelings. Secondly, you really should just go have sex with one of them. Now _that_ does a body good.”

“Well, I’m no stranger to that… but I think I’d find myself more wound up than relaxed at the thought of sex with a man for the first time,” he confessed, working himself up all over again. 

“Joe, I swear to God, I will kiss you in a minute if you don’t stop freaking out!” Joe was so surprised by that odd threat he fell quiet, “Don’t you mean kill?”

“No, I mean kiss--- then you’ll have reason to freak out.”

“Please don’t,” Joe’s brow furrowed, “I’d rather not have our headmaster find out and come chasing me down in a jealous rage.” He pouted when Justin threw his head back and laughed brightly, “Wade wouldn’t do that!”

“How do you know?” Joe challenged, Justin finally quieting.

“He’s too mature and dignified for such a thing,” Justin didn’t see Wade being jealous.

Joe didn’t say anything, because he felt that Justin was very wrong on that score. As soon as they got into town he grabbed the other’s wrist and led him further into the market.

“Tobacco!” Joe looked as though he might fall to his knees and pay homage to the dingy looking drug shop that they paused outside of. “You buy tobacco in a pharmacy?” Justin stared.

Joe turned to Justin and quirked a brow. “Yeah? Where else would you expect me to get it? It’s not like I’ve got my own tobacco plantation in my room.”

“But what if your dad sees or someone tells him they saw you in there, or something?” Justin asked. 

“Justin, it’s a pharmacy. They sell more than just tobacco here. No one’s going to know I’m buying ciggies just because I go in there,” Joe said assuredly. 

“Are you sure?” 

“I could go buy some illegally off a fellow student if you’d rather I do that?” Joe suggested, though he really didn’t want to reveal his source to Justin. Not that he didn’t trust him to keep it from Wade, but, well, he just wanted to play it safe. 

“No. I’d rather you quit smoking to begin with. It smells,” Justin said, certain that Joe was ignoring him as he walked into the pharmacy. Not wanting to stand outside alone, he followed behind him.

The shop had an unusual smell, but given all the medicines and herbs in there that wasn’t surprising. Justin fought the urge to hold his nose against it.

“Morning, boys,” said the gentleman behind the counter, “What can I get for you today?” Joe moved to the counter.

Pointing to the packets of cigarettes he pulled out enough pocket-money to pay for enough to fill his cigarillo box, “Two packs, please,” he gave his best smile.

Justin couldn’t believe the man would sell such a thing to a child.

Not that he would call Joe that to his face because the other got very sensitive about that kind of thing. The pharmacist merely smiled and handed the packets over and accepted the money, “Thanks, Mr. Ryder.” His son Zachary attended the Academy.

Actually, Zachary was the one whom he obtained cigarettes for at a much more extortionate price but on the sly. Joe swore that he must give his father a cut of the profits to compensate for having a constant supply to flog.

Justin shook his head as he browsed the rack of magazines and newspapers while Joe spent his money on cigarettes. “Come along, then,” Joe said once he’d refilled his tin, contented once more. 

Nodding politely to the shop owner, Justin followed his friend out. “Joe, he must see your father in his shop.”

“Are you saying that he’ll tattle on me to my dad? He hasn’t yet.”

“That doesn’t mean that he won’t,” Justin tried to argue, but Joe would never back about it. 

“He won’t,” Joe assured, because unless he wanted Barrett to know that his son was hacking ciggies he’d keep his damn mouth shut. “And I swear to you Justin, not a word of this is spoken about to Wade.”

~~~

John not only did his business in the bathroom but cleaned himself up from their earlier escapades too, grinning slightly.

He really didn’t mind carrying Randy’s mark, but it got uncomfortable after a little in honesty.

He exited the bathroom and tossed a damp hand-towel to Randy.

Taking the hint the younger man began to clean himself up as John re-gathered and replaced his clothes.

When Randy was ready the towel was tossed into the hamper.

Twenty minutes later they were entering town and John inhaled the familiar sooty, warm, unidentifiable scents of the markets and shops.

“Where do you fancy going first?” he requested of his lover. Randy looked around absently and John snickered; as though Evan and Chris were going to just magically appear.

“Want to head to the sweet shop?” Randy had an undeniable sweet-tooth when he got started. “Sure thing, let’s go.”

As they walked inside, Randy inhaled deeply. He looked over and watched as taffy was being made, the scent of this shop one of his favourite things in the world. 

“Are you planning on spending your entire month’s allowance here?” John asked, watching Randy’s eyes light up. He was the proverbial kid in a candy store. 

“I just may. But don’t worry, I’ll share some with you. Not much, but I will share,” Randy told him. 

“How generous of you.” To be honest, though, John didn’t eat as many sweets as Randy did. In fact, he’d take a plate full of freshly fried, heavily salted chips over a chocolate bar any day. 

Randy headed over to one of the counters, the one that held the fudge, and began browsing through all the different flavours they had. John followed along behind, having more fun encouraging Randy than actually browsing the shelves himself. 

“John, John,” Randy tugged on John’s sleeve, not unlike when they had been young children coming here, “The chocolate or the toffee?” he questioned, pointing.

“Why do you always ask me when you always go ahead and buy both regardless of what I say?” John mused, sending the woman behind the counter a polite smile.

“Hello Mrs. Wilson, how are you? How’re the girls?” Mrs. Wilson’s daughters went to their sister school and he’d met them a few times.

“Hello Jonathon,” she grinned, eyes twinkling as John pouted at the use of his full-name; something she always did regardless of how much it irked them. “They’re well thank you. Yourself?”

“I’m well,” he assured, and then indicated Randy, “And, as you can see, he’s completely happy now he’s here.” Mrs. Wilson beamed--- Randy had to be her best and most consistent customer. “Randal—“ she held up a specific packet and John swore Randy would wet himself in excitement.

“Mrs. Wilson, I do believe that this should be your fulltime job,” Randy said, examining even more sweets. 

“Believe me, if I could work in here during the week, I would.” She loved the shop; it had been her father’s dream to open a candy shop, and he had made it highly successful. Now her husband ran the business end of things through the week, and she worked her secretary job at the academy, while weekends were spent at the shop. 

“I miss this place when we’re home,” Randy told her. 

“Believe me, this places misses you when you’re home. And the rest of the students, quite frankly.”

“Well, I promise you that before I graduate, I will come in here and buy near your entire stock,” Randy said. John looked to his lover, and honestly couldn’t figure out if he was exaggerating or not.

“Lock the shop when it’s graduation, Mrs. Wilson,” John whispered to her as Randy paid for his following weekend haul of goodies.

Laughing brightly the woman handed Randy back his change and then exchanged goodbyes with them, “See you at school on Monday, boys!” outside, Randy almost moaned as he opened the first packet of sweets and pulled a small golden chunk of toffee out. “Oh…” John stared at the other in amusement, “Do you need to sit down?”

“No,” Randy completely missed the teasing sarcasm.

Had he not known about the other’s tendencies when it came to sweets John would have been frightened right then.

They resumed their walk around the shops and markets, and it was only when they decided to go into a local café for refreshments that John took notice of two blondes and a dark haired gentleman. Well, what a coinky-dink.

“Why hello there,” Randy greeted as he and John walked towards the table the three were seated at. John took the one available seat at the table, while Randy took a chair from the table right next to them and pulled it over to join the other four. “Hope you don’t mind us joining you?” he asked, though he’d already sat down before the three of them really knew what was happening. 

“Randy?” Evan asked, looking over to where his cousin was suddenly seated. 

“John was getting a bit cooped up in the room, so we decided to come out for a bit. Might as well while the opportunity’s there, right? So, tell me, how’s the visit going so far?” he asked, glancing over towards Christian. 

“Really well,” Evan answered. 

“My family adored him,” Chris added. “Just like I knew they would.”

“See? You really had nothing to worry about,” John said. “And how are you, Christian? It’s been a while… Enjoying life back over in Canada?”

~~~

Mike had enough presence of mind to hare away from the door and around the corner as Ted wrenched it open.

“What’s wrong?” Cody asked innocently, removing the last of his tattered costume and using it to clean himself up somewhat.

“There was someone watching us!” Ted seemed torn between fury and fear.

Momentarily Cody felt guilty that Ted seemed so upset, and that his ego had allowed him to share a private moment between he and Ted with Mike (especially without Ted’s knowledge) but he couldn’t deny that schooling Mike after his earlier assumptions had made for a satisfying moment indeed. “Teddy, do calm down, they won’t say anything.”

“How do you know?” Ted dragged his jacket on and buttoned it, cheeks flushed--- and this time not with pleasure, post-coital bliss almost completely gone. “When I find out who it was…” the threat trailed off.

“Teddy, I really don’t think you have to worry… and could you please close the door?” he asked, still standing there, freshly fucked, dick exposed to anyone who could possibly walk by. 

“Sorry,” Ted muttered, this time making sure the door was _completely_ shut before leaning against it. “I just can’t believe someone had the _nerve_ to actually watch us!” he growled, embarrassed and pissed off all at once. 

“To be fair, I’d want to watch us, too,” Cody tried to tease, but the angry look Ted shot him was enough to actually shut him up for a bit. 

Ted paced around, wondering just who the fuck it could have been. “Who would invade on someone’s private moment like that?” It had to have been someone in the theatre program, that much was obvious, but there were a lot of people in the show, even outside of performers, there were all the stage hands. “What a bastard!”

“Your mother would pour dish-soap in your mouth if she heard you using that word,” Cody commented absently as he replaced his weekend clothes, then moving before the mirror.

Looking to his lover Ted couldn’t help but demand, “Are you not outraged? Damn it, Cody, someone saw us in an incredibly private moment!” Looking to Ted in the mirror, not unlike when the other had first walked into the room, he shrugged.

“Not really, no. One, every boy here’s probably done the same thing at least once, or close to it, and I really don’t think he’ll tell on us.”

Oh, he was going to Lord this over Mike’s head for the duration of the foreseeable future. He’d really put his foot in it there hadn’t he? And almost getting caught--- idiot. Good job he could run fast otherwise Ted would probably have given Mike a healthy dose of fisticuffs. And Cody would have had to pity him--- and Cody hated feeling pity.

“Son of a bitch,” Ted muttered under his breath. That was only his second time with Cody, and someone had watched them. Someone had tainted their wonderful moment together. 

“Really, Teddy, don’t worry about it. Who would he tell, anyway? Barrett? He’s fucking a _student_ , I really don’t think he’ll do anything,” Cody said, quite certain of his words. 

“Just… just put some clothes on,” Ted said, realizing that Cody was still standing there almost completely naked.

“Oh…” Cody went about gathering his clothes, removing what was left of his costume (still not sure how he was going to tell Josh that he needed new underwear… and he did need a pair, since he needed them to hook up his garters to keep his stockings up) before dressing into his own clothes. “That better?” he asked once he had covered himself up again. 

“Yes. Now let’s get out of here,” Ted murmured, mentally wondering whether he’d actually be able to bring himself to enter the theatre ever again after this travesty of privacy invasion.

Cody sighed and followed Ted out after hastily placing his costume away and binning the ruined undergarments. He would come up with an excuse for Josh later on that account.

Catching Ted’s hand just before he left the theatre Cody looked up at the blonde, “Teddy, please don’t dwell on this.”

Something undecipherable flickered over Ted’s features and the blonde then vanished out of the door. Exhaling an irritated breath Cody then turned as he heard footsteps behind him. Seeing Mike, looking flustered and awed almost, Cody couldn’t resist a wink and a smirk before he waved to him and then ducked out of the door after his annoyed lover.

“Teddy! Wait up!” Cody said when he caught sight of his lover again. 

“I just don’t understand how this isn’t a big deal to you! Someone was _watching us_! We’ve made love twice, Cody, only twice, and those moments are supposed to be special. They’re supposed to be between us and us alone,” Ted told him, spinning around in the hall to face the younger man. 

“Teddy, to be quite honest, we could be fu- making love in front of the entire student body and it would still be special simply because it’d be with _you_. Besides, isn’t God always watching?” Cody asked.

“Don’t you _even_ …” Ted trailed off. 

“You’re really upset about this, aren’t you? Just… don’t let it get to you, all right? Whoever it was just wishes they could have the kind of connection that we have, Teddy. Besides, you might have to get used to the idea of someone at least hearing us, since I don’t know the next time Justin will be out of the room at night.”

Ted wasn’t sure how he felt about that exactly if he was honest with himself.

Though there was a part of him that knew in future he was going to be ever so careful about his and Cody’s surroundings when it came to their intimate moments there was a part of him that was also more concerned about how much time might pass before they could actually get another chance together.

“Yes, well,” Ted muttered, “We’ll deal with that when we need to,” the blonde began leading their way back to their room. He wanted a bath in the worst way, and not just for the conventionality of getting clean.

Baths never failed to help him relax when stressed.

As the other turned Cody sighed once more and then walked alongside his fuming lover, not saying anymore since he knew Ted was impossible to reason with when he got like this. The blonde was usually level-headed but when he got worked up he became as stubborn and obstinate as Cody could be in general every-day terms.

Once back in the common area, Windham looked over as the door opened and saw Ted walking in, Cody following behind. “Oi!” he called out, but Ted kept on walking. Cody, on the other hand, figured he was fighting a losing battle and that it’d be best if Ted had some time alone to think.

~~~

Justin huffed a breath and then held his hands up in a gesture of surrender when Joe leveled him with a look, “I’m not going to say anything! Goodness, some faith would be nice, Hennig!” he threw back.

That had Joe’s defensiveness easing off somewhat and he contritely nodded his head, “I’m sorry,” he knew Justin wouldn’t do that to him.

“Besides, if anyone ever told Wade I think it would be your own father.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Joe muttered, “I wouldn’t’ve had to be here had he not taken my packet.”

Well, that and all of the stress he’d been under meant he’d smoked a few more than usual. Rolling his shoulders lightly, Joe asked, “Fancy a drink? Consider it thanks for coming with me and… for advising me before.” 

Justin shrugged, figuring he didn’t actually have anything planned for the day, so why not? “Sure. Might as well.”

“That’s the spirit,” Joe said, clapping Justin on the shoulder as they began walking further into town. “So, you’re doin’ all right, then? I mean, nothin’s hurting too much?”

“I should make you buy me another drink just for that comment,” Justin grumbled, giving Joe a sidelong glance. 

“It’s a fair question though, isn’t it?” Joe asked. “I mean… it must be uncomfortable.”

“Why don’t you go get yourself a broom, slick up the handle well ‘n good and shove it up your own arse so you can find out for yourself since you’re so curious?” Justin snipped back. Joe couldn’t fight back his smirk at that one. Sometimes Justin really surprised him with the things that came out of his mouth.

“You kiss the headmaster with that mouth?” he asked softly and Justin arched a brow, “That’s not all I do for him with my mouth.”

Since Justin was like a surrogate brother to him he really didn’t need the imagery, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t somewhat curious. “Hey, Justin…” he started.

Justin looked to him and Joe cleared his throat gently, “Can I ask you something?” the dark-skinned male looked amused.

“I sincerely doubt you wouldn’t ask me if I do happen to say no, so come on, out with it.”

Taking a sip of his drink Joe then looked at Justin and asked, in all seriousness, “Is it worth it? I mean the pain and everything? And well, you’ve never been with a woman, right? How do you know you wouldn’t prefer it that way?” he was genuinely wanting to know, not trying to convert the other or anything like that. 

“Well… I thought it was worth it, all the pain and discomfort, especially what went along with my first time,” Justin answered. “And, no, I’ve never been with a woman, but I’ve never had any real desire to, either. Honestly, I’ve never wanted to be with anyone _but_ Wade.”

“Do you think it’d only be worth it if it’s with someone that you really love, though?” Joe asked, scratching behind his ear. “I mean… the girl I lost my virginity to was a virgin, too, and all I remember was how there was blood and how much pain she said she was in… and just how bad the experience was all in all… And we certainly didn’t love one another, how could we? I was only fourteen, after all, and she was sixteen.”

“I think your circumstances were different there. But now you believe that there _are_ real feelings involved, and I always felt that was really when it was truly worth it… to give your body to someone else. Then and only then.”

“Bit late for that… It’s not like I’ve fucked _that_ many girls, but they were all just… casual. But these guys are my friends… what if I think I have feelings for them, and we do… ya know…” he gestured with his hands a few times, before Justin supplied, “Fuck?” to which he shrugged. “Yeah, well, what if we do and then I realize that I don’t actually… have feelings? It’s not like the girls I’ve been with, I can’t go for ages without seeing them.”

“If you’re really as good a friends as you know you are then it shouldn’t matter,” that was what Justin honestly thought, “You should be able to move past it without too much of a problem if it really isn’t meant to be… knowing is better than living with what if’s,” he said.

Sometimes Joe thought that Wade had raised Justin to be far too optimistic.   
He might be very clever and logical, but he always assumed that a situation was always going to come out the best… and Joe really wasn’t sure this time. Sighing, he swilled the wine in his glass somewhat and then took a drink. He was more partial to whiskey but knew getting drunk this early, weekend or not, would not go down well at school… especially if his father found out. The idea itself though was so far beyond tempting to him.

“Easy for you to say,” he eventually said as he took a sip of the cool liquid, “I mean, there was never any doubt in either your mind or Wade’s I’m assuming, that you wanted to be with each other…” and he couldn’t help feel a little jealous on that.

“You need to just stop thinking so much,” Justin said, sipping his own wine with the delicate refined manners that his nanny at Wade’s home had drummed into him. Wade had always done his best to be available for Justin personally, but sometimes work and other necessities had gotten in the way. Justin had never minded though; Wade had done his best by him and he did have other obligations, plus, his nanny was a very nice and caring woman. 

“Well, I can’t help it, ok? I enjoy being around them both and I’ve… I’ve enjoyed being _with_ them both,” he said. “But I… I’m scared about what will happen if everything just goes sour.”

“Chalk it up to a bit of fun all around,” Justin told him. Even though they could both see it was more than that, it would be the best way to go about things if things did ever happen to go south on them. Though Justin didn’t really think he needed to worry about that. “But Joe, don’t back out of this just because you may be scared. I mean, just because I knew that I loved Wade didn’t mean I wasn’t frightened out of my mind the first time we kissed, or the first time he took me to bed.”

“But what if I do end up sleeping with one of them and the other one gets pissed off? Like when Windham found out I got sucked off by Heath, I ended up sucking Windham off in hopes that he’d forgive me. I—”

Justin cut his friend off as he found him speaking louder and louder, and considering most frowned upon not only sex before marriage but sex between two males, it was best to keep their voices down. “Joe. You’re thinking about it too much. You really need to let _them_ talk to one another. Without you there. Let them come to terms with what’s going on by themselves.” It seemed reasonable enough, anyway.

Nodding, Joe sighed and supposed that was the best that he could do. At this stage he was already considering all of his options to try and preserve his friendships with both Heath and Windham.

They had another drink or two, and then Joe mentioned heading back to school. Justin fell into step beside him and arched a brow as Joe reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the cigarettes, lighting it up with the pack of matches that he carried around with him. “You really should think about giving up,” he commented and Joe snorted softly, “If you think I can’t control my temper now you should see me when I haven’t smoked for a while.” That had Justin’s brows arching a little.

“You mean you’ve actually tried to quit?” he asked skeptically and Joe supposed he deserved that; he wasn’t known much for dedication unless it came to sports--- and he winced somewhat as he realised how that could be applied to other areas of his life.

They paused somewhat away from the school as Joe smoked his cigarette, teasing Justin somewhat when he offered him one. As he had expected the other declined, “No thank you.” Not only did he not see the appeal in it he knew that Wade sincerely disliked the habit and wouldn’t be impressed if he found Justin had taken it up. He’d only ever seen the man take a cigar or two for social events, but he always got rid of it before it was even finished.

~~~

Christian extended a hand to John and the pair shook firmly, Evan being mildly surprised that there seemed to be no discomfort between the pair at all, even though Randy was there and everyone at the table was now aware of what had happened between them. “Yeah, I am,” Christian nodded his blonde head before flashing a cheeky grin, “Can’t deny I miss the old place already though.”

Randy chuckled, “It has that effect on people,” he agreed with a nod of his head.

“So,” Christian mused, “Evan here,” he gave Evan a warm smile and John was glad that Evan seemed much, much further away from giving himself an injury in panic unlike earlier in the day, “Was informing me of your new positions.”

“We always have new positions,” Randy smirked.

“Don’t doubt it,” Christian didn’t miss a beat, “But I was talking about official ones.”

John realised he was looking at the respective badges that they had pinned to their ties, “Well… better us then some people, aye?” his dimples appeared.

“Quite frankly, I’m amazed you two managed to get the positions. Really, are there any two bigger delinquents in the academy?” Christian asked, grinning. 

“Like he said, better it be us, then. That way we can’t get ourselves in trouble. It’s a pretty perfect scenario, let’s be honest here,” Randy said. 

“So, you’re really ok with the fact that those two did what they did together?” Evan asked suddenly of John, blushing deep red as he spoke, clasping his hands over his mouth after the question was out there.

John chuckled and nodded. “Yeah.” He then glanced at Randy and smiled. “I’ll also let you know that we decided, when we go off to Uni, we’ll be exclusive to one another. There’ll be no more Christians or Renes or anything like that.”

“Good,” Evan said, blush fading, but still noticeable. 

“Speaking of, you found anyone that tickles your fancy, Christian?” Randy asked. “Though after getting sucked off by me, I know it’s a hard thing to forget.”

“Well, you were good,” Christian grinned, “And there is someone a little… though it’s nothing serious.” Chris made a sound of unhappiness low in his throat.

Evan turned to his lover concernedly and asked, “Chris, are you alright?” Chris nodded and then looked at his cousin, “Please tell me it’s not the Spaniard.”

Christian’s grin was obviously one that was supposed to be innocent but the glimmer in his eyes was far too impish and wicked and therefore belayed the smile, “It might be. You really don’t like him do you, cousin?”

“No,” Chris said dryly, “And I get the feeling that’s the only reason you carry on with him.” Randy and John exchanged a look and John couldn’t resist asking, “A Spaniard? Do we know him?” they got many an exchange student after all.

“No, you don’t know him—“ Christian’s grin got bigger.

“And the only reason that Chris doesn’t like him is because he has an ego bigger than him.” Chris huffed, taking a drink and not answering that comment.

“That’s pretty hard to do,” Evan muttered, which had Christian, John and Randy first gawking, then laughing as it hit them as to just what Evan said. Chris simply gawked and smacked Evan’s arm. 

“See, now there’s the real personality coming out,” Randy said once he managed to get his laughing under control. “Tell me, though… does his _ego_ at all compare to mine?” he asked, smirking at Christian. 

“You know… I don’t know if anyone could have a bigger ego than you,” Christian answered. He paused just a beat before going on, “His dick, on the other hand…”

“Christian!” Chris scolded, even though his cousin hadn’t been speaking very loudly, and it was unlikely anyone would have heard. 

“Oh, you wish,” Randy said, ignoring Chris. “Maybe you just need a reminder?” he asked, raising a questioning brow.

“Randy!” It was Evan’s turn to scold.

“What?” Randy said innocently and Christian and John chuckled. The blonde made a playful swooning gesture, “As tempting as that is, Randy, I would have to decline, only because I do recall John promised to hurt me if it happened again.”

He was only teasing of course, because even when it had first happened John had been nothing but friendly to him. John gave his best dimpled smile, “I did only promise to hurt you a little,” John played back.

Seeing the uneasy looks on the faces of their companions had the two men falling into laughter once more at their expense, shaking hands over their small triumph.

“I must say though…” he started when he calmed down, “When Chris told me that he had gained himself a lover, I wasn’t expecting Evan to be it.”

Randy was far too protective and Evan had struck him as one of those ‘remain pure until marriage’ advocates.

How wrong he had been it seemed. 

“Well, I thought for the longest time that Chris was somehow hurting Evan,” Randy told the visitor. “The only way I found out otherwise was by spying on the two of them. That was how I found out that they were lovers.”

“Evan never told you about Chris?” Christian asked, rather surprised. 

“I was scared to,” Evan admitted. “I was afraid of you finding out, too… I love him, I really do, but sometimes I’m still afraid of admitting it myself. I mean, I’m in love with a man… That goes against everything I was raised to believe.”

Chris wanted nothing more than to be able to reach over and pull Evan into his lap, wrapping him in his comforting embrace. “You’re not the only one who was raised that way. Bibles did manage to travel overseas, you know. Plus, you two are family, so you know you were raised similarly,” he said addressing Randy now, who nodded in the affirmative. “But you didn’t choose to fall in love with me, it just happened. And I’m so grateful that it did.”

“Those two are awfully mushy together, don’t you think?” Christian asked, looking at Randy, then back to Chris. 

“They really are. I bet they only make love, too, and that they’ve never had a nice hard fuck before, one that you can feel for days after,” he said. When he cast his eyes towards Evan, he saw his cousin’s face had gone bright red, and Christian was chuckling and nodding his head beside him. 

“I will hurt you,” Evan muttered as he ducked his head a little, fingers tracing around the rim of the glass resting before him. Chris’ eyes couldn’t help follow the motions despite himself, and Christian noticed this little development.

“Ow!” Chris jumped somewhat, knee banging the underside of the table.

Evan startled somewhat, expression concerned, “Chris, are you Ok?” the blonde hissed out a breath between his teeth and gave a thin smile to Evan,   
“Yeah, I’m fine—“ he glowered at his cousin though as Christian maintained innocence.

Randy snickered somewhat to himself and John merely grinned. Evan stood up after a few moments and excused himself to the WC, and Randy watched as Chris watched Evan walk away. “Don’t even think about it, blondie,” he said and Chris turned towards him and arched a brow. Randy smirked, “Don’t you think I know how convenient the WC can be for a subtle public grope?”

“I didn’t think anything you did was ever subtle,” Christian then interjected and John laughed loudly at that sentiment.

Nudging his lover Randy then pointed a finger at John, “It’s all him. Don’t let the dimples and innocent face fool you--- John’s really an insatiable deviant,”   
Randy’s expression was totally serious as John spluttered playful protests and Christian laughed, no one noticing Chris slipping out after Evan. 

~~~

“Yeah?” he asked, heading over to sit by Windham, who was in the middle of collecting buy ins for the illegal poker games he ran each Saturday night.

“What’s going on with him?” was Windham’s first question. He hadn’t seen Ted pissed off in a long time. 

“Oh, that’s… I’ll tell you later,” he said, tagging along as Windham headed over to another group of guys who wanted in on the game. 

“Ok… anyway, you seen Joe at all today? By the time I got up, which was admittedly pretty late, he’d gone off somewhere. He’s usually the first person to buy into the games, so…”

“Nope. I’ve been off at theatre practice,” Cody told him, trying to count the money that’d been collected, awed by the total amount, and he couldn’t help but wonder how much Windham kept for himself for putting the game on. He imagined it was a pretty penny, for sure. 

“How are you two doing?” Cody asked as he watched Windham gathering up the money for the game and securing it in a little velvet pouch that he placed around his neck and tucked securely underneath his shirt. He doubted many would attempt to pickpocket Windham, but didn’t blame the other for taking precautions.

The other sighed and gave a half-shrug motion that told Cody all he needed to know even before he elaborated with, “I have absolutely no idea, Codes.”

He was still rather pissed Heath and Joe had kept this from him, and how Joe had done what he had, but he couldn’t stay genuinely mad at him.   
Heath was another matter though because there was a part of him that refused to back down before this rival.

“So,” he said, keen for a topic change, “You wanna tell me what’s going on between you and Teddy?” Cody sighed, glancing towards the door that led up to their dorm and communal bathroom.

“If you promise me you can keep quiet—Ted’s about three seconds away from a complete melt-down and I really don’t want his temper aimed at us.” Windham’s brows rose but he nodded, and Cody began a run-down of what had happened earlier in the day to them.

“Wait,” Windham said after Cody was a good deal into the retelling of the day’s events, already having heard bits and pieces about their first time, starting on their second, “Teddy, our Teddy, actually fucked you somewhere in public?”

“Yeah. It shocked me, too… in a good way, of course,” Cody said. 

“Damn. I really didn’t think he had it in him to do that kind of thing,” Windham said, genuinely impressed. “I guess you bring out that side of him.”

“I guess so,” Cody agreed. “Well, anyway,” he went on, continuing his story, “once we were done, it was amazing, by the way, I swear he’s a natural, he put me down since I was braced up against the wall and everything, and turned to go get his jacket. That’s when he noticed that someone had been watching us the whole time.”

“No shit,” Windham said. No wonder Ted looked so pissed off. He’d be pretty pissed if he found out someone was watching him against his will. “Any idea who it was?” he then asked, not knowing that Cody had known the entire time he had an audience. 

“Of course I do,” Cody said with such casualness that Windham had initially thought that other had responded in the negative. Stopping in his motions he turned around slowly to face the unconcerned looking young man besides him.

“What did you say?” he asked, sure he looked as shocked as he felt.

“I know exactly who it is, and I didn’t alert Teddy because I was teaching said person a lesson.” Windham stared at the other, jaw hanging open.

“He’s going to fucking bust a vein when he finds out you know who it is!” he hissed through his teeth. He might tease Ted to the extreme but even he doubted whether he’d pick a genuine fist-fight with the other. “Who was it?” he then asked, momentarily thinking that Cody had to be as bad as Joe when it came to intimate privacy.

“Michael Mizanin,” Cody inspected his nails boredly, “He was insisting that he could best Ted when it came to sexual means, and so when Ted took me and I saw Mike watching I allowed it.” He then smirked, “He came all over himself like a… well, like a school boy.”

“He didn’t!” Windham said, shocked that not only did Mizanin watch them, but he actually _got off_ to them. 

“Oh, he did. But then the dumb fuck didn’t leave even after we finished, he came before we did, for the record, and that was how Ted saw him. And I feel bad about it, because I know who it was, and I knew he was watching the whole time… but I can’t tell Teddy that because then he’ll be pissed at _me_.” 

“So you’re gonna let Ted fume over this while you…?”

“Hold it over Mizanin’s big, dumb head, of course,” Cody answered, shrugging. “But I’m serious, Ted _can’t_ know that I know. Or that you know.”

“Hey, I don’t want Ted’s wrath aimed at me, so I’m staying out of this,” Windham said. He may be a big guy who had won a fight or two in his life, but Ted? He was the unpredictable type, and quite frankly, he didn’t want Ted’s fist to ever be on a fast track to his jaw. 

“Smart move,” Cody nodded, reclining back on the sofa. He jumped just slightly despite himself and both pretended not to notice.

A small shiver ran through Cody at the dull, warm pain as he recalled how he had received it. Sincerely he hoped that this incident didn’t put Ted off, because now Cody had experienced him –twice- he was going to want him more than ever, and, also, Cody had not yet had chance to establish his dominance over Ted.

And that was a thought that he needed to stop now.

Windham hadn’t noticed his friend’s dreamy lapse though because the door had opened and Heath came strolling through it. The tension was immediately noticeable.

Even though Cody would have happily stayed right there to watch the fireworks he stood up and said, “I’ll catch up to you both later, I’m going to go see if Ted’s calmed down.” His departure might have been obvious but the fact that they didn’t want him there was more so.


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel no one else has a right to blame us - Oscar Wilde

Cody swore he could feel both sets of eyes upon his back as he walked up the stairs. They _really_ didn’t want him there, did they? Oh, well, he had more important matters to deal with, anyway. He headed into the communal bathroom, and walked in on one of the most beautiful sights he’d ever seen. Ted lounging back in the tub, completely naked beneath the surface of the water, face looking far more relaxed than it had been earlier. “Hey,” Cody greeted softly. 

Opening his eyes at the voice, Ted replied, “Hey.” He didn’t want to move, though, as the water was still so warm and he was actually feeling the tension from earlier melt away. Honestly, though, he wished he could still have Cody’s scent on him. 

“Feeling any better, Teddy?” Cody asked, taking a step closer. 

Ted nodded. “I am, yes. I’m just trying not to think about it, that’s all.”

“What are you thinking about instead?” Cody then questioned.

“How amazing it was being with you,” Ted answered, a smile on his face. 

That brought the brightest, somewhat (alright, undeniably smug) grin to Cody’s face as he moved closer to Ted in the tub. “Yes?” he inquired and Ted nodded. Rolling his sleeves up Cody then reached into Ted’s wash-bag and pulled out the other’s soap and sponge. Getting some of the soap onto the sponge he then began to rub the item in circles over Ted’s chest. “You don’t need to do this, Cody…” Ted relaxed back into the tub even as he spoke, undoubtedly showing how much he was enjoying the attention.

“I know,” Cody said, “But I want to.” Mentally he chose this as his apology for not telling Ted that he had known all along that someone was spying on them, and who said someone was. “Do you mind?” Ted’s small chuckle told him he didn’t mind at all.

Washing as much of Ted as he could reach, Cody allowed the contented silence to continue.

“Holidays are coming up soon,” Ted supplied silently and Cody nodded.

“Yes, they are,” he then said, realising Ted hadn’t seen his gesture.

“Will you come and stay sometime over the holidays?” Ted blushed a little.

Grinning, Cody leaned over and kissed Ted right then and there. Once he pulled back, he gave his answer (as though Ted hadn’t figured it out by now), “I would _love_ to go visit you over the holidays.”

“Good,” Ted replied. Sure, their families did normally spend time with one another during the holidays, but he needed to know that Cody really wanted to be there with him, and though he really hadn’t been expecting any other answer, he was still a bit nervous actually asking. 

“Are we going to have your room all to ourselves?” Cody asked.

“I hope so,” Ted answered. He and Brett used to share a bedroom (despite the fact that their home was enormous, there were only a small number of bedrooms and after ten years of marriage, Ted’s parents began sleeping apart in separate rooms), but when Michael moved into his own house with his wife, Brett took his old room. 

“Does that mean we’ll be able to make love in your childhood bed?” Cody went on to ask, earning himself a nice blush from his blonde lover. 

“You’d consider that some conquest of merit wouldn’t you?” Ted asked when he had managed to recover a little from the thought of having Cody in his own bed, not just the one he had been allocated for the year at school.

“It would be meaningful and romantic, don’t you think?” it was sometimes bemusing how Cody could say lewd things and then sweet and almost innocent things in the next breath. The thought didn’t stay innocent though as   
Cody added, “Plus, to have you in your own house…”

Right underneath his family’s noses? Yes, there was a challenge there.

It was only as Cody began washing Ted’s back after giving a gentle push to make the other sit forward, that Ted registered what phrasing Cody had used. “Wait--- ‘have me’?” he questioned and Cody momentarily stopped in his motions. “Yes, Teddy. By that point I had planned for you to experience the other side of lovemaking.”

He then paused and amended, “Or maybe it would be romantic to save those virginities until we visit your home, for us to really mark the occasion.”

~~~

“Don’t you find that it smells?” Justin asked as he watched Joe all but inhale the cigarette.

“It does, but fuck it’s worth it. First time I smoked, I felt so relaxed afterwards… I didn’t plan on getting hooked, you know. It just happened. I started getting agitated, so I swiped another ciggy and that was that,” Joe told him, tossing the butt to the ground before stepping it out. “Ready to head back, then?”

“I suppose. What would you do if your father found out about your little habit?” Justin asked as they began the walk back to school. 

“He did. Took the tin from me, but I managed to get it out of his desk. Cigs were all gone, though, so he either tossed them or smoked them himself,” Joe confessed. “You know, Justin, I feel like shit right now. I just can’t ever seem to get anything right. I’m disappointing my father, I can’t make up my own damn mind about who I’ve got feelings for… The only thing I’m actually looking forward to is the rugby tryouts.” God, he wanted another smoke. Especially since they were almost back, and he didn’t want to face Windham or Heath again.

Justin moved and gave the other a firm hug, and though he was embarrassed Joe retuned it.

“Joe…” sometimes, because the other was so brash and quick to join conflict it was easy to overlook that he was an insecure and quite sensitive boy deep down, “You really need to give yourself more credit. You’re not as bad as you say you are, and growing up is not straight forward for anyone. Don’t worry.”

“Thanks, Justin,” he murmured softly as the other released him and they headed back into the school grounds properly and then towards the school.

Justin wished that there was more he could do to help his friend but he really couldn’t think of anything more than he had actually said. It was up to Joe what happened now. “Do you want to maybe go and see if we can wheedle the cooks into giving us some cakes?” Joe said suddenly and Justin shrugged,   
“Sure thing.” They weren’t the first boys to do such a thing and Justin doubted they’d be the last. Besides, the thought of some sweet pastry sounded much more appealing to him than Joe’s previous offer of a cigarette had been. 

The two headed down to the kitchen, giving their biggest and best smiles to all the ladies working there. Everyone knew that Joe was the son of Curt Hennig, and that Justin was raised by their boss, so they tended to go easier on them than they would other students (though they were fairly lenient when the boys were kind). “Good afternoon, Mary,” Joe greeted the senior staff member.

“Good afternoon, Joe, Justin,” she returned, giving them both nods and a smile. “You boys go out to town today?” she asked. 

“We did,” Justin answered. “It’s always nice to get out for a bit.”

“Well, I’m sure you two didn’t come down here just to tell me about your trip into town, did you?” she then asked. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the only reason the students ever came down to the kitchen was for some snacks.

“No,” Joe said. “That is if it’s not too much trouble for you?” he added, always sure to be on his best behaviour for the kitchen staff. They were the ones feeding him, after all, and he’d be even more irritated were he not fed his three square each day.

Mary pretended to give them both a stern look, but as soon as they leveled their best kicked-puppy gazes at her she sighed and moved over to a side where some little cakes were cooling. Placing one into their hands each she then flapped a hand at them in a dismissive gesture, “Don’t be telling anyone that you got those here,” she said as a duo response of pleased thanks was given.

“Do you think if I asked Mary to come and live in my house to be my personal cook when I leave school that she would?” Joe asked.

Justin chuckled before taking a small bite of cake, chewing and swallowing.

“I don’t know,” he teased the other, “I’ve heard they get a generous pay here, so you’d have to make it worth her while.” This time Joe was the one to give a small laugh before their conversation stemmed as they ate their cakes as they walked.

When they entered the common room the good humour Joe had managed to build up deflated impressively fast when he realised that Heath and Windham were in the common room together. No one was unconscious or bleeding though, so that was a plus.

“Just remember what we talked about, right?” Justin asked. It seemed as though Windham and Heath were getting on, whether or not they were discussing Joe was another matter. 

“So, what, leave and let them talk?”

“Or you could go see what they’ve talked about. I’m heading back to my room and I’m going to hope the smell’s gone. You go work out whatever it is that needs to be worked out,” Justin said. And from the sound of things, it seemed as though there was quite a good deal that needed to be worked out. 

“You can’t just leave me here!” Joe protested, but Justin was already on his way off, and when he actually waved his goodbyes, under his breath Joe muttered, “Bastard.” That’s when he realized that both Heath and Windham were looking at him. “Hey guys,” he said, giving them a nervous smile as he walked over towards them.

~~~

It wasn’t until the commotion between the three men at the table died down did they realize that Chris was no longer with them. “That little…” Christian trailed off, though he was smirking. 

“Well… I didn’t think he’d actually have it in him to go,” Randy said of Chris, admittedly impressed. 

“Me either,” John agreed. “You think Evan ever tops Chris?” he then asked, the question popping into his mind, and when he was around friends, he usually didn’t filter out his thoughts from the things he said aloud. 

Randy paused to think about it, before answering, “You know, I’d say no. But, you never know, I could be wrong.”

“I’d agree with you, though,” Christian said. “Why don’t you just ask them when they get back?” he then asked of John. “I mean, it’s the only way you’d find out for sure since you seem to be so curious.”

“I could do, but I’m afraid Evan will keel over in embarrassment,” John mused and light chuckles greeted the words. “Is he always so worked up?” Christian asked Randy curiously.

“Oh yeah,” Randy nodded, undeniable fondness in his tone, “But he’s a good kid, and he seems to really like Chris.”

“I’ve never seen Chris so keen on another person either,” Christian agreed,   
“When he said that he actually wanted to formally introduce a lover of his to me –obviously he told everyone else it was just a friend- I was very much surprised.”

Their conversation was cut short though when Chris and Evan returned, Evan looking a little shy but they didn’t seem overly rumpled.

“Hey, Ev,” John said after the pair had settled back in their seats and a barmaid came and refreshed their drinks, “Who tops when you two have sex--- I’m sorry,” he fluttered his lashes, “I meant when you make love.”

“Wh-wha-wait… _what_?” Evan sputtered, nearly spitting out the drink he’d just taken. 

“I’m guessing you heard me the first time based on that reaction,” John said with a chuckle, maintaining his innocent appearance. 

“Well,” he began, dabbing himself off with his napkin, “I wasn’t expecting that kind of question coming from _you_! Did Randy put you up to this?” he asked, trying to avoid actually answering the question.

“Actually, he didn’t. He asked us what we thought first,” Randy told him. 

“And what exactly did you say?” Chris asked, raising a brow at both Randy and his cousin. 

At the same time, all three other men at the table answered, “You,” while looking straight at Chris.

Evan placed a hand over his eyes, hiding them from everyone else as he looked down.

“Well, you’re not incorrect,” Chris said, feeling Evan tensed beside him. Evan actually hadn’t topped him yet, but Chris hadn’t pushed for it either.

However, to spare his lover some face and dignity he added, “But he has topped before.” His usual smug smirk appeared, “And I had no complaints.”   
It wasn’t only the cousins who were gaping after that announcement.

Evan’s head popped up, expression confused and surprised, and Chris merely smiled.

Mercifully no-one else seemed to figure out why the surprise was there and Randy clapped him on the shoulder.

“Thatta boy, Ev, thatta boy,” he said, then ruffling the ravenette’s hair much to his annoyance.

“Randy, that’s really… not necessary,” Evan protested trying to fix his hair to no avail. He continually fussed with it, but he knew that there would be bits sticking up here and there, much to his dismay. 

“Oh, but it is!” Randy said, grinning as Evan groaned.

“How about you answer your own question, then,” Chris said to John, quirking a brow as he then glanced over to Randy. 

“We switch off all the time,” John told him. “I’ve lost track of the number of times we’ve fu- _made love_ over the years, but I’d say we’re pretty even. Don’t you think, Randy?” he asked, turning his head to the side to see Randy nod. “And how about you, Christian?” John asked. “We can’t have anyone get out of this question now that it’s out there.”

“I’m fine with either. I give as good as I get,” he answered. He couldn’t help but look at Chris out of the corner of his eye just to watch his reaction, knowing just how much he hated his lover. 

Chris made a sound of protest and covered his ears with his hands, screwing his eyes shut for a moment before he then removed his hands down and glowered at Christian somewhat, almost upset in a way.

“I can’t believe you’ve submitted to him,” he groaned.

Evan patted Chris’ shoulder absently, unable to really do more in public and Chris did seem genuinely unhappy about this news.

“I think only real lovers can swap with one another,” John said, a thoughtful air to his voice, “I mean, it’s one thing to give a type of submission or trust over, but if it isn’t returned I don’t think it means as much.” Christian smiled slightly to himself as he noticed the subtle softening of Randy’s features as he looked at John as the other spoke as he did.

“I ordinarily wouldn’t protest such an idea, it’s just… Christian, poor taste,” Chris shuddered, “It doesn’t even bear thinking about.” Not that he was making much of an effort to actively picture it.

“You hardly even know him, Chris,” Christian said. 

“I know enough to know that he’s no good for you! Considering that he left you once already.” It was hard to forget how heartbroken Christian had been after that happened. It was after the man came back into his cousin’s life that he _really_ decided he didn’t like him. 

“Please, Chris, we’re great together. And he’s _incredible_ in bed. Spanish men sure know how to use their hips,” he told him. 

“I really don’t need to hear about this. You should at least consider looking elsewhere for a lover.”

“My, my, what if I’d been this disapproving of Evan here?” Christian then asked.

“But I actually _love him_ ,” Chris said. No one else he’d ever been with had he felt like what he felt for Evan. Christian was with his lover just because, as much as he loved his cousin, he liked pushing his buttons even more. He was certain that there was no love between them.

The silence that greeted the words had Chris staring.

“Christian…” he looked at the man seriously, “Christian, look at me.” The other blonde’s head rolled and he looked to the other male, “Yes, dear cousin?” he asked innocently. “Don’t even try this with me, Christian.” He leant forward on the table somewhat, their gazes melding.

As the cousin’s engaged in a stand-off Evan then reached a placed a hand on Chris’ hand, “Maybe you are being a little too hard on him?”

Chris looked at Evan and pouted slightly, “He’s awful. He’s awful indeed. A complete—“ he cut himself off.

Christian still hadn’t said anything, and he was merely smiling genially all the while.

“Here—“ Randy leant into Christian, searching the other’s face as John and Evan momentarily engaged with Chris, “Are you in love with him?” the Canadian sighed and then sent Randy a half-smile and a shrug, “Honestly? I really don’t know.. He has been around the longest.” Even if he had left before.

~~~

Windham’s face was serious, but in truth he was always rather serious looking if he wasn’t talking to someone, and Heath just looked… well, the same as always. He had no signs at all.

Were they mad? Were they not mad?

He couldn’t tell and there was a small part of him that was nervous his presence might break whatever uneasy treaty might have come up between them. “Joe,” Heath then smiled, “Come sit with us.” Even though the redhead had used the doubly inclusive pronoun Joe knew it wouldn’t be quite so simple.

He ended up seated beside Windham but Heath was opposite him. Windham still hadn’t spoken and Heath didn’t seem about to offer further conversation, so Joe cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly and asked, “What’ve you two been up to today then?” Justin was so going to pay for abandoning him here like this, he swore it.

“I’ve been preparing for the game,” Windham answered, finally speaking. 

“Oh, right! The game!” Joe exclaimed. “Is it too late to buy into that? You know I never miss…” he trailed off, though, when he noticed Windham really wasn’t reacting to anything he was saying. 

“Joe, we did some talking,” Windham then said after the three of them sat there awkwardly in silence for some time. 

“Did you?” Joe asked, and his two friends nodded. “What was that about then?” he went on, wishing that he wasn’t the main subject of that conversation.

“Are you kidding?” Heath asked, raising a brow. He and Windham had been talking about nothing but Joe since he walked into the room. Things started out pretty tense between them, but the tension slowly began to ebb away. Until Joe and Justin came in the room.

“Yes?” Joe replied questioningly. He was beginning to wish he hadn’t said anything to Cody.

“We’re talking about the… situation, we’ve had going on here,” he said slowly.

Joe couldn’t help but put his hands over his face momentarily before scrubbing them over his face and straightening up after a moment, “And?” he started, unsure that he really wanted to know the answer.

“We’ve decided…” Windham went quiet again and Joe had to resist the urge to hit both of them; they always dragged things out like this.

“Decided what?” he finally ground out, hands flexing and reaching for his pocket involuntarily as his temper mounted. “Well?” the suspense was killing him.

“We’ve decided that we’re going to see how this works out.” Heath eventually said to the other male. Joe’s eyes widened slightly as he heard the sentiment, turning his head to head between the two. Did he actually hear that or not? He couldn’t even tell anymore.

“I need a cig—“ he started to get up, only to have Windham’s hand catch his and pull him back down.

“You’re not going _anywhere_ ,” Windham said as he forced Joe to sit back down. “You’ve avoided this long enough, and seeing as you’re the one that started it…” he trailed off, raising an eyebrow. 

“Well, um, Justin said that you two should work things out between yourselves,” Joe said, looking back and forth between the two men he had feelings for. 

“You were talking to _Justin_ about us?!” Heath asked. 

“Look at the situation he’s in! I figured I might as well get his advice while I’m at it,” he told them. 

“Anyway, we have talking about it, Heath and I,” Windham said before Joe began one of his never ending rants that he really wasn’t in a mood to hear. “But now it’s time for you to talk, too. No more bullshitting around this.”

“Ok, so… you’ve talked about it… and you want to see what happens. That’s good… but what does it mean if I want to spend time with Heath?” Joe asked. 

“Then you’ve got to spend time with me in return,” Windham said. He still didn’t know how he felt knowing that one minute he could be kissing Joe, just to have him turn around and start kissing Heath. But he had to try and get used to that idea.

“Consider it an even trade-off,” Heath explained. “Say you go on a date with Windham—“ both Joe and Windham flushed at the words but Heath carried on, “Then you have to go on one with me too.”

That sounded far too simple and idealistic, and Joe was not used to that when it came to things in his life. “So… you’re both Ok with that?” he asked suspiciously.

“Yes,” Windham said with the smallest of wavers in his voice.

“Alright then…” Joe still seemed to be waiting on tenterhooks for some hidden condition but none came.

“So, what exactly did Justin say?” Heath asked conscious of the way things seemed to be turning stale between them all again and really wanting to move past it. They were close before and he wanted that camaraderie to return.

“Well, he said I should just let you two talk it out and not worry so much, basically.” He wasn’t ready to go into total detail about their chat it turned out.

Heath looked momentarily amused and Windham seemed used to having more and more people aware of any situation they were in now. Silence returned once again until he removed the small money pouch from inside his shirt, “So, you buying in or not?” 

“Are you shitting me? Of course I’m buying in!” Joe answered, glad that they seemed to be moving past their initial hang ups. “How many people have bought in so far?” he asked, reaching into his coat for his wallet. 

“Pretty big turn out, actually. Biggest tourney so far.” Windham had a feeling that if he kept things up, by the end of his time there, he’d be rolling in it with all the participation. People seemed to love the illicit gambling. 

As Windham and Joe talked about poker, Heath stood and excused himself. He enjoyed cards as much as the next man, but he really had no interest in a poker tournament… mainly because he had no luck at cards. Especially when money was involved. Instead he headed back to his room to read (though he knew in a few hours he’d either be kicked out or forced to sit around while the tourney was played out, and left Joe and Windham alone. 

“You know, I really am glad that you two were able to talk about… things,” Joe said a bit after Heath left them. 

“Yeah, well… we’ll see how that works out, won’t we?”

“Yeah,” he agreed softly, fingers flexing restlessly for his chest pocket but he managed to refrain when he caught the look that Windham shot him out of the corner of his eye; he was a surprisingly big naysayer about smoking too.

As they sat together (Windham’s one hand counting the coins that were soon to reside in his pouch again) Joe bit his lip and then slowly let his hand get closer and closer to Windham’s free one which settled beside his lap.

Initially he had thought the other might attempt to shake him off, that the contact was too weird, but aside from startling somewhat and looking down at their lightly clasped hands Windham didn’t acknowledge the action at all.   
Twin blushes covered both men’s faces, steadfastly not looking at one another even as they didn’t release their grip. It was strange, but not unpleasant, and Joe quite liked the strong palm resting against his own.

Maybe Justin had been right, maybe he should just calm down a little bit about everything and just let it happen.

Didn’t mean that he’d foresee himself smoking any less though.

Maybe, he thought, some of his time spent with Heath could be out smoking. It was a great opportunity to talk, after all, and Heath smoked just a bit less than he did. 

“When’s the game start?” Joe then asked, gingerly stroking his thumb over Windham’s, not knowing how the other boy would react to such a touch. The girls he’d been with had liked it, and, well, he had to admit that he liked it when they did it back. 

Windham didn’t say anything about Joe’s light touch, just let it happen, as he answered, “The usual time. Five o’clock on the dot.” If Windham was anything, it was punctual. At least when it came to his games. 

“Well, I’ll be there.”

“Better be. Or you’ve lost all your chances at winning the pot,” he said, using his free hand to jingle his money pouch just a bit. Though he always took a nice cut for himself, Windham couldn’t help but wish at times that he could play in his own tournament for a chance at the nice sized pots he was beginning to bring in. 

“I never win anyway,” Joe pointed out and Windham chuckled slightly at that. Joe wasn’t a bad card player but he could never quite seem to secure himself many winnings.

“At least you walk away with more in your pocket than Heath,” he mused, “His parents must wonder what the hell he does with all of his pocket money when he writes them to say he needs more.” This time Joe was the one giving a laugh in return.

It wasn’t a completely comfortable atmosphere but at least it had been less tense and awkward than previously. The atmosphere in their bedroom last night had been almost suffocating through unspoken words.

He didn’t want that to happen again.

He sighed softly and closed his eyes, head reclining back on the sofa back; he was feeling rather exhausted and that was no lie. Unawares to him though, as soon as his eyes closed Windham’s gaze moved to his face, slowly trailing over the features of the friend who had inspired such complicated and unfamiliar feelings in him.

As Windham took in his friend’s features, he realized that he really wasn’t a bad looking guy. He’d just never really thought about it before, Joe’s looks. And there, with his eyes shut, Windham found that he really was quite handsome. At least he could see what the girls saw in him now that he had taken the time to look. An urge came over him then, an urge to touch Joe’s face. 

At first he found it odd. Why would he want to touch Joe’s face? But then, he once more looked at the soft, relaxed features, and he saw a side of Joe that he didn’t ever show to the public. 

So he gave in. 

But as soon as his palm rested on Joe’s cheek, those eyes opened, finding Windham’s eyes looking down into his, and the first thing that came out of his mouth was, “The fuck?”

Deciding it was safer to play along, Windham gave Joe three pats to the cheek. “Just making sure you’re not falling asleep on me over there.”

~~~

“So this is more than just some fling?” Randy asked, needing to clarify things for himself.

“Well… I guess?” Christian answered. “We had a pretty big falling out; it was bad all around… then when he came back, I took him back. I didn’t even have to think about it, honestly.”

“Yet you’re still not sure if you really love him?” Randy went on questioning. 

“No?” Christian replied. His relationship didn’t seem to be anything like what John and Randy had. Those two had been in love with one another before they even knew what love was. 

“Do you enjoy spending time with him outside the bedroom?” Randy looked at him curiously as he waited for the answer; as much as he loved being with John _in_ the bedroom, he enjoyed any time spent with John. 

“I do actually. Sometimes his sheer arrogance drives me crazy but deep down he means well.”

“How can one person be so naturally arrogant?” Randy mused. He was aware that he himself was not completely humble, but he didn’t think he was as bad as this fellow sounded to be.

“Well… He’s a prince or something,” Christian flushed slightly as Randy’s eyes widened.

“So that’s where I think he gets it from,” he ended rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. “But we’re not… it’s not like you and John,” he finally conceded and Randy shook his head.

“Flattered though I am, John and I are not the definition of love,” Randy mused, “Everyone’s love is individual Christian. Thinking of them happens all the time without knowledge, and being with him is as easy as breathing, but that doesn’t mean it affects everyone the same.” 

“I can promise you, being around him isn’t as easy as breathing… but there’s something oddly comforting about his presence. Though I don’t know if it’s simply because it’s another warm body there next to me, or if it’s because I really have feelings for him,” Christian tried to explain. Anytime he’d had a partner that he was at all serious with (though that number was fairly low), he always took comfort around them. There was really nothing all that different about his current situation. 

“Well, I know how I am whenever I’m with John, and that’s something I’ve never felt around anyone. There’s got to be something that draws you back to him,” Randy tried to reason. 

“Yeah, there’s the fact that he’s attracted to arrogant assholes who deserve far less than you,” Chris butted in, showing everyone that he had been listening in on their private conversation. 

“He said that he was sorry for everything that happened, and that he’d made a huge mistake in leaving me,” Christian told them. “You know what made me believe him? The fact that he said sorry in the first place. A man like him? He doesn’t apologize for anything. You know that, Chris, he feels like everything this world has to offer is his God given right to take. Yet he came to me and told me to my face that he was sorry. To me that means something.” 

Chris still looked decidedly unhappy and Randy could identify with him on a level; he had had concerns about his cousin’s emotional and physical wellbeing initially upon discovering he was with Chris, and even though he was assured now that Chris was treating him seriously he still couldn’t shake some lingering fear. Plus, well, Chris seemed unable to find the proper merits to deem this prince fellow a good character. “I still think you should have let me punch him the last time,” he mumbled.

“Oh really, like that would have helped?” Christian arched a brow and Chris insisted it would have been deeply satisfying for the other to have seen this Alberto character bleed.

“Chris, seriously, it’s not like I intend to marry him some day—”  
“Thank fuck for that!” Chris yipped softly as Evan kicked him underneath the table for swearing in public.

“Anyone fancy another drink?” John offered, “We still have decent time before we have to start making our way back to school, why not enjoy it?” And, as it turned out when curfew came about they all decided to walk Christian back to Chris’ family’s house where he was staying, John and Randy being very fussed over in their own right. Not that either man minded, but Chris was wholly mortified by the whole affair by the time they got away.

“You’ve got a lovely family, Chris,” John said as they headed back to school. 

“He really does. He’s just too embarrassed to admit it,” Evan said, patting Chris on the shoulder. 

“Didn’t I tell you that you had nothing to worry about?” Randy asked of Evan. “They were all over you in there. I bet they were wishing they had a Christina instead so that you could be their new son-in-law,” he teased. 

“I don’t think you’re that far off,” Chris muttered. “You know, I wish I could tell everyone that he _is_ my lover.” He didn’t think that’d go over so well, though, as much as he family loved him and Evan. 

“Believe me, I know,” Randy said, glancing to John. They’d been fooling around together for nearly half their lives, yet they’d never been able to tell their families, either. “If I could tell them, I would… but I have no idea how they’d react. And I really don’t feel like being disowned any time soon.”

“True,” John’s expression closed, “Or to be sent away.” A shiver greeted his words.

There was always a whisper about homosexual people being caught and ‘sent away’ somewhere, but no one seemed to know where.

Privately each man thought their families would love them too much to allow that to happen to them even if they did find out where their preferences and hearts lay, but none of them were bold enough to try finding out.

“Well, I think it’s been a very pleasant day,” Evan said, ignoring Randy’s slight snort as he obviously thought back to Evan’s unstoppable panic attacks that morning before meeting Chris’ family, “But I’m hungry now.”

“Tea’ll be finished and ready soon,” John said, his hand going to his own stomach, “Good job too.” Chris looked at John in amusement, “Is food all you think about, Cena?” Before John could answer Randy cut in, “Of course it isn’t. He thinks the most about me, and food comes second.” Evan swatted his cousin lightly. 

“Well, I don’t know about that,” John said. “I’ve said no to you before so we could get something to eat,” he countered. 

“How about this, then? We’ve stopped eating midway through a meal or a snack and gone off to fuck, right? Well, have we ever stopped fucking so you can go off to eat?” Randy asked. He then answered his own question with, “No, we have not. Therefore you think about me most, then food second.”

“I’ve been thinking about food longer, though.”

“We’re not talking about longevity here, John. Food has an unfair advantage. However, as we’re talking about the present day situation, you clearly think of me more, ceteris peribus.”

As Chris overheard the pair’s conversation, he looked to Evan and chuckled, “Your cousin’s quite a piece of work, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, well… you just get used to it, I guess,” Evan answered. 

~~~

“Wait… you want to… to me… in my _house_?” Ted asked, his voice suddenly a bit more high pitched than normal at the idea. 

“Well, why not? Don’t you think it’d be perfect? To just slowly, gently, make love to you late at night in your bed?” Cody asked, imagining it already. He’d been over Ted’s enough to be able to clearly picture what his room looked like. And, well, he’d definitely imagined them there before. 

“I-I…” he trailed off. He didn’t know how he felt about the idea of Cody being the one to actually be inside of him. He loved Cody, he truly did, and he was certain that Cody would do everything in his power to take good care of him, but it still didn’t make him any less, well, nervous at the idea. 

“You do want that, don’t you?” Cody asked as he picked up on Ted’s hesitancy. “Or… you don’t?” He sat back on his heels, no longer washing Ted off.

“No—“ Ted started, and had it not been for the fact they were alone in the bathroom he would have missed the skip in Cody’s breathing.

“No?” he repeated and Ted could hear the tremor in the word even if he had yet to actually turn and face the other. The haste in which he used to do so though almost had him chinning himself rather gracelessly onto the edge of the tub, “Cody, wait—“ he reached, grasping the other’s sleeve.

The other was looking away from him and Ted stumbled somewhat over his words in his haste to get them out, “It’s not that I don’t want to I just--- I’m scared, I mean, I saw how much pain you were in despite my best efforts…” and truth be told he just really, really didn’t want to risk his family finding them.

Cody didn’t respond, head still turned away from him. “Codes…?” Ted questioned softly, cursing the DiBiase tendency to be careless with their words without meaning to.

“Are you saying that it’s _ok_ for _me_ to feel the pain, but not you?” Cody asked, fighting his urge to yell and storm off. 

“No! I’m just saying… I’m saying that I’m scared. Ok? I’m scared of what it will feel like and… I’m scared of the repercussions,” he added in a whisper. He was sure that if they chanced it, chanced making love in his room, someone would know.

Cody pulled his arm out of Ted’s grip, crossing his arms over his chest. “So, what? Does that mean you regret—”

“No!” Ted instantly protested. “No, not at all. But all this… you know how new this all is to me,” he said. “It’s overwhelming. Just knowing that I really made love to you… to think about _you_ making love to _me_? It’s all so much to think about. I love you, Cody, you know that. And I don’t regret it at all. Dammit, Cody, look at me!” he said after he said all that and Cody _still_ wasn’t looking at him. 

“Finish your bath,” Cody said, beginning to exit the bathroom, “We can talk about this later.” He was about to lose his temper big time.

“Cody!” Ted shouted but the other didn’t turn back to him. The door closed after the ravenette and the sound seemed to echo horrifically in the otherwise silent bathroom. Groaning, Ted leant back against the bathtub edge.

Finishing washing himself Ted made quick work of exiting the bath once done and drying before dressing once again.  
Rolling his shoulders somewhat Ted then headed towards the bedroom that he Cody and Justin shared. And, speaking of Justin, he was sitting on his bed, speaking to Cody who sat on his own opposite him. “—oh yes, it was absolutely delicious where we ate. It was a place in town—“ the dark-skinned male paused in his speaking when he realised that someone else had entered the room, “Hello there, Ted,” he greeted.

“Hello. Telling Cody about your evening?” Ted asked as he walked further into the room, meeting Cody’s eyes just for a split second before Cody looked away. 

“Well, I was… but I’d really much rather like to find out what happened with you two.” He didn’t know if he should be happy for them or if he should be worried with the way that Cody now seemed to be ignoring Ted. 

“We can talk about that later,” Cody muttered. “I’d much rather you finish telling me all about your wild night with Wade.”

“First off, it wasn’t a _wild night_ ,” Justin said, rolling his eyes. “Second, maybe you should tell me what happened with you guys,” he tried to encourage, finding it really weird that just hours ago he walked into this very room, which reeked of sex, where there were two very contented looking teens lying naked together on a bed, yet now they didn’t seem to be talking. “Please?”

“Tell me about your night and then we can talk about us.” Cody was always attempting to barter and Justin could smell a desperate conversation segue from a mile off.

“Fine, but you’d best tell me.” Cody might be tight-lipped when he really wanted to, but Ted had always been the more sensitive one and Justin knew whatever it was would be killing him, and that he would really want to talk it over.

“So, yes, dinner was amazing and Wade was such a gentleman, we took the coach back here and had dessert in his room.”

“Oh, dessert?” there was a ghost of a smile on Cody’s face for mere moments, “Is that what they call it now?” Justin swatted the other’s arm lightly and then told him about the chocolate box, glancing very quickly over the intimate details. Then, he looked between Cody and Ted, “Well, I would be saying congratulations about what I think I found when I came back to the room, only it seems the celebratory mood is not with you two. Why is that?”

“Oh, fantastic, you saw us, too?!” Ted exclaimed, looking between Justin and Cody. 

“I saw you two asleep earlier this morning. And the room… had a certain odor to it… I didn’t actually _see you_ in the act, if that’s what you mean. But what do you mean by ‘too’?” Justin asked, now even more confused. One night with Wade and apparently he had missed everything going on with his friends. 

“Well,” Cody began, looking behind him to Ted, “that actually has nothing to do with this part of the story.”

“Are you joking?! I think it has everything to do with it!” Ted then went off. “Look, Cody, yes, it was fantastic being with you, but Christ, I have one little moment of doubt about _myself_ , not about being with you, but about _myself_ and you make it out to be like I don’t want to so much as touch you anymore! Quit being such a fucking drama queen already!” 

“Excuse me?” Cody asked, standing up to face Ted properly. 

“Would you two please just shut the fuck up and tell me what happened?!” Justin all but shouted over them. “And start from the beginning so I can properly assess the situation,” he added. He did want to help, but he also wanted to get some of the dirty details… almost as payment for what he told those two about Wade. 

Both men seemed to be intending to injure one another with their glares for a bit longer.

Huffing, Ted then sighed and sat down, “Fine.” Cody was surprised by this; Ted was so personal it was almost unnatural and even though Justin was probably their most trustworthy friend when it came to secrets he hadn’t expected that the other would make a conscious movement to seek his council about something.

Cody took his place beside Justin, the gap between he and Ted being almost obnoxiously apparent to all three.

Arms folded over his chest and a leg crossed over the other, pissed off radiating from each of his pores, Ted then began to recount the story of their first time making love, and then the second, and then their final argument in the bath. Of course he glossed over the ‘kinkier’ details and just told Justin what he thought it would be necessary for the other to hear. “And that’s that,” he ended.

Cody snorted and Ted sent him a surprisingly black look in response.

“First off,” Justin said, speaking for the first time since Ted had begun speaking, “I think you both need to calm the fuck down, alright? This isn’t something that can’t be fixed. Issues are made to be resolved after all. First off--- Ted, would you really be opposed to letting Cody take you?” he looked at the blonde seriously.

Ted paused a bit before answering, “I never said that… but I honestly never thought about it before. Him taking me.”

Cody opened his mouth to speak, but Justin raised a hand up to stop him before he even got started. “No talking. Let Ted go first and _listen_ to him. Don’t talk over him, because if you do, then you’ll just start yelling again, and quite frankly, I don’t want to hear it. Ted, go on.”

“So when he said that he wanted to take me… _in my childhood bed_ ,” he added in a whisper, “I just… I got scared. That’s all… I didn’t mean that I never wanted it…”

“It’s ok to be scared, Teddy. Cody, it’s ok for Teddy to be scared about the idea,” he repeated to Cody, who was still glowering. “You have to remember, Codes, you’re the first person that’s ever touched him. He doesn’t have the experience—”

“I was a virgin, too! I’d never fucked anyone before, either!” Cody interrupted. 

“But you’ve done other things with guys before, Cody. Ted hasn’t. I was so afraid the night that Wade took me to bed the first time. And the first time that I took Wade? We were both so nervous about everything. Ted has a right to be nervous at the idea,” Justin said, even though he knew Cody wouldn’t like that he was siding with Ted on this one.

Cody looked less than impressed that he was being ganged up on by the other two, his expression stony indeed.

It was killing Ted that they were fighting like this but he couldn’t change how he felt and he was not going to be sorry about it. Besides, everyone always said that he was the only one who could tell Cody things as he needed to hear them, uncaring how much of a temper the other may have worked himself into.

“Fine, whatever. You want to spend the rest of your life scared _Theodore_ then do it.” To Justin and Ted’s surprise he was starting to unbutton his shirt with sharp movements.

“W-What are you doing?” Ted’s voice came out something of a squeak and Cody threw him a look as though he were simple, “I am going to bed. Nothing more can be said about this and I don’t want to talk about it.” Justin sighed and shook his head.

“Cody, you can’t just run away from the issue!” surely he’d learnt that by now.

“What’s to say, really? Maybe one day he’ll get over it, but I don’t know if I can spend the rest of my life waiting!” huffing, Cody got into his nightshirt and then underneath his covers, the lamp beside his bed being clicked off and plunging his part of the room into darkness. Justin was shocked, but a look at Ted had his heart aching for his friend--- he looked devastated.

Looking to Justin with pleading eyes, the pair of them left the room to go talk somewhere private. Once they were alone in the bathroom, Ted began to talk. “You know… I’d been saying to Cody that we’re too young to do this. He’s only fifteen, and I’m only sixteen, and I didn’t think I was ready to do… what we did. And now, looking at this? I can’t help but wonder if I was right.”

“Teddy, you know Cody better than anyone. You know how he gets,” Justin said, putting his hand in Ted’s shoulder. 

“Which is part of the reason that I thought we were too young in the first place! So now I say one thing that he disagrees with, and I’m the fucking bad guy.” Ted shook his head, not really sure what to do. 

“He’ll get past it,” Justin told him. At least he hoped Cody would. He would hate to see his two closest friends split because Ted wasn’t ready to have Cody take him yet. 

“Yeah, once I go to him and tell him I want him to take me! I just have a feeling that’s the only way that he’ll really get past it.”

“You don’t know that,” he said, though he wasn’t so convinced himself. Ted really did know Cody better than anyone else, and could often predict how he’d react to things. 

“No, I don’t… but, Justin… being with him was incredible. I want to feel that again, the way that I felt while I was inside him,” he admitted, “but I don’t know if I’ll even have that opportunity again.”


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes - Oscar Wilde

“Randy, be careful, your ego is showing,” John chided the other as they entered the giant building that constituted their school.

“That’s not the only thing I’ll be showing if you don’t just admit that I am at the forefront of your mind,” Randy said, attempting to catch John in a friendly tussle, only the pair’s solid stances keeping them both from toppling at the immediate change in altitude. Evan almost fell into Chris as he ducked to avoid them.

“Believe it or not before meeting John he didn’t really talk to people.”

Chris turned to his lover in surprise, “Really?” Randy was always surrounded by fawning admirers and in conversation with someone whenever he had seen him before, “Oh yes,” Evan said seriously.

“Randy used to keep to himself. And then, one day, when we’d first started here, a boy approached Randy and asked why he was on his own…”

He looked at John and Randy and quirked a slight smile, “And look at them now.”

“I can’t say I ever pegged Randy as the unsocial type,” Chris said as he watched the two of them messing around in the hall. 

“Well… looking back on it, it is pretty hard to believe. Especially since discovering that he’s screwed around with half the student body,” Evan told him. 

“Are you two talking about me?” Randy then asked, straightening out his clothes and his posture. 

“Not everything’s always about you, Randal,” John said. 

“Actually, we _were_ talking about you,” Evan confessed, shrugging sheepishly to John, who was shaking his head. “I was just telling Chris about how shy and unsocial Randy used to be.”

“Ah, yes, poor Randy, all alone… seems like just yesterday, doesn’t it?” John asked, earning himself a light smack on the arm from his lover. 

“Don’t start, Jonathon—“ Randy smirked and John pushed his lover’s shoulder lightly and pouted, “Don’t call me by my full name.”  
Both men agreed that their full given names made them sound rather pretentious, and despite their families respective wealth they really weren’t that bad.

“I’m just going to go to the chapel before dinner…” Evan said, pulling a pocket watch out of his vest’s pocket and clicking it open.

“Would you like me to come with you?” Chris asked.

Before Evan could reply John slung a companionable arm around Chris’ shoulders, “You can come with us to get a table. We’ll keep a seat for you, Ev,” he assured, dimples appearing again.

As the uncertain Evan flashed a smile and headed off, Chris looked at John who shrugged, “I just wanted to know how things went this morning, since we have the availability to talk now.”

“How things went this morning? You mean with my family?” Chris asked. Though, really, what else could he be talking about, right?

“Yes, with your family. Did Evan have any right to be as nervous as he was at breakfast?” John asked. 

“Um, he got worse before he got better,” Chris answered. “My family thought he was the sweetest boy ever, kept telling him he didn’t have to be so shy. I tried to get them to back off a bit. Eventually I managed to get him alone for a bit to ask him how he was feeling, and see if they were as bad as he thought they’d be. He said, and these are his words, not mine, they weren’t that bad at all, but they’re a little loud.”

Randy chuckled at that. “You think with me as a cousin and John as a friend, he’d be used to loud by now.”

“You’d look mute next to them,” Chris said, smiling fondly. “Evan warmed up to them all eventually, told them about his schooling and all that stuff they seemed to want to know all about.”

“That’s good and all… but how was he once you two went off with Christian, him knowing that he knew about the pair of you?” Randy asked.

“He could barely speak to him,” Chris admitted, “I think he expected that Christian was going to strike him or something equally ridiculous.”  
It was ridiculous because a) his cousin wasn’t like that and b) Chris would never have allowed it to happen.

“But when Christian engaged him in conversation and gave us his blessing he calmed down. In all truth though he didn’t calm down the most until you two turned up… though you were probably helping by winding him up.” The familiar teasing was probably a welcome distraction from his previously crippling unease. “Christian really likes him though, and even though my family don’t know the truth the fact that they liked him…”

John smiled slightly and nodded, “Means the world to you, doesn’t it?” he asked lightly and Chris nodded his head.

“Maybe in another life there’ll be a time when people like us can show our love for what it is, but for now we just have to take the little things our families give us and just be happy with it,” John said.

Randy broke the slightly sombre air by stage-whispering to Chris that, “John got really philosophical when he was drunk or hungry.”

“Fuck off,” John replied, giving Randy a hand gesture not meant to be seen in public. “I am hungry though.”

“Aren’t you always? You should see him when he’s over my house. At meals he’ll always eat the same portions as my family, never asking for more. But then I take him back to my room, and he tells me he’s still hungry! This happens every time, too, I swear it,” Randy said to Chris. 

John shrugged. He wasn’t about to deny it. The three chatted for a bit, a lot of it Randy teasing John about his little quirks, while they waited in line, and were soon at their usual table, eating their dinner. It was a few minutes later that Randy looked up to see, much to his surprise, Evan standing there with a tray of food, obviously returned from the chapel after a quick prayer. Probably didn’t want to leave Randy and John too long with Chris alone. However, his return gave Randy the perfect opening.

“Speaking of having guests at my house… Evan, have you considered having Chris over for the holidays at all?” Randy then asked of his cousin.

Evan blushed and looked to Chris out of the corner of his eye. “I haven’t really brought it up with him yet.”

“I was just going to stay here, actually,” Chris then told them. “I’d hate to impose on you.” The holiday break wasn’t all that long, and if he went home, he really wouldn’t even be there all that long considering how long the travel time would be to actually get there. So he’d arranged to stay at the school, and that’s why his family came here for their own little trip, so they could see him for a while until he was home again the following summer.

~~~

“You shouldn’t just assume that this will be the end of it,” Justin said, leaning against a sink. Deep down he couldn’t help but feel glad that he and Wade didn’t have these problems--- and part of it could have been down to age, as Ted was so determinedly focusing on. “Really, Ted, he’s just having one of his moments I’m sure. I mean, it must have been a blow to his pride even though you didn’t mean it that way.”

Ted shook his head fervently, “Of course I didn’t mean it that way, but hell did he want me to lie to him about it?”

Justin took a firm grip on the other’s shoulders when he swore that Ted was going to bounce his head off of one of the mirrors that lined the room over the sinks. “Ted, seriously, please, just have faith alright?”

It was because he had faith that he had ended up struggling with his feelings for Cody in the first place, but he tried his hardest not to lash out at Justin and say as much.

“I just don’t think this time it’ll be as simple, Justin,” he said weakly. He looked at his watch, “Cody’s going to miss dinner at this rate.”

Justin gave the other a small smile, “We can always bring him something back and leave it out for him to have when he wants it.” Ted nodded dolefully not hungry himself now he thought about it.

“Come on, we should get out of here at least before people start getting the wrong idea.” Ted didn’t even have the heart to make some quips about the inappropriateness of the comment or anything like he usually would.

The two didn’t bother going back into the room, just headed downstairs to the common room before leaving for the dining hall. The mood along the walk was still pretty tense, as Ted was so hung up over Cody. 

“Hey, you two were meant to be together, ok?” Justin said quietly as they walked through the halls. “Everyone can see it, and Cody knows it just as well as you do. He couldn’t live without you.”

“But I’ve never seen him this bad before.” Cody had a tendency to overreact to things; it was part of his theatrical nature, but this? This went above and beyond anything, and he honestly couldn’t be sure if he was acting, or not. 

“He’ll come around.”

“What if… He asked me if we wanted to wait for _that_ until he was over my house for the holidays… I don’t want to risk my family finding out, but I don’t want to risk losing him even more… So… so what if I told him that I would like to do, you know… over the holidays?” Ted asked. They were coming up, yes, but they did still have some time before it happened. “I can say that I was just surprised at the idea, but that I’d like to have him…”

“Well, I don’t think he should push you into it if you don’t think you’re ready… especially since your family will be so close,” Justin said. He didn’t remember his family that well, but every time he and Wade made love in his office, he did have a fear of some student walking in on them and blabbing on them to someone above Wade, so he could understand where he was coming from. 

“Don’t force anything just because Cody is having one of his moments,” Justin reiterated, gently but firmly, as they made their way into the dining-hall. They were a few minutes early so joined the small line that had formed.

“I just hate it when he’s off with me,” Ted whispered and he looked so despondent that Justin swore he could feel tears in his eyes. He patted the other’s back lightly, unable to offer any more comfort than that.

Wade had never been angry with him, that he knew of in any serious way, and so he couldn’t understand what it would be like to have the one you loved acting so cold to you, but the mere thought was making his chest hurt.

The reality had to be even more unpleasant.

Ted was not fat by any means, but like most men he had a very healthy appetite, that night though Justin noticed that there was a significant dip in the portions and variety of food that Ted asked for. They moved and seated themselves at a table once they had received their food, Justin making a mental note to go back before they closed up to ask if they could have something to take for Cody. The other would be starving otherwise.

Reaching for the jugs of drink that were interspersed across the long tables, Justin indicated to Ted’s cup and the other gave a baleful nod. When Wade made an appearance in the dining-hall Justin’s attention was diverted from his task and it was only quick thinking on Ted’s part to move Justin’s cup that meant that the other wasn’t spilling juice all over the table-cloth.

“Eyes on the cup there, Justin,” Ted said as Justin’s cup was nearing the top, as well. 

“Huh? Oh, shit,” Justin cursed as he realized that he still had the juice container in his hand. He took a cloth napkin and wiped up the little spill on the table, as well as the juice that dribbled down the sides of the cups. “Sorry.”

“Got a little distracted, did we?” Ted asked, quirking a brow. 

“It happens,” Justin replied sheepishly. He really needed to watch himself, because if he pulled that stunt in front of the wrong person, and happened to notice just who he was looking at, he knew that nothing good could come out of it. 

Ted hit a pea across his plate with his fork, then hit it back to the other side. He kept it up for a bit until it ended up lodged into his mashed potatoes. He’d usually be about halfway through his dinner by that point, yet he hadn’t even taken a bite. 

“Teddy. You have to eat something. Cody won’t be mad forever. He’ll probably wake up and realize that he’s not mad anymore! Now eat,” Justin said, taking his own forkful of food into his mouth to demonstrate his point. 

Ted found another pea to play with. 

“Ted, I swear, I will push your face into that mashed potato in a minute,” Justin warned.

There was only so many times he could listen to Ted’s fork chink against his plate and see that damn pea moving out of the corner of his eye before he got wound up. “Eat something, it’ll make you feel better,” he repeated firmly.  
Just to appease the other Ted took a small forkful of mash into his mouth.

The food was delicious, he knew this, and internally he knew that he was hungry, but it just didn’t taste like anything at all with the way he was feeling. He’d always said being with Cody made everything seem better and that included meals.

Silently, Justin swore that if those two didn’t patch things up soon he was going to give them both a good and sound beating to get everything through their thick skulls; they were both so damned obstinate that Justin was glad they couldn’t have children together.

Any child of theirs would be a force to be reckoned with.

Finally, mercifully, Ted began to eat a little more but he barely had a third of what he normally consumed. Justin just gathered that something was better than nothing and tried to tempt the other with treacle tart pudding.

After sitting there for a while, Justin still waving the pudding in front of him, Ted couldn’t help but smile a bit. “Fine. Just give me the damn pudding,” he said, snatching the spoon from Justin’s hand and taking a bite. 

“Isn’t that so much better?” Justin asked, smiling himself as Ted took another bite.

“I guess.” As delicious as the dessert was, it still left a bitter aftertaste as he realized once again that he and Cody were fighting after what should have been some of the best, most incredible moments of their young lives. 

“Teddy, you have to quit it. Cody’s a little pissy, ok, but he’ll get over it. You two fight, but you always go back to each other.”

“But we’ve never fought like _this_ before. I’ve always been glad to never have Cody’s anger turned on me, because he can be a vicious little thing when he sets his mind to it… and he’s stubborn as all hell, so I can’t see him giving in,” Ted told him. 

“To be quite honest, I think you’re the one person that he’d actually give into. Considering you’re pretty damn stubborn yourself, I think you could hold your ground, and that Cody would actually respect your wishes. Just give him some time to cool off, that’s all he needs,” Justin assured him. He knew he was right about that… he hoped.

~~~

Now, he never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the box, but Joe got the feeling immediately that he had missed something. There had been something in Windham’s eyes that he had never seen before but it had gone before he could identify it. “Windham?” he queried softly, cocking his head a little bit. Though the other still hadn’t moved their hands apart he was making a point not to look at him.

“If you’re really that tired maybe you should go for a nap,” Windham continued on lightly, pretending not to be aware of the other’s scrutiny on him. “I mean, you never know what could happen to you if you fall asleep like this.”

Heck, this was so awkward.

“I’m not tired,” Joe insisted, though it was merely minutes later when he found himself genuinely nodding again against Windham’s shoulder. He hadn’t slept well the night before.

“Oh really?” Windham clucked his tongue softly and picked the other up carefully to take him back to their room. He’d wake him in time for the game, he decided.

Heath looked up from his book as Windham all but dragged a very sleepy Joe into the room. He raised a brow as Windham actually pulled the covers down before whispering to Joe that he should lie down. Joe did just that, kicking off his shoes before lying down and pulling the covers up over him. He was out within seconds of his head hitting the pillow. 

The entire time, Windham could feel a pair of eyes on his back, and there was only one person he knew that could be. Turning around, he looked to Heath and asked, “Can I help you?”

Heath shrugged. 

“You know it’s not the first time I’ve helped him to bed before,” Windham told him. He remembered the first time that Joe discovered alcohol when he was twelve. He himself had nowhere near as much as Joe did, and not only did he remember having to put Joe to bed, he also distinctly remembered the splitting headache Joe didn’t stop complaining about the entire following day. “I’m not helping him just because of… this situation… I’m doing it because he’s my friend.”

“Why are you explaining yourself to me?” Heath asked, not unkindly but with some puzzlement; he hadn’t said anything about it, and Windham never usually bothered to justify himself to anyone. Well, not hardly anyway. Windham’s lips pressed together then and he looked momentarily embarrassed before he merely gave a slight shrug in response.

“I was just saying,” he eventually said, eyes drifting down to Joe. He had never seen the other conk out so fast before without some sort of drink involved and he was actually rather concerned.

Had he really not slept last night?

Looking to their sleeping friend –well, technically their sleeping respective boyfriend if you wanted to go there- Heath quirked a small smile. Joe was so rough and tumble and lippy when he was awake, he looked deceptively innocent when he was sleep. There was a small line of tension furrowing his brow though, he noticed. “He’s cute when he’s not trying to pick fights with people, isn’t he?” he said absently, seeing the way Windham twitched in obvious surprise at his statement.

“I, uh… yeah,” Windham agreed after a moment to recover from and compose himself after Heath’s comment.

“Hard to believe it’s the same guy almost,” Heath said, still looking at Joe’s sleeping form. 

Windham, however, was looking at Heath, looking at Joe. “You really do have feelings for him, don’t you?” he asked. When he first heard that the two of them had messed around, it seemed like it was just that, messing around. But now as he watched Heath, it seemed like maybe it had always been more than that. At least on Heath’s part. 

“Yeah, I do,” Heath answered without question. “You can resent me for it if you want, but it won’t change anything.”

“I hope you know the same can be said for me.”

“I don’t resent you. You’re Joe’s best friend; you two care about one another so much.” Heath shrugged and went on, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised that Joe wanted to have a go at this with the both of us… if anything I thought he’d say that our little one offs were just that and that he’d go to you.”

“You know what he’s like though when it comes to his friends,” Windham reminded and Heath nodded his head.

He may be a brash bastard but Joe, in total honesty, hated falling out with his friends.

“He wouldn’t have wanted to upset either of us, true, but I don’t think he would have done something like this if he didn’t feel strongly for both of us,” Windham pressed on. And really, what more could they do than respect that? If things got awkward between them for a while that was fair enough but they had to try not to take it out on Joe.

“I won’t give him up, but at least I’ll feel better knowing it’s just you that I have to share him with…” and he never thought he’d say that.

“Same here, actually,” the redhead admitted after a moment.

From where he slumbered Joe snuffled lightly in his sleep and stretched out, the covers falling somewhat ---not that it mattered since he was dressed and all--- and the other two immediately looked to him. One of his hands had reached out to the bed-edge where they were, as though he was attempting to seek them even as he slept.

“Maybe… maybe it won’t be that bad,” Windham stated. “I mean… it’s better than knowing he’s messing about with some random guy… or girl,” he went on. 

“That’s true,” Heath agreed. “I feel kind of weird talking about him like this while he’s right here.”

“He’s not listening… and at least this time he’s not trying to weasel his way out of everything,” Windham joked. “He is the one that started this whole thing, after all, and while I’m admittedly still a bit unsure of things and how they’ll work out, I’d like to give this a shot.”

Heath nodded. He then bit his lip and looked to Windham a bit unsurely before asking, “Have you ever been with a man before?” He knew of Windham’s uncertainty, and how he did seem somewhat nervous about being with Joe. He knew that Windham had some sexual experiences, but he didn’t know if it was with girls only.

“No… never contemplated it before, really,” he answered. “You?” he asked, a bit surprised when Heath nodded his head yes. 

“It hasn’t been as many times as you might think,” Heath mused, “Actually, Joe’s only the third boy I’ve ever done something with,” he mused lightly.

Windham’s eyes widened somewhat; so did that mean that Heath had slept with two men already?

Almost as though the other could read his mind Heath shook his head, “I’ve only ever slept with one boy, and although it wasn’t amazing I didn’t think it was half bad. Neither of us knew what we were doing so I don’t suppose that helped, now that I look back at it and all.”

“So… you’ve had intercourse with a man?” he was struggling to wrap his mind around the idea, and Heath nodded. “One time with a servant in my family’s household. Of course, we didn’t do it in the house.” Windham couldn’t help but be mildly impressed--- he’d only ever thought smoking was Heath’s biggest rebellious act.

“Wait… which servant?” he’d been to the other’s house before after all. Heath merely smiled though and placed a finger over his lips.

~~~

“If you’ve already made plans—“ Evan started, but Randy suddenly placed his foot over his cousin’s and pressed down.

As Evan yelped and leant down to rub his foot Randy looked to Chris, “My mother’ll be delighted if you come over--- Evan’s never really invited a friend before. If you fancy it then the invitation’s there.” Evan would never ask so he thought he’d do his cousin a favour and get it done for him.

The blush on Evan’s cheeks told Chris all he needed to know.

The other had actually been considering inviting him into his home, to meet his family in turn, and that really meant a lot to him. He smiled at Evan.

“I will definitely think about it,” he said as he reached for his drink. Evan had managed to get through the queue quick to join them.

“Hm,” Evan looked down at his own food, perfect manners being used even though many in the dining-hall got a little lax on their eating manners since their parents weren’t there breathing down their necks about it. Randy rolled his eyes lightly and glanced at the smiling John out of the corner of his eye. Looking at these two he was just glad that he and John were not nearly so awkward with one another. Actually, they’d never been that awkward. 

“What’s there to think about?” Randy asked. “You can stay here, where, quite frankly, no one’s going to be, or you can come to the Orton estate. I don’t think there should be any question of where you should stay over the holidays.”

“Well, he should at least ask first,” Chris retorted. “I don’t want to impose.”

“For the last time, you won’t be. We have plenty of room, and I know Mother will let you stay in Evan’s room. Just be quiet about certain activities, and she’ll be none the wiser.”

“Randy!” Evan exclaimed. It was bad enough when Randy first brought up the idea and mentioned that he and Chris could room together without Chris being around to hear him. But now Chris was right there and could hear everything, and that made it even more embarrassing. 

“As I’m sure you’ve figured out,” Randy went on, ignoring his cousin’s pleas to keep quiet, “he’s never had anyone in his bed at home. Doesn’t christening his bedroom give you even more incentive to come over?”

The flicker in Chris’ eyes was something Randy recognised as an expression he too had worn at the prospect of laying claim to John in his bedroom at home. “Y’know, Chris,” he said, grinning, “I think I could rather come to like you.”

Chris inclined his head and grinned back, “Much obliged, Randy. Same here.”  
Evan looked at John pleadingly and John merely sent him a solicitous look but made no further attempts to make either Randy or Chris stop. He didn’t think it was a bad idea.

Evan pushed his food around his plate, taking small bites and mentally cursing his cousin’s forward nature. Chris had yet to answer after all and if he was only humouring the other two to save face for Evan then he was going to be pretty damn mortified later on when Chris denied the invitation.

“Well,” Chris said, “I’m sure that the school won’t have a problem with it if you are very sure that your parents won’t, Randy.” Offering a final reassurance to the blonde, Randy smirked when Chris then said, “Sounds like fun.” 

Evan’s eyes grew wide at Chris’ answer. “Wait, really?” he asked, almost disbelieving what he just heard. 

“Yes, really. If it’s ok with your family, then I would really like to stay with you,” Chris told him. He hoped that Evan’s aunt and uncle would like him, just as though his own family had really taken to Evan. 

“Well, um, I’ll make sure to ask her as soon as I can,” Evan said, smiling as he realized that Chris actually said he’d like to spend time with him over the holidays. 

Randy found himself smiling, as well. His cousin looked so happy at the thought, and he couldn’t help but be happy himself. He’d never actually seen Evan looking so content and happy in his life. Not until he’d come clean about the true nature of his and Chris’ relationship. Once he did that, and once he knew that Randy was accepting of the relationship, he’d really come into his own. Just a week ago, he’d never find himself saying that Chris was good for Evan. But right then? It couldn’t be clearer. 

John placed his foot atop Randy’s underneath the table lightly to attract the other male’s attention.

Looking up at his lover John arched a brow slightly and then grinned a little, his dimples appearing. The light in John’s eyes was unmistakable and Randy felt his cheeks pinkening and ducked his head a little.

Despite his demeanour Randy was really sweet deep down and caring, and the fact that he looked so happy there was proof enough to how much Evan mattered to him.

When they finished eating and had taken their plates back Randy then led the way out, John and Evan followed, Chris coming along behind them. “Maybe you should write to mother tonight,” Randy mused, “You know how she is when it comes to weekly correspondence from the both of us.” Rolling his shoulders a little he then glanced at his lover, and John clapped a hand on his shoulder again in a small gesture that none of the boys wandering around the hallways alongside them would construe as it being as intimate as it truly was. 

“I think I will,” Evan agreed. He should write her and let her know he was setting back into school life just fine since their little trip. That and ask about Chris staying over for a bit. “You really don’t think she’ll mind?”

“Evan, she wants you to have friends here. If she knows that you’ve become friends enough with someone to the point you want them to come over during the holidays, she’s going to be thrilled by the idea,” Randy said to assure Evan yet again. 

“What if Auntie and Uncle don’t like him?” he asked, looking towards Chris, who was quirking an eyebrow at him. 

“Quit worrying about it, Ev! They’re going to like him, and they’re going to see that he’s good for you.”

“Randy’s right,” John said. “Chris is a good guy, and I’m sure that your family will be able to see that.”

“Well… you two didn’t see it at first,” Evan added quietly, looking down at his hands.

“That was only because I thought he was hurting you!” Randy insisted and then gave Chris a mild ‘no offence’ look. Chris merely shrugged in return and held his hands up in a light gesture of surrender; he knew how it had seemed initially.

Evan looked embarrassed by that because he hadn’t realised just how open he was to everyone who knew him past the stigmas of ‘small’ and ‘cute’ and ‘Randy’s cousin’. It surprised even him though it really shouldn’t.

“Besides, I don’t mind him now,” Randy said casually and Chris smirked; they were rather similar in their ways.

“Same here,” John rolled his eyes at both of them before then turning a smile towards Evan, “Well, we’ll see you two later then.”

“Heading back to Randy’s room already?” Evan asked, and then blushed somewhat realising how that sounded.

“Well, I may have to go back to my own for curfew…” he mused with reluctance.

~~~

When they were finished eating they headed back to the canteen ladies and asked for anything they might take up. Their friend was too tired to make dinner, they claimed, since he’d been in rehearsal all day.

That had been a realistic situation once or twice, so they got away with it again.

It wasn’t any grand fare, some bread and butter, a couple of sausages and some chicken, but at least it was something to fill Cody’s stomach when he awoke since he would have to be starving. Ted carried the napkin wrapped items.

Entering the bedroom he was dismayed to find the lump underneath the covers that denoted Cody--- he actually seemed to be asleep.

Crestfallen he placed the items down and then headed back out of the room after getting changed for bed, Justin doing the same. As they finished their nightly ablutions they returned to their room and Justin locked the door after them all, blowing the lamp out.

Justin bade Ted goodnight and ended up falling asleep rather quickly, whereas Ted found himself lying awake and staring at the darkness above him. He considered lighting a candle to read but he knew that would do him no good this time around. Instead he found himself rolling on his side, looking across to Cody’s bed. Having the other in his bed (to sleep) had been odd, but one night without him already had him feeling bereft.

Cody heard Ted and Justin leave the room, and he’d also been awake when they returned some time later. They must have gone to dinner. When he heard the door to the room opening, he’d rolled over onto his side so they couldn’t see his face.

He really didn’t sleep much at all. His mind was running every which way, and he couldn’t relax enough to actually sleep. So he lay in his bed, unmoving, wishing that Ted would at least come over and maybe say something to him. 

Now, though, he was certain that both Justin and Ted and fallen asleep and he himself was tired, upset and hungry since he stayed in bed all through dinner. He still held to the fact that he didn’t overreact to the situation, even though deep down he knew he did. He’d already gotten so much from Ted, he could hardly believe it. He hadn’t meant to push him like that, but he couldn’t help it. Now that he had Ted, he wanted everything the man had to offer. 

With a sigh, he pushed back his covers and sat up in the dark. It took his eyes some time to adjust, but eventually he was able to make out slight shapes so when he got out of bed he didn’t run smack into everything. He was going to go down to the kitchens to see if he could grab some snacks from them, but first he needed to find his toothbrush to do his teeth quickly, and that required a bit of lighting. 

Hearing the rustling movement from Cody’s side of the room and just being able to make out the lump under the covers sitting upright, Ted sat up and reached for the box of matches in his bedside drawer, striking one with practiced ease and lighting a candle.

Cody startled so badly when the candlelight appeared and Ted whispered, “Cody?” that he fell off of his bed and groaned quietly where he hit the floor. Both Ted and Cody froze, but Justin continued to slumber on, seemingly undisturbed.

Sometimes it seemed that Justin would wake up if someone so much as dropped a pin on their bedroom carpet, but other times it seemed as though he’d sleep through a thunderstorm. “Oh, Cody—“ Ted moved to get out of bed and help the other but Cody was already pulling himself to his feet with more haste and less grace than usual. “Are you alright?” Ted whispered, just able to make the other’s face out from the light of the candle, trying not to show his hurt again.

“I’m fine,” Cody mumbled, looking down at the floor, “I was just going to—“ he paused when a small napkin wrapped bundle was handed to him. Looking up at Ted, Cody blinked a few times in confusion before opening it. Emotion clogged his throat just from the small gesture of seeing that the blonde had gotten food for him, and Cody blinked a few times as Ted shyly murmured, “We thought you might be hungry… you missed dinner.”

“I— yeah,” Cody said softly. He looked from the food items, which had been placed in his hands, and up into Ted’s eyes. “Thank you.”

Ted saw Cody’s eyes were dancing with emotion. “Don’t worry about it… you’d have done the same thing,” he reasoned. 

“Teddy, you didn’t have to…” he kept looking into Ted’s eyes before going up on his tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to push you like that, god, I can be so—”

However, Ted silenced Cody with a kiss of his own. “Hey, we’ll talk about things later, ok? You just… have some dinner.”

“Sit with me?” Cody asked, biting his lower lip. When Ted nodded, they sat down on Cody’s bed, Cody leaning against the headboard while Ted sat in the middle of the bed, legs crossed. “This is good,” he said once he took a bite, and Ted smiled. “Thank you again, Teddy.”

“Don’t mention it,” Ted repeated the same sentiment as before, just glad that he was seeing the other eating at all; skipping meals was bad.

When he was finished Cody wiped his mouth and fingers on the napkin, “I--- I’m just going to go brush my teeth… will you…?”

Ted quirked a slight smile and said, “I’ll still be here,” and watched as Cody ducked out of the room quickly and then returned some minutes later seeming relieved now he had done his ablutions.

“Teddy…” he whispered as he approached the blonde, tears welling in his eyes, “I’m so sorry… I’m so so sorry…” he felt a sob bubbling up.

He was spoilt and he knew it. Though he had two older siblings he seemed the apple of their father’s eye and he got away with murder as far as he was concerned. He never liked to show Ted that side of him though even though it was far from the last time that Ted had seen his temper-tantrums.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Ted said soothingly, running his hand through Cody’s hair, “don’t worry about it.”

“I was such a jackass earlier. I ruined a perfectly good moment by being a total, utter jackass,” he croaked out, burying his head into Ted’s shoulder. He couldn’t believe how kind Ted was towards him still even after the way he behaved. He really didn’t deserve it, Ted’s kindness. 

“It’s ok, Cody. We’re past it now. Let’s just put it behind us and move on from here,” Ted suggested. “We’ll talk about things in the morning, all right?”

Cody pulled his head out of the crook of Ted’s shoulder and looked into his best friend and lover’s eyes. He nodded. “Ok. Will you… spend the night with me?” he asked. He’d understand if Ted said no, but he wanted those strong arms around him again. He already missed them. 

Deep down he knew that he should say no and assert his authority more with Cody, since he let the other get away with everything, and it was by doing that that made Cody have a tendency to take advantage of that leniency, but he couldn’t do it. Cody was sorry, and he knew he meant it.

“Ok,” he said lightly, wiping Cody’s eyes on the cuff of his pyjama shirt, “Don’t cry Codes; you’re too pretty to cry.”

A watery giggle left Cody, “Only you could get away with calling me that to my face.” He climbed into Ted’s bed beside the other and Ted blew the candle out.

Cuddling into the strong wall of Ted’s chest Cody sighed and immediately felt at peace with himself. The familiar warmth and cologne was more than enough to put him at ease. He was still sorry though, and one way or another he resolved to make it up to him, and properly.

~~~

“Oh, come on, you’ve got to tell me. You can’t say that you’ve slept with one of your servants then not give me a name,” Joe protested. 

“Are you sure you want to know?” he asked. He didn’t know if, should Windham come over to his house again, he’d look at the pair of them differently knowing who it was. Although, he supposed it would be better than Windham imagining him with all the male servants in the house… “It’s David.”

“David? David,” Windham repeated the name, trying to put a face to it. He knew he’d heard the name before, then it hit him. “He’s the one who’s about our age, right? His parents work for your family, too, don’t they?” he asked, and Heath nodded, still smiling at the fond memory. “And… he’s the one with a white mother and his father is…” he trailed off, then began again saying, “He’s mixed race, isn’t he?”

“Yes, that’s him. He’s about two years older than me… It was the day after my sixteenth birthday over the summer that we actually slept together,” he confessed. “We’ve done it again a few times since.”

“Bloody hell…” Windham couldn’t imagine consorting with someone in such a fashion in his parents’ own home. That was… definitely something.

“We both knew it was nothing serious, and that was why it was Ok. David had experience with both men and women so he knew what he was doing I’m sure more than some people do…” and wasn’t he glad about that because even despite David’s best efforts initially it had really rather hurt to be breached.

“Doesn’t he have a girlfriend?” Windham asked suddenly and Heath shrugged a little, “He probably does but he doesn’t mention his private life to me very much,” Heath was aware that David was very professional when it came to him. Well, professional enough until one of them had taken that first step into that forbidden, taboo, exhilarating territory that Heath had considered before but had never actually dared venture into.

“Don’t knock it before you try it, Windham…” Heath cocked his head at the other and said, “Are you sure you haven’t thought about Joe in that fashion?” he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t, but he didn’t say so aloud.

“Well… I don’t know,” Windham answered after some thought. He then recalled something that happened the last time he was over Joe’s at one of his parents’ parties. “Although this one time when I was in the middle of getting sucked off, I actually stopped to think about what Joe was up to. I don’t know if that really counts for anything… maybe I think about him without even realizing it?” he replied. 

“That’s always a possibility. But you’ve never, you know, thought about… sleeping with him?” Heath asked. 

“I’m pretty sure I would remember thinking about what it’d be like to sleep with him… but, no, that thought’s never crossed my mind,” he confessed. “At least until a couple days ago,” he then added. “Once he told me that he had feelings for me and we kissed, but especially when he sucked me off, I couldn’t help but wonder what it’d be like to do more… but it wasn’t until then.”

“So… now that the idea’s in your mind, what do you think about it?” It was slightly strange for Heath to think that he wanted to sleep with Joe, and he was talking to another man that was having those same thoughts. 

“I don’t know. I mean…” that would be a definite line in their friendship and if something went badly then it would have a terribly adverse effect on their future as friends let alone as lovers. It terrified him and yet excited him, but then the excitement bred more terror… he couldn’t understand it himself so he couldn’t explain. However, Heath merely gave him a slight smile, “I understand, you know,” he said.

Windham blinked and looked at the other male, “Huh? You—“ he didn’t understand how he could understand.

“It’s not as though I was immediately comfortable with the idea of being with a man, it’s something that you build up to. It was only when I was actually with David though that I truly came to understand how much I do enjoy being with men.” He’d had a few girls, but they had never really held his interest past being done. He didn’t need to worry anyway; his parents were arranging his bride.

Most of them were in that circumstance, so it was good for them to get their fun in and have a genuine attraction as they could… his parents wouldn’t pick someone awful but that didn’t mean he’d like or be attracted to them.

“I just don’t want to risk losing him as a friend,” Windham said, still unsure of all these new feelings and emotions welling up inside him. 

“You won’t. David and I are still very professional around one another. It was all just a bit of fun, some experimenting between us. Every boy our age needs to experiment a bit, so what if that’s all it turns out to be with Joe?” Heath reasoned. 

“It’s already so much more than just a bit of fun, though… he’s said that he loves me… loves _us_.”

“Ok, yes, so there’s love involved. That’ll just make everything all the more special. I mean, I’ve never loved anyone I’ve slept with, but I think it’d be better, you know, more passionate?” he said. 

“I guess,” Windham said, shrugging his shoulders. “I still don’t know how I feel about having my dick in someone’s arse, though… or having someone’s dick in mine.”

“It feels a lot better than you may think having a cock up your arse,” Heath told him. “You’ve had sex before, right?” he asked, and Windham nodded. It was only one time, but still… “Well, a cunt may be nice, but lemme tell ya, it doesn’t feel half as good as someone’s tight arse around ya.”

Windham looked utterly surprised hearing such things coming from Heath. He’d expect that sort of thing from Joe, but he had no idea Heath had ever done such things.

“So… did you… to David?” Heath nodded at the question. They had only felt it fair after all; David had had his turn on top first, it stood to reason he’d get to try.

“Trust me,” Heath said easily as he moved back to his own bed and stretched out after giving Joe a final look, “It’s really worth it, and because you two are so close even if you don’t happen to like it you should just be able to continue as before.”

He seemed so sure about that, Windham thought, and he really didn’t think it’d be that easy. It was too simple.

He looked at Joe and found himself just really taking the moment to study the other the way he had before when Joe had ruined the moment, and then he startled a little as Heath suddenly spoke up again.

“I know Joe would probably want to lose that virginity to you over me, you know?” Windham almost fell over, “Heath!” he hissed, chastising the other male firmly.

Heath didn’t look in the least bit contrite, “I don’t doubt that he feels for me, because Joe wouldn’t lie like that, but you… you were always his best friend, he feels stronger for you.” He didn’t sound angry about it, or upset, merely accepting… though there was the smallest undercurrent of jealousy.

Before Windham could respond to that there was a mumble from the bed and he turned towards it. Joe’s eyes opened a little, “W’n’d’m?” he yawned out a shifted slowly.

“Hey,” he replied, still slightly taken by surprise at what Heath had said. “I was gonna wake ya when it was time for the game to start.”

“Hmm, well,” he rubbed at his eyes and slowly sat himself up, “I’m awake now… I guess I didn’t even realize how tired I was.”

“Naps are your friends,” Windham teased. “You were pretty out of it, though. I thought it’d be a struggle to get you up.”

Joe shook his head and rubbed his eyes again, still somewhat tired, but feeling better than he had before. At least until he opened his eyes back up and saw Heath was also there with them. “Oh, hey Heath… I didn’t see you over there.” He figured the two of them had to be getting along since they were both still alive and were sitting in the same room together. He wasn’t sure if he heard them talking about what he thought he heard them talking about, though. He swore he dreamt their conversation up. Swore it. 

“Nice to see you back in the land of the living,” Heath said from across the room. He looked at his pocket watch and said, “Just in time, too. The tourney starts in half an hour.”

Yeah, Joe had to have dreamt up the conversation between Heath and Windham. How else could he go from talking about Joe losing _that_ virginity to Windham to talking about the card game so easily? Because the conversation never really happened. He just had a vivid imagination, that was all.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One's real life is so often the life that one does not lead - Oscar Wilde

“Fuck,” Randy grumbled. “I forgot about that. You should go back to your room, though, just incase,” he said with great reluctance. 

“Do you still have that prefect up your ass?” Chris asked. 

“Sure do. And I think since Randy had a little chat with him earlier this morning, he wants to catch me out even more now. I’ve got no idea what his deal is, either… I can’t figure out his motives,” John said, and that was what bothered him. The guy was clearly going out of his way to get some kind of dirt on John. 

“We’ll get him figured out sooner or later,” Randy said. “I wish I could just go to Barrett and have him speak with him, but Danielson will know it was me who told him, so that’s no good. He never should have messed with us to begin with, that’d solve a whole lot of problems.”

“That it would,” John agreed. “But we spent last night apart, I think we can manage a second night away from one another.”

Randy growled and John knew that he would have kicked a statue bust resting closest to them to vent his frustration if he didn’t have control.

“It’s just one night more,” John murmured soothingly to him.

“You could be a little more wound up about it,” Randy blushed somewhat when he realised that he probably looked like a fool since he was reacting so badly to something like this. “I am wound up,” John said without hesitation and Randy arched a brow, making John smile, “Everyone knows I can control my temper better than you.”

Rolling his eyes Randy grabbed John’s wrist and pulled, “You’re mine until curfew, Cena,” John looked back to Chris and Evan and flashed a big dimpled smile as he waved, vanishing around the corner with Randy, leaving an amused Chris and bemused Evan behind them.

“Shall we go back to our room?” Chris suggested and Evan flushed gently before nodding his head, “Yes, let’s,” he agreed.

Randy all but sprinted the rest of the way to his room, and thankfully John was an athlete himself or he’d never have caught up. Once they were behind the closed door of Randy’s private room, he said, “If you’re going back to your room tonight, then I’m going to have my dick do far up your ass you’ll be feeling it all week.”

“Again?” John asked as he was held up against the door, Randy’s face so close to his. “I’m looking forward to it.”

With that, Randy crushed his lips against John’s, tongue slipping past John’s lips, exploring the already well known expanse of his lover’s mouth. As they kissed, he found himself cursing the fact that they were wearing clothes, wanting to bury himself in John’s ass then and there. Break the door off its hinges in their passion. 

However, John’s hands were working on the clothing issue. He was attempting to unbutton Randy’s shirt (they’d sewn buttons back onto their shirts enough times to know how big a pain in the ass it was to rip them off, so he tried to take his time with it). Then he realized that they really only needed their pants undone just enough to actually make it work, so he turned his attention to Randy’s pants, leaving the shirt partially buttoned.

As soon as the button was loose and the zipper lowered Randy groaned, feeling John’s fingers brushing against his skin as they worked to get his undergarments down as well, freeing him from the confines. He didn’t know what it was but the thought of separating from John always seemed to fan his ardour even more.

Scrabbling to get John’s own pants down, Randy waited until the other had kicked them off before he then moved.

A gasp left John as he felt himself being picked up, legs being braced around Randy’s waist. Though holding one another up like this was not unusual it still shocked them whenever they did it. Hands grasping at Randy’s shoulders he looked to the other just in time to see Randy lift two fingers to his mouth, brow rising.

Two fingers was nothing at all but it would ease the passage at least a little… “Can’t promise you won’t be limping during your rugby sessions after this—“ he muttered, shivering and growling as John began to obscenely tongue his fingers, saliva soon shining on the long digits. Pulling his hand away reluctantly (anymore of that tongue work would have him cumming then and there) he then moved it to John’s entrance. 

Without any prelude, Randy worked both of his fingers into John’s ass, the grunts of slight pain John was making were ringing in his ears, only encouraging him on further. “You’re so fuckin’ tight, John,” Randy muttered. “Every fuckin’ time, so tight,” he said again, twisting the fingers around inside him. 

“Then fuck me, Randy,” John said. “Right now.” He’d taken Randy with far less than two fingers before. It hurt, sure, but it was always worth it in the end, even when they did go hard on one another, leaving them with a slight limp.

“You sure?” Randy asked. He’d been more than ready to go as soon as they walked in the door, but he didn’t want John hurt too badly. 

“Positive,” John answered, crushing his lips to Randy’s. 

While they kissed, Randy withdrew his fingers and moved his hand to his cock, lining himself up with John before pushing upwards as John sank lower onto him. God, he didn’t know how John did it, but he swore that he was as tight as he was the very first time they ever fucked all those years ago. 

“Ooh, fuck—“ John groaned as Randy breached him, the white hot pleasure-pain flowing through his veins almost immediately as he felt Randy’s groin against his buttocks, telling him that the other was completely inside of him. There was a dull thudding sound as John’s head fell back against the door but he barely flinched.

“I’m planning to,” Randy panted as he adjusted his stance a little to brace John more firmly against the door so that he could begin to rock his hips, drawing himself out slowly to give John a chance but thrusting in much more firmly.

Anyone walking past the room would be hard-pressed to miss the rhythmic thudding that soon started up whenever John’s back (or head) hit the door.

“Fuck John, best arse ever--- my arse---“ Randy pressed his face into the other’s neck.

One hand rested on Randy’s shoulder to help brace himself and the other hand moved to the back of Randy’s head, fairly holding the other against his throat. Not a moment later he felt Randy beginning to nip and suck at his throat and groaned out, “Not where it can be seen, Rand—“ he had practice after all, and his collar didn’t do that high.

“What? Don’t want everyone to know that you were _ravished_ by me last night?” Randy asked, continuing to slam his hips up, sending John’s back into the door.

“I’ve had to explain away marks before, _Randal_ ,” John said, “and it’s never easy.” Sure, a majority of the people on the school’s several sports teams either knew of John and Randy or had been with John in some fashion, but for those who didn’t know (or were quite young and overly curious), or when a coach asked, it was always embarrassing trying to come up with some lie on the spot. 

“But you know how much I love marking you,” Randy told him. “Letting everyone know that _you’re mine_.”

“I know, baby. _Oh fuck_ ,” he cried as Randy hit his sweet spot yet again. “But… just keep them lower, that’s all.” 

“Whatever you say,” Randy muttered, turning his attention to John’s shoulder, which was constantly covered by clothing. After nipping the skin a couple times, he asked, “You’re still coming with me to detention tomorrow, right? So we can do _this_ on Cole’s desk?” he asked, once again slamming his hips hard, driving his cock into John’s ever willing body.

A deep moan left John as his head rolled from side to side with the pleasure currently thrumming through his body, “Of course… I promised to come with you.”

Randy smirked slightly, leaning into John’s ear as he continued to pump his hips, feeling John’s body bouncing with the force of each thrust as his weeping dick rubbed against Randy’s still partially-covered abdomen, “Imagine if we were in the middle of this and Cole walked in…” he grinned wickedly, “He’d either keel over in shock or he’d pant after us both like some bitch in heat.”

“Having a teacher fawning over you would sure inflate your ego—“ John moaned and Randy arched a brow, “And it wouldn’t yours?”

“Touché,” John groaned, “He’d probably drag us off to Wade though… and we’d have to pretend to be contrite at least.”

“I doubt it. I’m sure we could convince him to—“ Randy cut off as he moaned lowly himself, John tightening around him suddenly harder than before and causing him to catch his breath and lose his rhythm just momentarily, “—let us go with a warning. We’d sure give the boys in detention a lesson wouldn’t we? Perhaps we should think of charging them,” he joked.

“Of course. No one,” his back slammed against the door, “could watch,” Randy thrusted into him hard yet again, “that show,” his head dropped back, “for free,” John agreed in between Randy’s rhythmic thrusting. 

Randy smirked, recalling the one time they’d been walked in on, probably by the last person they ever wanted to get walked in on by: Wade. After the incident happened, they’d had a word, but nothing ever came of it, all three of them sharing an unspoken understanding. 

“Oh, _fuck_ , Randy, right there,” John moaned, dropping all other thoughts right then. He felt that familiar tingling in his lower belly, heat building as Randy thrust inside him. “Keep going, Randy,” he panted. 

It drove Randy absolutely wild knowing that he was the only one that could ever draw such a primal reaction from John, knowing that he could reduce the big athletic sports captain to _this_. Of course, John was the only one, in turn, who could make the otherwise strict and stoic Head Boy beg to be fucked harder, faster, deeper. And they’d have it no other way.

John really was beautiful when he came, Randy thought as time seemed to slow in the seconds before John’s release hit him. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes closed, mouth open in panting breaths and moans...

And then, and then, John would open those gorgeous blues for him and Randy would lose himself the second John mouthed ‘Randy’. Of course in reality the other could be screaming it for all he knew but over the pounding of his own heart-beat in his ears he heard nothing.

Having John’s inner-muscles locking upon him had a domino effect upon Randy since he was also sent spiraling head-first into climax, continuing to pump his hips into John to make sure they were both completely spent.

With a final thud they both became still, Randy’s knees buckling slightly and bracing his weight upon John’s supported weight to prevent himself from collapsing to the floor. Their chests heaved, sweaty forehead pressed against sweaty forehead. When they managed to get their breath back John murmured, “Love you, Rand,” and Randy returned a low rumble of, “Love you too, Johnny.” 

~~~

Scrubbing his hands over his eyes Joe got out of bed and sent both boys a little smile before heading out to go to the bathroom.

He needed to answer nature’s call and in all honesty he needed a few minutes to get his weird conversation-dream out of his mind.  
Windham exhaled a breath when Joe had gone; thank goodness that he hadn’t awoken any earlier than that; that could have been awkward.

When Joe re-entered the room he still looked sleepy and Heath began to tease him mercilessly for how cute he was when he appeared like that. “Shut up!” Joe threw a pillow at the other, Heath yipping as it knocked the book he had had in his hands to the floor. “Mind it, the pages’ll get bent!” he protested as he quickly rescued the volume from the floor. Joe and Windham exchanged a look and then grinned slightly; Heath’s determined, steadfast care when it came to his books was well-known amongst them all.

“We may as well head back down to the common-room and set up,” Windham moved and got the fancier deck of cards that they used for the tournaments to add some decoration to it.

“Sure,” Joe fell into step behind the other as he headed out, Heath falling into step behind him. And damn, didn’t such a usual arrangement really register in his mind? He flushed slightly and shook his head. He wasn’t used to being so conscious of his friends and that was definitely something that would take getting used to.

Once they were downstairs, Windham began setting up for the game, all the paid participants already sitting around, waiting. “Ted, Cody and Justin never sign up for these tourneys, you realized that?” Heath asked as he stood behind Windham while he set up.

“Yes, I realized that quite a while ago,” Windham answered with a chuckle. “I do record names, you know. So I can distribute the pool better and get an accurate tally of the number of participants.”

“Oh. Well… I was just saying…” Heath muttered.

“I think they’re pretty much otherwise occupied, though,” Joe butted in. “Far more important matters to deal with as opposed to some poker tourney, if you know what I mean,” he told them. 

“Really?” Windham and Heath asked at the same time. Windham went on, “You think they’re… right now?” to which Joe shrugged and gave a little smirk. Windham and Heath grinned themselves, knowing that it was about damn time those two fucked one another. Continuing on with his game, Windham announced, “Ok, we’re all set. Just incase a prefect comes in, I’ve got our buttons for us to play with.” He then told everyone the amount of money they were playing for, which piqued their interest even further. “Everyone ready then?”

As per usual it seemed that Joe’s bad luck when it came to cards was coming into play; only several hands in and he was struggling to keep himself from being taken out of the game completely. He was doing his best to keep his temper though, bluffing.

Windham and Heath were faring better along with a few of the other boys they were playing with. A few were in the same boat as Joe and it was much more noticeable on their faces as a result of despair.

Twice their lookout called through a teacher was coming.

The money was quickly pushed into a pile and hidden underneath a book or pile of papers, the buttons hastily spilled onto the table as everyone arranged themselves as though the buttons had been there all along.

As soon as the teacher went the game was played again and Joe found himself pouting as the cards were laid once again and he found himself low down. “I swear, I’m never playing in another tourney again,” he muttered as one of the other boys began to deal out the cards afresh, and Heath chuckled and gave Joe a slight push, “You said that last time, and the time before that!” Joe stuck his tongue out at the other boy and Windham felt his stomach clench strangely as he watched their interaction. He forced himself to focus then.

“How about you remind me next time that I said I’d never play again, then?” Joe asked of Heath, not even noticing Windham at the moment. He placed his bets and asked for two cards. The hand he was dealt was, if possible, _worse_ than the one he had previously. 

When Heath saw the way Joe slumped a bit he said, “Maybe I will.”

One of the other boys ended up with a particularly good hand, raking in a nice pot, while another was knocked out of the tourney completely. It was only two weeks ago, though, that the same boy won the entire pot. It really was all about the luck of the draw. 

Joe knew that he wasn’t going to be able to stick around much longer if the shit cards kept coming his way, so he told the dealer to give him a good hand for once. He looked over to where Windham sat. “Impressive,” he said of the stack his friend had sitting before him. 

“Isn’t it?”

“Ya know, I think if you win, you should give me, your best friend in the entire world, a cut of your winnings. I mean, you already have a cut for yourself for putting the tourney on in the first place, right?” Joe tried to finagle. It didn’t work out too well.

“Windham—“ he whined as the latest hand was cleared away and yet again the other seemed to be obtaining quite the pot for himself on top of his cut. “No, Joe,” Windham smirked slightly, amused, “It’ll be a good lesson for you that you can’t mooch off of other people.”

Heath suddenly gave an obvious word-cough and Windham arched a brow at him.

The redhead merely returned an innocent look towards him, “I had something in my throat,” he said, none of the other boys around the table seeming to think there had been anything odd in the sound that he had made. Joe blinked, having missed the moment.

The cards were dealt again and Joe sighed, carefully sliding his cards towards him and hiding them from the people sitting around him. “I swear if I lose this hand I’m going to quit the game here and now, I mean it.” He couldn’t afford to lose too much of his pocket money.

Not if he wanted to keep smoking anyway.

He then glanced at the cards he had and had to actively fight the urge to whoop or show elation on his face; these were the best cards that he had had all game long and he was finally seeing a chance for his luck to change after his rotten streak.

Joe watched on as Windham folded his hand, while the guy next to him placed a rather large bet. From studying him the past few weeks though, he just knew he was bluffing. He had nowhere near as good a hand as Joe was holding. So he, too, put out a rather large bet, as in, the rest of his money. He’d only been bluffing up to that point, so he was certain the other players thought he was making a really stupid bluff that time around. Heath even asked, “What are you doing?” quietly to him.

“I’m betting the rest of my chips, what does it look like I’m doing?” Joe retorted. 

Everyone else folded, but the other guy called him. Since no one else was betting, and no more bets could be made, they both put down a couple cards so the dealer could give them new ones. Joe only got one (which, for once, made his hand even better, giving him a full house, aces over jacks) while the other guy got two (ending up with two pair, kings over eights). He thought he had it in the bag, knowing that even three of a kind was hard to come by in draw poker. 

“All right boys, let’s see your cards,” the dealer said to them once they had their cards. 

With a smug grin, the other guy flipped his cards. “Two pair,” he announced. 

“Full house,” Joe then announced, grinning himself when the dealer pushed all the chips his way. Maybe he wouldn’t have to quit smoking or playing poker after all.

~~~

Back in their own room, Chris looked to Evan and smiled shyly. “I want you to be completely, one hundred and fifty percent honest with me here… did you like meeting my family today?” he asked nervously. 

“You want the truth?” Evan asked, and Chris nodded. “Well, you know the thought of it scared the shit out of me earlier, but once I met them… I could see in them the reasons that I love you as much as I do,” he said, blushing.

That answer meant the world to Chris. It truly did. Knowing that Evan liked his family… And his family liked Evan in return. “I’m glad. I really am. And Christian?” he then asked. They had seemed to get along, but he could have been putting on a face simply because it was Chris’ cousin and Randy fooled around with him once. 

“I wish I knew him last year while he was in school here,” Evan told him. “He seems like a really great guy. I liked him.”

A low sound of relief left Chris as he sank down onto his bed, “Thank goodness…” Christian was the person he was closest to in his entire family, even his parents, he wasn’t just his cousin he was like a brother to him.

An amused and gentle smile touched Evan’s lips as he saw how relieved Chris looked, “Were you really so scared that I might dislike them? Did you not consider they might dislike me?” the Canadian answered an affirmative and then a negative.

“I’m glad you like them, and I knew they’d love you.” He was looking forward to meeting the Orton’s--- he knew that Evan was orphaned in terms of his biological parents, and that he had been adopted by his cousin’s parents, and he knew that they meant the world to him. “Well, if I have Randy’s approval that surely counts for something.”

Evan laughed softly and then bit his lip before saying softly, “Chris?” and then leaning in to catch the other’s lips lightly when he turned to him.

“What was that for?” Chris asked. It wasn’t all that often that Evan initiated their physical contact. Not that Chris forced it upon him, but he did sometimes have to encourage Evan along in that aspect. 

Evan shrugged and smiled. “Just felt like it. Thank you for today,” he said. “It was really nice meeting your family.” He didn’t know if he’d like meeting them if they knew the true nature of their relationship outside of being friends and roommates, but as it stood right then, he really couldn’t have been happier at how the meeting went. Especially when it came to Chris’ cousin Christian. 

“I’m glad you thought so.” He paused a bit, then asked, “It wasn’t just Randy encouraging you that made you ask if I wanted to go over to your family’s house for the holidays, was it?” He really didn’t want to impose. 

“No. Well, I mean, yes, since I probably would have been too nervous to ask if he hadn’t brought the topic up,” he admitted, blushing slightly. “I really would like if you came over, though. Randy was telling the truth; I’ve never had friends over before… I usually just chum around with him and John.”

“Why did you never invite friends over?” Chris asked, genuinely surprised by that. Sure, Evan could be shy but he was one of those people who just seemed to be able to get along with everyone and was liked by everyone.

“I don’t know,” Evan admitted softly, adjusting his fountain pen in hand so that the nib wouldn’t blot his paper too much as he began to pen a letter to his auntie, “I just… I never really felt as though I was especially close to any of the boys I knew. John’s my friend, despite being closest to Randy and…” he fell silent and blushed, turning his attention back towards his paper.

Chris waited for him to continue and when he didn’t prompted gently, “And what? I promise Evan, whatever it is I won’t laugh at you.” Evan sighed and then looked back towards him before mumbling something.

Seeing that Chris hadn’t gotten what he’d said Evan kept his gaze down and murmured, “In all honesty I felt as though you were the first friend that I had ever made for myself, just for me.” And then, of course, Chris had become so much more than a friend. Not to say that he wasn’t still his friend, but… “I know,” he said, embarrassed, “It’s pathetic, huh?”

“No, not at all,” Chris said. “Sure I have lots of friends back home, but my closest friend was always Christian. And I’ve made some friends here, sure, but I didn’t introduce any of them to my family, now did I?”

Evan shook his head. No, he didn’t introduce any other friends to his family, did he? “No,” he then answered. 

“And that’s because _you’re_ the one friend that I care about the most. You’re so much more than a friend to me, you know that.”

“Yeah, I know,” Evan said, smiling again. “I find it hard to believe sometimes, you know? That in such a short time I let myself fall in love with you… got to know you like I’ve never known anyone else before.” 

Chris was smiling, too, and leaned in to kiss Evan. Once they pulled back from one another, Chris could see that there was something on Evan’s mind. “Hey, what is it?” he asked.

Evan quirked his head to the side just slightly and then asked, “How come you told them that I’ve… topped you before?”

“Well, I didn’t want you to be embarrassed,” Chris said honestly, “I didn’t want them to come to conclusions about why you hadn’t topped me if we’d admitted it. I’m sorry, did it make you uncomfortable?” he asked.

Evan had never given him any indication after all that he wanted to top him, and Chris hadn’t pushed for such a thing.

“No… I was just surprised,” he hadn’t expected that Chris would so freely consent to such an idea, “I mean, I know that I… people wouldn’t believe I…”

Chris reached out, placing a hand on Evan’s cheek and making the other look at him, “Evan, I would happily let you top if that was something you wanted. I know that you could do it if you so desired to,” he said honestly.

Unable to help it Evan asked, “Really?” a little more weakly than he would have liked. He knew his cute face and small stature made people overlook that he was actually a man sometimes.

“Really,” Chris said, caressing Evan’s cheek lightly. He thought Evan was adorable but he was under no illusions when it came to his strength… and flexibility.

“Have you, umm… I mean… had you ever… thought about it before?” Evan asked, wishing he wasn’t stumbling over his words. But he couldn’t help it; he was still surprised that Chris would agree to such a thing. 

“You topping me? Sure,” Chris admitted. “Those nights when you were gone on your little holiday, my mind was running wild with fantasies,” he told Evan. “I was imagining us every which way… But above all I was really just hoping that you’d come back to me,” he confessed. The thought of losing Evan completely, even after such little time together, drove him crazy. 

“I wanted to, but I didn’t want to at the same time,” Evan said. Chris knew how conflicted he’d always been, though, so this didn’t come as a surprise to him. 

“I know,” Chris said softly, placing his other hand on Evan’s cheek now, leaning forward for a chaste kiss. “Anyway…” he began, trying to take both their minds off of that previous thought, “what about you Evan? Have you ever wanted to top me and just not said anything about it?”

~~~

“Shit, I’d hate to fuck and run—” John began, but was cut off. 

“Then stay. You’ve got a bit longer,” Randy said, looking to John with pleading eyes. “At least come lay down with me for a while. Please?” he asked. He didn’t want John to leave so soon. Hell, he didn’t want John to leave at all, but he didn’t really have much choice in that matter. 

“Ok, I’ll stay, but ten minutes before curfew, I’m leaving. I don’t want to take any chances.”

“Don’t want to take any chances… Says the guy who was moaning out my name loud enough for our sister school to hear,” Randy teased as he properly removed his trousers and shirt before pulling John along behind him towards the bed. 

“If I was quiet during sex you’d take offence to it,” John snickered.

“Damn straight,” Randy said in all seriousness as he curled his long body into John’s and sighed slightly to himself in contentment when the strong arms his lover possessed wrapped around his middle and a strong leg curled over his own. So he liked to cuddle, so what?

“My dick is amazing and I expect for you to tell me as such,” he ruined the moment by grinning.

“Stupid fool,” John laughed lightly before kissing Randy’s lips lightly, “But you’re my fool, so it’s Ok.” He rested his chin atop Randy’s head from where the other cuddled into him, feeling Randy’s breath feathering across his properly exposed chest. 

“That I am, John… all yours,” Randy agreed. “And come University, I’ll really be all yours. Not just my heart, but my body, too.”

John smiled. He couldn’t deny that he was excited at the prospect. After all these years of being with Randy, they’d never just been with one another. But in less than a year, they would be together, and no one would come between them. “Well… I’m looking forward to starting Uni with you.”

“Me, too,” Randy said, pressing a kiss to John’s chest. 

They remained cuddled together, both of them drifting in and out of sleep, time ticking past them. “Randy, I should go.” It had gotten to five minutes until curfew, and he still needed to get dressed and walk back to his room. 

“Shit,” Randy grumbled. He didn’t want to lose the warmth of John’s body; he wanted to spend the night with his lover. “I swear, that fuck Danielson will get what’s coming to him.”

“I know he will,” John said, already detangling himself from Randy, much to both their dismay.

When arms wrapped around his waist suddenly John almost fell backwards onto his backside, “Randy—“ he smiled slightly at the image his lover made.

The pout that anyone outside of Randy’s circle of nearest and dearest never got to see was present and Randy’s cheek was pressed firmly to the warm muscle of John’s lower-back. “I am not happy,” Randy enunciated, you know, in case John had by chance somehow missed that little fact out.

“I’m not happy either--- you gonna let go so I can dress? I doubt my walking around naked would be appreciated.” Randy snorted and John looked momentarily confused as to why.

As though anyone would object to seeing John Cena naked.

In the end Randy had to let go, but only because John was going to be cutting things very fine indeed and he didn’t want to give Danielson anymore of an excuse to chase John. They kissed goodbye before his lover left his room.

Randy was then struck by an idea: maybe he’d go spy on Danielson’s activities that evening.

Why not? he figured. He was Head Boy, after all. He had to do his rounds, and Danielson was supposed to report things to him. So he could just trail him for a little bit to see just what he was up to. Maybe. He hoped. 

Randy gave it a few minutes after curfew before he got dressed back into his uniform. Once he headed into the halls, he found the place empty. That was good. Fewer distractions. Though, tonight, maybe he’d let people off on a warning since his true goal was to find Danielson. 

All Randy’s actions were unbeknownst to John, who made it to his room with no time to spare. “You’re back?” Phil asked. 

“You sound awful enthused,” John retorted. 

“I had gotten used to living on my own,” Phil said. 

“Sorry you can’t jack off to thoughts of Beth tonight,” John then told him, rolling his eyes. 

“Do you really think you being here will stop me? Please, you and Randal _fucked_ while I was in the same room,” Phil reminded him. 

“You’re never going to get over that are you?” John asked as he began stripping, uncaring since he and Phil had seen each other naked before and it had no effect on either of them, Phil’s brows raising when he saw the marks on John’s body.

“No, no I’m not…” Phil said with mock gravity as he returned his attention to the letter he had been reading before John had appeared, “I fully expect you and Randal to compensate me for my trauma.” John snickered and climbed into his bed, wincing just slightly and smiling to himself as he did.

“Can you two not make one night where you spend time together and not fuck?” he questioned and John gaped a little before smirking.

“Feeling a little frustrated are we, Philip?” he cooed.

Randy, meanwhile, had spotted a certain Mr. Danielson.

And, as Randy had anticipated, he was heading straight in the direction of John’s room.

Grinding his teeth and resisting the urge to actively tackle the boy into a dark corner to beat some sense into him Randy started to tail him. 

~~~

In the end it turned out to be the best game of cards that Joe had ever taken part in; he walked away with a decent amount of cash as the game ended and he didn’t even have to fall back on betting something like his cigarette tin in order to keep himself afloat. The winner accepted his part of the pot and Windham was paid his cut (no one ever dared tried to take his cut, not after the first and only time someone had been foolhardy enough to try) and the boys who had been playing dispersed.

“I won, I actually won!” Joe cheered to himself as his money-pouch jingled with his movements.

“Well done,” Heath looked amused by the sheer delight Joe was displaying, completely at odds with the usual miserable despondency that he showed when he had been cleaned out of his weeks-worth of pocket money, or whatever else he had saved that he hadn’t put towards cigarettes or drink. Windham was counting out his share of the spoils at the little table as well as collecting the cards that had been used and placing them in their packet. It was a well-used deck indeed.

“Just try not to lose it all before you’ve even had chance to let the win sink in, Joe.”

Joe looked at Windham, pouting slightly, “I wouldn’t do that!” he insisted firmly.

At the look Windham sent him back he quailed a little and then huffed before amending, “Ok, I won’t do so this time around, happy now?” Windham hid a smile himself.

“Yes, quite,” Windham ended up answering. “That’s a good chunk of money right there, you know. It could last you for some time.”

“If I ration it out, this can buy me ciggies for a couple weeks,” Joe mused, much to the dismay of Windham. 

“What a disgusting habit. You could be buying things like… not cigarettes with that money,” Windham went on. 

“Well, quite unlike you, I don’t have a guaranteed source of funds coming in from the poker games, and cigs are expensive. Besides, you know I need them to help me calm down from time to time,” he reasoned; his short temper was certain not a secret. “Justin says I need to have sex, since that’d calm me down,” he then told them. “It has been a while.”

Heath looked to Joe, then quirked a brow at Windham before looking back to Joe. “It would _definitely_ do you some good.”

“You offering?” the words were out before Joe could check himself and the second they hit the air he winced and sent Windham an apologetic look.

The other’s cheek ticked slightly in response but he merely nodded in silent acceptance; Joe’s mouth always ran away with him.

Heath meanwhile merely smirked like that cat with a prospect of fresh cream, “That depends… are you asking me?”

Joe’s cheeks went bright red and he spluttered at the other slightly. Not only was he shocked by the blatant question but he was also uncomfortable with the fact that Heath would say such a thing before Windham. Sure, they had agreed to give this situation a go but that didn’t mean Joe intended to flaunt what he did with either before the other… if that made sense.

“I—I—“ Joe got up, “I need a cigarette—“ he got up and headed towards their room; he was too unnerved to walk outside, he’d crack the window.

Windham rolled his eyes at Heath as they both followed Joe into the room. Windham grabbed Joe’s cigarette tin before he even got one out and said, “You can’t just run for a cigarette each time the subject’s brought up!”

“Well what else am I supposed to do?” Joe spat back, getting defensive. 

“Tell the truth! _Are_ you asking?” Windham questioned him.

“I don’t know!” Joe replied. He hadn’t wanted to tell them about the dream conversation he had, but since the topic was out on the table now… “Look… when I was sleeping earlier, I had this weird dream where Heath was saying that I’d probably rather, you know, lose _that_ particular virginity to you…”

“That wasn’t a dream,” Heath then told him, grinning. “I didn’t know you’d overheard me.”

“You mean you _actually_ said that?” Joe asked, looking between the two of them. 

“Yeah… And look, if I was right, I don’t mind. You two are best friends, so if you’re gonna get your butt fucked by anyone, it may as well be by Windham,” Heath reasoned. “Besides, I’ve had my fun with a guy before, you two never have.”

“Say what?” Joe looked at the redhead in surprise and Heath grinned wider still, clearly enjoying the whole situation, “Fall asleep during that bit did you?” Joe flushed and huffed; so what if he had been drifting in and out?

“So…” the redhead prompted, “Do you want to lose your virginity to Windham?”

Joe made a strange choking sound and Windham felt hurt despite himself.

He knew that he in himself wasn’t completely ready to do such a thing with Joe but the fact that the other was hesitating bothered him. And then he didn’t know why exactly it was bothering him because he wasn’t ready and he was getting bothered by that and it was all spiraling into one big ball of bother.

And then, suddenly, Joe mumbled a single-syllabled word that had everything stopping.

“Yes.” Even Heath looked shocked when it seemed to register with him what he’d said.

“Well,” Joe was making a point not to look at either boy now, staring out the window at the dark night instead, face burning so hotly he could feel it bouncing off of the cold glass as he got near to it, “I mean… like you said: he is my best friend.” 

Windham had this strange sense of shock and relief and… and something else he wasn’t quite sure of wash over him at Joe’s answer. “So… you’d actually want me to…?” he asked; his voice wasn’t loud but it still seemed as though his words echoed through the entire room. 

Nodding, Joe then leaned his head even closer to the window, head resting against the glass now. It didn’t seem to cool him off any, though. 

“So, what? You want me to leave you two alone tonight?” Heath asked when the room had fallen silent. 

“No!” Both Joe and Windham answered at the same time. They looked at one another, couldn’t help but grin at one another, then Windham carried on, “I really don’t think I’m ready for such a thing with Joe.”

“Well, then when _will_ you be ready? You say that you have feelings for one another. You’re already best friends. When I slept with David—”

Joe interrupted, confused look on his face, “Who’s David?” He didn’t know of any students named David.

“I’ll tell you later. But when I slept with David, there were no feelings between us. We were just… seeing what it was like. I say just go for it,” Heath said resolutely. 

Joe didn’t point it out but he thought Heath’s own reasoning as to why they should be sleeping together ASAP also provided the perfect reason as to why they shouldn’t sleep together: there were feelings involved this time as opposed to in Heath’s situation.

“We’re not like you, Heath. Besides, it’s easy for you to claim diving in head-first is the easiest approach to take to such an event,” Joe said.

A sly smirk crossed Heath’s lips, “I thought you had already dove in head first.” For a moment the words didn’t seem to register---

And when they did it was hard for the redhead to decide which of the brunette’s before him had gone redder than the other. “What?” he asked innocently, as though he had no idea about the blatant innuendo he had dropped.

“You—“ Windham pressed two fingers to his temple and mentally counted to three, “You just don’t stop, do you?” he finally sighed, managing to keep calm.

“Nope,” he responded without hesitation, “But that’s only because I know that in this instance I’m completely right.”

Windham snorted and the pair engaged in one of their usual bickering matches about who was right and who was wrong as Joe contemplated throwing himself out the window. 

“Guys… do you really have to get into this right now?” Joe asked after the bickering seemed to continue on for hours. It’d only been a few minutes, but it was really grating his nerves. 

“Well, I’m right,” Heath said, refusing to back down. 

“Then just agree to disagree. And you both need to remember that I’m part of this equation, as well,” Joe told them. Not like they’d actually forget he was part of it, considering he was the one that opened this can of worms.

“Ok, well, as part of this equation, what do you think?” Heath asked, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“I think that… that maybe we need to just let things happen. There’s no need to rush a good thing, right?” Joe reasoned. 

“At the rate you two are going, you’re just gonna let this good thing fizzle out and die! You’re never gonna even know what it’s like!” Heath exclaimed. “Tell me, if I hadn’t sucked you off, would you have done it to Windham so soon?” Heath then asked of Joe, raising a questioning brow.

“I—“ Joe’s teeth clacked together as he closed his mouth, expression turning completely blank. So much so in fact that Heath was suddenly wondering whether he’s broken Joe inside somehow.

“Joe?” Windham moved closer to him and touched his shoulder.

“I don’t know…” Joe mumbled his expression still oddly flat but his eyes seemed suddenly panicked--- as though he was scared that Windham would be angry with him because he couldn’t answer. “I… I may have done…”

“Let it alone, Heath,” Windham’s tone was suddenly warning and Heath’s eyes flickered to him instead.

He huffed and sucked in his cheeks somewhat in his classic pissed-off expression before then sighing and relenting, “Fine.”

“I’m gonna go take a bath,” Joe murmured as he moved and grabbed his towel and toiletry bag before vanishing out of the room, leaving Heath and Windham alone once more. Windham turned to Heath, “See now you’ve gone and done it!” Heath gaped at the other in clear disbelief, “Me? It’s you!” and the bickering started anew. 

~~~

“I may have…” Evan was sure his face could set the room on fire if he got any hotter when he blushed. “I mean… you always make me feel so good when you take me, I wondered if… if I could possibly…” he stopped.

Shifting so he could look the other in the face Chris encouraged him with a gentle, “If you could…?” Evan sighed and took a breath, forcing himself to calm down somewhat. Chris was always so confident seeming and Evan was trying to make amends for the hurt he knew he had caused Chris thanks to his reticence about their relationship even though Chris had been forgiving and accepting of it.

“I wondered whether I would ever possibly be able to make you feel as good,” he said as he looked up to Chris, “But I was always too scared to try and approach it.”

“When you never mentioned it I didn’t want to make things awkward between us as well…” it was partially because of his own insecurity but it wasn’t wholly because of it. It was still hard to be so open to Chris but at the same time he was becoming more accustomed to it.

“What? Were you worried that I’d say no?” Chris asked, a hand now brushing through Evan’s hair. 

Evan nodded. “Well, yes,” he admitted. “I mean, you just sort of naturally… top,” Evan said, voice dropping to a whisper at the last word. “I thought you might laugh at the idea of me…” he trailed off.

“You should know me better than that! I’d never laugh at an idea like that. I’d have said yes right away. All you have to do is ask,” Chris said, hoping that his words would encourage Evan. 

“R-really?” Evan asked, uncertain once more, sucking his lower lip between his teeth. 

“Really,” Chris said, his answer coming out strong and unwavering, holding Evan’s gaze.

Evan really didn’t think he could come out and just say that was what he wanted, so… he’d have to try and show him.

If he didn’t have the bottle to go all of the way on such an endeavour tonight then at least he could--- lay the groundwork, as it were. Swallowing, Evan sent up a small prayer that he received guidance and then steeled himself.

If Chris could do it he could do it, and he did genuinely want to make his lover feel as good as Chris always made him feel. It was the reminder of that initial sentiment that had Evan reaching and pushing against Chris’ chest.

The blonde looked mildly surprised but didn’t fight him, eyes glinting as he lay back.

Licking his dry lips nervously Evan then leant in and took momentary comfort in an activity he knew he had some skill at: kissing.

Evan kept his hand on Chris’ chest while they kissed, able to feel his heart beating beneath his palm. The kiss deepened, Evan taking control as he allowed his tongue to explore Chris’ mouth, running over the ridges on the roof of his mouth, to his teeth and his tongue. 

Chris decided he rather liked this side of Evan. He didn’t allow himself to get lost in passion very often. Even during their lovemaking. Now, though, now that he had given Evan the proverbial reins, he seemed to be doing just that. A moan escaped him as they kissed and more of Evan’s weight was atop him. 

Pulling back, Evan looked down into Chris’ eyes and saw that they looked quite contented indeed. “Should I… umm, should I undress you now?” Evan asked, his initial nervousness returning. 

“Ev, you do whatever feels right for you,” Chris told him, placing a hand on his cheek. 

Nodding, Evan leaned down for a quick kiss before sitting up again, this time his slightly trembling hands fiddling with the buttons on Chris’ shirt, exposing skin little by little. “Sit up,” he said once every button was undone, and Chris did. He pushed the shirt off his shoulders and tossed it to the side, returning his hands to Chris’ chest just because he wanted to. 

The structure of Chris’ chest was something Evan enjoyed greatly whether he was nestled against it or Chris’ torso happened to brush any part of his body. When he was embraced by the other though… he was sure no other embrace would ever be able to compare to it.

By no stretch of the imagination was Chris fat but he was much more solidly built than you would expect an athletic male to be; his chest was strong, toned and yet not overtly so like his cousin, or John, or hell, even himself… though he was woefully understated when he was dressed thanks to his general small build.

So absorbed in his journey across Chris’ chest with his fingertips was he, Evan completely missed that Chris’ eyes had yet to leave his face, taking in every little drip of expression that Evan let free.

“Not that I’m complaining,” he murmured after a few minutes, “But is my chest all you want?”

Initially Evan startled, terrified that he had annoyed the other or had him becoming bored with what they were doing, but when he realised that Chris was merely coaxing him along he flashed a brief, nervous smile before ducking his head down and beginning to kiss first along the strong line of Chris’ jaw and then down his exposed neck, only pausing when he reached his pectorals.

“Seems as though it _is_ all you want,” Chris said as Evan began kissing his pecs, even experimentally nipping at the flesh. All actions elicited what seemed to be a positive reaction from Chris, which encouraged Evan a bit more. He took a nipple into his mouth, flicking his tongue out and feeling it harden. 

Evan had to say, he was truly enjoying being able to explore his lover’s body. Normally it was Chris who lavished him with all the attention. Not that he didn’t touch or maybe kiss different spots on Chris’ body, but it had never been like this before. This was something new and exciting for the both of them. 

Raising his head up, Evan then moved his attention over to Chris’ other nipple, giving it the same treatment he had the other one. “Is this ok, Chris?” Evan asked, hoping that he was still providing him with some deal of pleasure. 

“Oh, it’s more than ok, Ev. Believe me, you don’t need me to flat out tell you what to do. Just… do what feels right for you,” Chris said. “Let my reactions be your guide… your instincts will kick in, trust me.”

Nodding Evan spent a little more time on the sensitive buds until they were good and hard before moving further down, nipping Chris’ stomach and actually drawing a giggle from the well-composed blonde when he stuck his tongue into his bellybutton briefly. He made a mental note to remember that reaction.

When he reached Chris’ pants Evan managed to get his belt free and then have them removed before taking his boxers and socks off too. As Chris lay naked underneath him and he was essentially stilled clothed Evan felt a strange bolt of lust in his stomach. His eyes drifted down to Chris’ semi-erect shaft.

He’d never been reticent, exactly, about performing this act for Chris and yet as soon as the Canadian realised what Evan intended he tried to stop him, “Ev, you don’t have to—“ Evan looked up at Chris and gave a slow, oddly seductive smirk.

“I’m aware that I don’t have to, dear Christopher, I want to.” And without further to do the dark haired male was taking his lover into his mouth, senses immediately assaulted by Chris’ taste and scent, head beginning to swim with pleasure.


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing - Oscar Wilde

“What the hell do you mean by that? I didn’t say a damn thing to him!” Windham went on. “You’re the one that’s fucking scaring him off!” 

“Oh, as if! I’m trying to push him in the right direction! You, too, for that matter,” Heath pointed out. “I don’t know why you can’t just get past your hang ups and fuck each other already.”

“It’s not that easy! I’ve never even considered fucking a man before. I’ve only ever been with a girl once, and on top of that, we were both a bit tipsy.” They knew perfectly well what they were doing, yes, but if they hadn’t snuck that alcohol, they probably wouldn’t have done what they did. Of course, Joe was encouraging him along all night, and once Joe and the girl’s friend left, leaving him alone with her… 

“So what? You _want_ to be with each other, right? Quit pussyfooting around the issue and go for it!” Heath exclaimed. He raised his brow, as though to say, ‘And if you don’t, I will.’

A growl left Windham at the challenge, a territoriality that he had been feeling more and more towards Joe stirring at the warning from the redhead.

Leaving the room turned out to be both a tactical and yet dumb idea. Tactical because it meant he was away from Heath and therefore wouldn’t start a fight with him but dumb because he had nowhere to go.

The only place left really was the baths… where Joe was. If you were in a bath when curfew came around their dorm prefect left them to finish so long as they didn’t abuse that afterwards. Since many a boy enjoyed taking the chance for a late-night dip for whatever reason no one wanted to tip the scale and as such respected the prefect’s compromise… but Windham was digressing and he knew it.

Eventually he forced himself to go; it was stupid to act weird about bathing together now considering they had been seeing one another naked in the baths since they were children. 

Joe looked up when he heard someone entering the bathroom. “Oh, hey Windham,” he greeted, voice still somewhat shaky from the conversation the three of them had just minutes ago. “What, um, brings you here?”

“Heath wanted to start another bitch fight,” he answered as began filling a tub with warm water. “You know how he gets. He just… doesn’t understand where we’re coming from, that’s all.”

“Yeah. Exactly,” Joe agreed. He was still looking at Windham, even though they weren’t saying anything. 

Once Windham’s tub was full, though, he asked of Joe, “Do, um… you mind?” He had no idea why he was asking Joe to look away. Joe had his mouth on his cock just the other day, for Christ’s sake! 

But Joe did as requested and looked the other way. But when he heard the sounds of water splashing as Windham got into the tub he asked, “Win, if I asked you to fuck me right now, would you?” He’d been thinking about nothing but what Heath said to them before he left the room.

All sounds of sloshing water stopped, Windham too surprised to move for a few moments.

Suddenly unnerved Joe turned his head, finding himself facing a slack-jawed Windham, the top of the other’s body visible over the edge of the tub. “Oh, I thought you were drowning or something since it went so quiet then.”

That seemed to bring the other back to himself, “I was not drowning in the bloody bath you nonce, you just startled me!” Joe huffed and scowled at the other for the insult, “No need for that.”

Sighing he slid down into the tub, speaking just before going underwater, “Forget I even said anything.”

Even though they may not be ready for it Windham realised he’d been a bit of a fool not to take stock of the fact that rejecting his lover completely, regardless of readiness or not, would be a blow to his pride.

“Joe—“ he tried when the other sat up, but the other seemed about to merely wash his hair and ignore him so he continued speaking regardless since there was no way for the other to block him out, “It’s not that I don’t find you attractive, because if I didn’t then the other day we’d’ve never…”

He would never have been able to become hard being inside just anyone’s mouth after all.

“We’d’ve never…?” Joe trailed off, wanting Windham to say it. 

“You know… done what we did… You sucking me. I haven’t done that with many people, you know,” Windham told him. “And I don’t think I’ve ever come so hard in my life,” he confessed. 

Joe finally turned his head back to look at his friend. “Really?”

“Really,” Windham said, and Joe knew that he was telling the truth. “Look, I know you’ve obviously been thinking about what Heath said, but we shouldn’t rush into things just because the redhead says we should.”

“It has been a long time, though… since I last had sex,” Joe said sheepishly. 

“At least you’ve done it more than once,” Windham grumbled. “Now I know what it’s like, so beating off just pales in comparison… Umm, your mouth did feel really good, though.”

“Well, I’m glad,” Joe admitted, “I thought I’d scared you off.”

Immediately Windham could see why he thought that and shook his head fervently, explaining swiftly, “I was shocked, sure, but it didn’t… it wasn’t unpleasant in the slightest bit, honest.”

“So… maybe you’d want to do that again sometime soon?”

It was a tentative question and Windham felt mildly bad that his best friend was so nervous asking him anything now, but at the same time he understood. And since Joe was being honest about it he supposed he could to.

“Yeah… yeah. And, um, maybe I’ll pick things up myself,” he cleared his throat.

Even though Heath said they should dive straight in Windham was honestly thinking that beginning to do something like this slowly; smaller things and work up to… that thing.

“Oh, yeah?” Joe asked with a grin. 

“Yeah,” Windham answered. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, he and Joe learning things, figuring all this out together. 

“So, uh, you think you could one day suck me better than Heath?” was Joe’s next question. 

“With a bit of practice, I’m sure I could,” Windham said. He’d never had a cock in his mouth before, unlike Heath, so he really didn’t know how he’d do with it. Although Joe said to him he had never taken a cock like that before, either, and it was still the best blowjob he had ever received. 

“Well then… when do you propose we should start practicing?” was asked next, Joe gaining a bit more confidence with every positive affirmation Windham made in response.

~~~

“Feeling a little frustrated are we, Philip?” he cooed.

“No, not really… Beth and I managed to get some alone time today, and she had no complaints about my mouth, nor I hers,” Phil told him, for once watching John’s face scrunch up in disgust. 

“Gross,” John muttered. “I hardly wanted my dick near that girl’s pussy, I’d rather not think about my _tongue_ there.”

“So you’d rather have your dick up someone’s arse?” Phil’s face then had a look of horror pass across it as a thought occurred to him. “Do you two put your tongues near…?”

John smirked and answered, “Yes. Yes I do stick my dick, fingers _and_ tongue in his arse. As he does mine.”

“You disgust me,” Phil said. “No issue with that, but pussy you take issue with? Something’s wrong with you, Cena.”

Out in the hallway, Bryan was headed straight for Cena’s room, not even bothering to check in on the other rooms he was walking by to make sure people were in their rooms by curfew. 

Randy made note of this, as it was part of Danielson’s job as a prefect to check on those rooms. If his odd fixation with stalking Cena didn’t get him kicked off, then certainly his lack of responsibility in upholding the name and standards that came along with being a prefect would. 

Randy’s shock and mild unease increased when Danielson didn’t even make to knock on John’s door before he attempted to open it… it appeared locked however, and from Danielson’s reaction he hadn’t expected that.

Neither John nor Phil came to the door and Randy supposed they were feigning sleep--- he smirked slightly about that; they weren’t daft.

Danielson was muttering to himself about something though and seemed ready to bang on the door until one of the two answered before Randy decided that enough was enough.

“Even a prefect has no right to enter a person’s room without checking with the occupants inside first,” he drawled.

Bryan jumped several feet into the air in surprise and wheeled around, face flushing a dull crimson colour of guilt.

“Harassment is taken very seriously in this school, Danielson, and after what I just saw I could take you to visit our dear Headmaster now and I’m sure he would see me about you.”

“I--- I didn’t do anything,” Bryan maintained, “I knocked and no one answered, so I tried the door—“ Randy’s eyes narrowed and he stepped forward, backing Danielson up without even touching him, “Liar,” he seethed slightly, “Now I suggest you tell me what your real issue is with the Sport Captain before I strip you of your position here and now!”

From inside the room, John looked to Phil when he heard the door rattling, then they both stood up when Randy’s voice came filtering into their room. Both moved to the door to be able to hear better what was happening in the hall. 

“I don’t have any issue with the Sport’s Captain,” Danielson said, though it was pretty evident that he was bluffing. And doing a shitty job at it.

“Well, I’d say otherwise, because no one that I’ve ever seen has had it out for one single person as much as you do,” Randy said. 

“Then maybe he should actually stay in his room! Not go off to yours each and every night to fuck you,” Danielson blurted out. 

“So that’s what it is? You’re trying to catch him out fucking me?” Randy asked. “First off, who I fuck is none of your business. Second, I think you should be more concerned about other things, like—”

John opened the door, doing his best to look groggy eyed as though he’d been awoken. “What on _earth_ is going on out here?” he asked, and Phil added an annoyed grunt from inside the room, playing along.

One of his more casual, but definitely warmer smiles appeared on Randy’s face as he turned towards John and drawled, “I apologise, John, but it seems a Prefect has lost sight of his official duties. I was just taking him to be reprimanded.”

Danielson snorted in a decisive manner and Randy gripped his shoulder subtly, but the pressure he exerted through the grip was far from subtle.

The younger man’s knees buckled slightly as he braced himself against the pain. “Oh?” John looked confused, “I’ve been asleep since after dinner.”

Sunny dimples appeared as John pretended to gain more coherency as he looked to Bryan, “I ate a little too much and fell right asleep.”

When Danielson’s eyes closed briefly John shot Randy a small look to take it easy on the boy. “Is there anything else? Only Phil’s awake too now and…” Randy gave a casual thanks and dismissed John to go back to his room.

When the door closed Danielson immediately struggled to get free but Randy wasn’t having any of it. “You’re coming with me, boy, and if you don’t start giving me some serious answers then maybe you’ll give them to the headmaster. And I am not joking.” 

“You can’t be serious! You’re not taking me to Barrett this late!” Danielson said, trying to make up excuses. 

“Then maybe you should start fucking talking to me! What the hell do you have against Cena?” Randy asked harshly. “Did he not take you on some sports team after you tried out? Are you pissed off he hasn’t sucked your cock? What is it, Danielson?” 

But he remained silent.

So Randy kept on talking. “Christ, of all the people in the school you could turn your sights onto, you chose Cena? Did you want to see if you could touch the untouchable, or something? Or… or maybe it really _does_ upset you that we’re fucking each other. That it, Danielson? Are you jealous of him?”

“You fucking wish,” he muttered under his breath, but it was still loud enough for Randy to hear.

“I hope you know that no one’s going to take your word over mine,” Randy said, continuing to pull Bryan along to the Headmaster’s office.

Finally, the younger man seemed to dig his heels in and Randy stopped, turning to him expectantly, “Well?”

The vehemence burning in the usually mild-mannered boy’s eyes startled Randy just slightly but he was no lesser man and he held his ground looking as unconcerned as he always did. The shocked showed though, when Bryan finally seemed to reach his limit.

“You don’t deserve him!”

That brought a flurry of rapid blinking from Randy in shock, “Excuse me?” Danielson’s cheeks were red and he was breathing hard, obviously wanting to vent some sudden anger but then not wanting to alert any teachers who might have been nearby at the same time. “You--- you’ll just go with anyone who’ll have you, and he does it because you do.”

He shook his head fervently, “He deserves someone better. I—“ his throat convulsed but then he spoke three words that made Randy’s world stand still.

“I love him.” And he had loved him since he’d been saved by John as a very young child, when he had not been much older. John didn’t seem to remember him though, but that was Ok.

“You _what_?” Randy growled. “Who the _fuck_ are you to tell me that _I_ don’t deserve John and that _you_ love him?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Danielson replied. 

“See, I think you don’t understand. You know nothing about me or John or how we feel about each other, so don’t you dare come to me saying that he deserves someone better. Especially if you’re trying to imply that someone better is _you_ ,” Randy spat. Aside from his own family members, John was the only person that he loved, and he knew the same was true for John. 

“Maybe I am trying to imply that the someone better is me,” Danielson then said. “If I were with him, I’d never stray from him like you do.”

“That’s because no one else will have you. And, look, you may think that you know everything about me, and yeah, maybe there is _some_ truth to the rumours, but I have _never_ been with anyone but John,” Randy told him. He didn’t know if Danielson would believe him, or not, but he didn’t care. He knew the truth, not only about his true feelings for John and that their fooling around with other boys had always been a mutual thing, and that was what mattered. 

~~~

“Oh, shit, Evan,” Chris moaned as the hot, wet mouth engulfed him. He’d never, _ever_ tire of Evan’s mouth around him. And each time he performed the act, he seemed to get better at it. 

Moaning as he had a good portion of Chris’ cock in his mouth, Evan took pride in the fact that Chris’ body then reacted the way it did. He fought back the urge to ask if it was ok, already knowing that it was. Chris was clearly enjoying himself. 

“Ev, Ev,” Chris began, tugging on Evan’s hair to get him to raise his head up. 

“Huh?” Evan asked as he released Chris’ dick with a pop. He didn’t think Chris was close to coming, so he had no idea what he was warning him of, or just what he wanted to tell him. 

“I want your fingers in me… as you suck me,” Chris said. 

“Oh,” was all Evan could muster up as a reply, obviously surprised at the request. 

“Um—“ for a moment he floundered, having to remember back to what Chris did when he used fingers on him. A proverbial light went on over his head as he took three fingers into his mouth.

A muffled moan left Chris, startling Evan slightly. Chris was not repentant though; he had thought Evan sucking on his fingers for preparation was arousing, but seeing Evan sucking on his own fingers was something else entirely. His cock throbbed hard.

“Tell me if I hurt you,” Evan’s tone told Chris he would not accept any lacklustre truths.

Nodding frantically and uncaring if he looked desperate Chris then bit his lip to stifle his sounds as Evan took him back into his mouth and then started to ease a finger into him.

He was very slow and thorough on the prep, but Chris didn’t care.  
When Evan touched his sweet-spot Chris swore he had to have died and gone to Heaven.

When Evan hit that spot inside Chris, he _swore_ that the cock in his mouth grew even harder. And the sounds that Chris made were ones he’d never heard coming from Chris’ mouth before. 

He worked his two fingers into Chris’ hole, pushing them in, gradually going as deep as he could. He pulled them back, twisting them just slightly before pushing forward again. All his actions were slow, yet deliberate. He wanted this to feel good for Chris, because he knew he always felt incredible when Chris did it to him. 

“Oh, God, Evan,” Chris moaned. “I want you.”

Raising his head up, Evan released Chris’ cock from the confines of his mouth. “But… I’ve only got two fingers… you’ve never… before, have you?” he asked. He knew that Chris had prior experience with boys, but he thought he said he was still a virgin before they had ever made love. 

“No, no I haven’t,” he answered. “But I don’t think I can wait much longer, Ev. I want to feel what it’s like.”

“It’ll hurt,” Evan said apologetically, though realistically he knew the first time hurt regardless of prep. He had hurt even though Chris had done his best to take care of his wellbeing he realised in retrospect.

“Don’t care,” Chris said seriously, a hand curled sensually by his mouth as the other rested on the back of Evan’s neck, “Evan…” nodding, Evan grimaced only mildly as he spat into his hand and then slickened himself up. It was crude but he had no lotions and it was definitely better than not using anything at all for the other.

Moving over the other Evan braced himself at Chris’ entrance.

He didn’t dare look at Chris’ face as he began to enter him, body shaking with the effort he was using to try and go slow and steady, to make sure that Chris wouldn’t be too discomforted. A small whimper left him at the tightness, Chris making a much louder sound in return.

It hurt, Chris wouldn’t lie, but the pain was a small price to pay to see this long-suppressed side of his love.

“Holy shit,” Evan whispered as he pushed deeper inside his lover. What an _incredible_ feeling. “You never said it felt this good,” Evan said with a little giggle. 

“It’s kinda hard to describe,” Chris then said, smiling despite the pain of the entrance. From what he’d seen with Evan, that pain would go away quickly enough. And if he found that spot inside of him again, then he knew that the pain would be nearly instantly replaced by pleasure. 

“Yeah,” Evan agreed. He couldn’t believe that they were actually doing this. For the first time ever _he_ was inside _Chris_. “Maybe… maybe I should have asked to do this sooner,”

“You know I wouldn’t have had a problem with it,” Chris replied. 

Yes, Evan knew that now, but he didn’t want to be turned down or laughed at, so he simply never asked. Though _damn_ , now he wished he had. He finally pushed all the way in, eyes falling shut as he allowed his body adjust to all the new sensations he was experiencing. 

After feeling that he had adjusted to the other enough Chris gave Evan’s side a gentle squeeze, the other hand having fallen to his shoulder, “Ev, try moving for me.”

Sending up a prayer that he wouldn’t disgrace himself and ruin this experience Evan gently eased himself out of Chris a little before thrusting back inside. Much like Chris’ first time in the dominant position his initial movements were a little clumsy and awkward, but he soon loosened up.

Pure chance ended up being the cause of Evan finding Chris’ spot; he’d thrust in at the exact same moment Chris had pushed his own hips upward. The tandem movement sent Evan deeper.

A garbled sound left Chris and Evan had thought he’d hurt him until---

“Again! Evvy, please, there again if you can!” perspiration was already beginning to shine on their skins, Chris’ hair sticking somewhat to his forehead as opposed to its roguish stand-up style, Evan’s own becoming a little fluffy thanks to the sweat and increased temperature.

Doing as best he could, Evan tried to angle himself correctly to find that little gland inside Chris as he thrust inside again. While Chris was still panting from pleasure and exertion, he didn’t react as strongly as he did when that spot was first hit. So he tried it again, this time angling himself a little differently. And when he thrust, Chris had to stifle a moan. 

Chris’ hand went from Evan’s shoulder to behind Evan’s neck, as the strongest urge to kiss him took over. He drew the smaller man down, whispering just before their lips touched, “Keep moving your hips.”

Taking advantage of those lips parted just slightly in surprise at his words, Chris slipped his tongue into Evan’s mouth. 

It took Evan a couple moments to fall back into his rhythm. The change of angle and Chris’ words managed to surprise him enough to make him pause for a short time. But he did manage to get back to the rhythm he had before. He wasn’t able to draw back as much given that he was now chest to chest with his lover, but he could move his hips slightly, so that was what he attempted. 

And he hoped that it was somewhat ok. It was their first time doing things this way, so he knew it wouldn’t be spectacular, but he certainly hoped that it wasn’t a complete disaster. 

He was far too serious, even in moments like this… but that was what was so cute about him, Chris thought to himself as he saw the glossy sheen of pleasure-tears in Evan’s eyes, his own being much the same thanks to the now continuous rubbing of Evan’s swollen shaft against his rapidly sensitising prostate. It felt so good to the blonde, and his lover didn’t know.

Kissing Evan again firmly, Chris then slowly drew back just a little and breathed, “Evan, stop thinking—“ he cut off to give a small moan as the other suddenly shuddered and he felt the tremors deep inside of himself.

“Just feel me, Evan. Just feel me the way I’m feeling you right now… you’re so deep inside of me, and I swear you’re getting bigger.”

Even though he was well-aware that that last part had to be an exaggeration to try to make him feel better Evan still couldn’t bring himself to completely relax. Chris looked like he was enjoying what he was doing and the sounds he was making were driving Evan to distraction, but... he had heard other boys discussing faking behaviour during moments like this and he couldn’t help but to think that maybe Chris was doing so to save his pride.

Threading his fingers into Evan’s hair Chris drew him into another deep kiss, tongue twining and curling with Evan’s. He knew he just had to calm him down. Once he had done that…

~~~

“I forgot how cheeky you can get, Joe.”

Joe grinned slightly, not exactly repentant about that particular facet of his personality, but gave no verbal response.

Realising that the other was awaiting his answer Windham looked down at his bathwater and mumbled something. Joe’s brow furrowed and he leant against his own bath-side, “What?”

For a moment silence seemed to echo between them in the neat communal bathroom.

“I said,” Windham murmured, reaching for his soap and beginning to get lather on his hands since occupying himself with something to do meant he wasn’t looking at Joe and it was slightly less embarrassing, “Maybe that will be sooner than you think it will be. You did hear me that time, right?”

“Yeah… yeah I heard you… loud and clear,” Joe answered, looking directly at his friend. “How, uh… how soon is sooner than I might think?” he then asked.

Windham shrugged. It registered with him pretty quickly that Joe was naked beneath the surface of the water. As was he. And the more he thought about the fact that they were naked and within feet of each other had his cock slowly stirring to life. “I dunno,” he finally answered. He didn’t want to take advantage of the situation, though, since it was past curfew and a prefect _could_ catch them out. 

“You dunno?” 

“Element of surprise,” Windham replied. “I dunno when I’m gonna do it, therefore, neither do you.”

“I can live with that,” Joe said. He really, really hoped, though, that it was soon. He couldn’t deny that he was dying to know what Windham’s mouth felt like around his cock.

Really, Windham was more handsome than people probably thought since he wasn’t the slimmest of boys. Not that Joe cared about that, he liked it.

And, watching him soap himself up… that probably shouldn’t have been arousing but right then Joe was wondering whether he should have run his bath colder. Exhaling a breath Joe decided he’d best wash himself since he was there, even though really he’d just sought the bath as an escape route to calm down in. They were quiet as they washed themselves, each boy lost in his own thoughts for the moment.

Though their thoughts were very similar.

When they got out of their baths and drained them they looked away again for reasons unknown.

That was something they would probably have to work on, Joe thought to himself, if they couldn’t even look at one another naked they sure as hell couldn’t do much else.

Windham wrapped a robe around himself, and Joe did the same. Still, there was only one small layer of clothes separating them. “Hey, Win?” Joe asked.

“Yeah?”

“I know this would be a ways away and all, so don’t take this the wrong way…” Windham raised a brow. It wasn’t often that Joe prefaced his thoughts with anything. He was more the type to simply go forth and say whatever was on his mind. “But would you ever sleep with me if Heath was in the room?”

“By sleep with, do you mean… have sex?” he asked. When Joe nodded, he really didn’t know what to say. “I honestly could not tell you. Would you ever have sex with him while I was in the same room?” Windham then asked. He knew what they arranged, but that still didn’t make the thoughts of Joe and Heath fucking, especially if he was in the same room, any easier. 

“Probably not,” Joe said and Windham’s eyes widened at how easily the other answered him; he had struggled and yet Joe hadn’t even hesitated in responding.

“R-Really?”

“Well, yeah,” he said, clearly embarrassed as he began to towel his body dry and rewrapped the towel around his hips afterwards, “I mean… it would be so awkward. Having an audience—“ hearing that part triggered Windham’s mind into remembering what escapades Cody and Ted had been through that day.

“Oh, I don’t know—“ he mumbled, more to himself than Joe as they gathered their things to walk back to their room after they had finished drying and dressed into their pyjamas/night-shirts, “Apparently having an audience isn’t so bad.” Joe looked to the other from where he had pushed the bathroom door open, “What did you say, Win?” Surely he had misheard.

“Nothing, Joe, nothing at all.” 

“If you say so,” Joe muttered as they made their way to their room. 

Once the door was opened, Heath looked up from his book and saw his two roommates, one in a bathrobe, the other with his hips wrapped in a towel. “You two enjoy your bath together, then?”

“We didn’t bathe together,” Joe said as he went for his closet to grab his night shirt. Just as he did every night, he let the towel drop to the floor, leaving his naked backside exposed to his roommates. Whose eyes he could now feel on him. He quickly dressed himself in the long shirt before turning around. 

Windham and Heath had already turned their heads away. Windham walked over to his own closet for his pajamas (slipping his pants on before removing his robe), and Heath was concentrating on his book. 

“Hey, Joe,” Heath then began, sticking his bookmark into his book before shutting it and setting it aside. “Have you ever thought about sleeping with one of us before?” He could tell that Joe was about to go on about how they _just_ discussed that, so he cut him off before he could. “I mean it innocently. Simply… sharing a bed.”

That had Joe’s mouth closing again, teeth clicking slightly with the force.

“Uh…” he’d never considered that before and now that the thought had been brought up he was rather shocked with himself. “No,” he blushed slightly, fiddling with the cuff of his nightshirt, “I’ve not thought of that before.”

“Well,” Heath said lightly as he got up and began to undress himself to get ready for bed (the other two looking away at appropriate moments) “I was thinking that since Windham is more likely than not to receive _that_ first from you that I should get a first from you too.” Joe blinked a few times in surprise.

He didn’t understand that logic because Heath had been the _first_ boy that he had been with for kisses and a blowjob. “Um… I guess that would be Ok…” it was something he’d have to see concerning both of them after all.

“Excellent,” Heath smiled, “Then tomorrow you can try with Windham. And, if we all remain comfortable, we can take out turns alternating each night. Of course if you get annoyed you can take time for yourself and sleep in your own bed.” Windham looked at Heath and shook his head wanly and grimacing, “You just don’t stop, do you? I mean, ever.”

“Nope,” Heath said with a sly grin. “Never. All right then, Hennig, what exactly are you waiting for?” he then asked, pulling his blanket down and scooting over so that Joe could join him in bed. 

“Well… you know, I’ve never actually intentionally slept together with someone before,” he admitted. He’d woken up with a girl or two in the past, but it was never done purposefully. They just fell asleep after. 

“Then there’s a first time for everything.”

Windham watched Joe head over towards Heath’s bed and sit down next to him. He couldn’t help but feel a touch of jealousy that Heath was the one that got to share a bed with Joe first. Heath had kissed and sucked Joe off before he ever knew there was an interest in him. Now Heath got to sleep with him, too. Instead of watching them any further, he simply crawled into his own bed and turned onto his side so he didn’t have to see them. 

Hearing Windham rustling about in his bedcovers and turning away from them had Joe’s chest hurting unexpectedly. Did it really bother Windham so much that he was sharing a bed –innocently- with Heath?

He was going to share with him, and… ah, he didn’t even know. When Heath suddenly kissed the side of his neck Joe jumped and stilled slightly in surprise, but then redhead merely chuckled and moved closer to him.

The redhead was asleep within minutes.

Eventually Joe heard what sounded like Windham’s deep breathing when he had fallen asleep and he sighed; his mind wasn’t going to let him rest anytime soon it seemed. There was only one positive conclusion he could draw from the other being annoyed about his interaction with Heath though: it proved that Windham felt _something_ for him even if he himself wasn’t too sure _exactly_ what he felt about him. At least, he’d like to think so.

~~~

“You can’t intimidate me into not loving him anymore,” it seemed the more worked up that Randy got the calmer Bryan then became.

“He’s not interested!” Randy growled out firmly.

“You don’t know that. He may love you, but then again it may just be because you’ve been sleeping together for a long time; there’s a fine line between love and lust you know.” And he knew he was in love with John. “John saved my life when I was a child, and since then I swore to God I would repay his kindness and love him the way someone like him should be loved.”

For a moment Randy froze brow furrowing; John had saved Bryan’s life? When? There weren’t many occasions they hadn’t been together as youths even before school...

A slightly wan smile touched the younger man’s lips then, still slightly craned inwards from where Randy had yanked him in by his blazer, “I guess you don’t remember me either… I’m not surprised; even that day you were far more selfish and cared about the state of John’s appearance than my welfare.” Before Randy could up and begin calling him crazy Bryan merely said, “Down by the Thames, after the Ice Fair.” He visibly saw Randy’s brain make the connection.

“Wait… that was you?” Randy asked. He certainly hadn’t forgotten that day, but he hadn’t thought about it in a good, long while. 

“Yes, that was me,” Danielson answered. 

Randy loosened his grip and the arm he was holding fell back to Bryan’s side. “I never knew that was you,” he said, his expression softening slightly. 

“Well… obviously he doesn’t either. Otherwise he’d never have wasted away these years with you.”

“Fuck you,” Randy said, that temporary showing of compassion gone once more. “He may have saved you life, but that gives you _no right_ to try and tell me that John has _wasted_ years of his life with me. Do you really think that lust would hold us together after all this time? Do you honest to god think that, five years after sleeping with him for the first time, if I just lusted after him, I’d still be with him? You’re fixated on him, Danielson, you don’t love him.”

“You’re one to talk, Randal.” Bryan stepped back from Randy. “I do love him… and whether you like it or not I’m going to tell him as well.”

“Don’t be so selfish!” Randy felt a small flare of panic.

However, Bryan obviously misunderstood the cause as he said, “See? If you were so confident he loves you then you wouldn’t be so afraid of someone—”

He gasped as Randy suddenly pushed him firmly into the wall, caging the smaller boy in, “I meant to John!” he hissed.

Bryan’s eyes widened as he stared at the Head Boy, his eyes burning and looking almost black as the iris had been taken over by his pupil, the shadows of night not helping, “Can you think about how horrible he’ll feel when he _has_ to turn you down and reject your feelings? If you really love him the way you say you do then you would _never_ put him in such an uncomfortable position!” for a moment Bryan seemed to waver before he straightened up again, chin raised defiantly. 

“Like I said before, Randal, you’re _not_ going to intimidate me. I’m going to do what I feel is necessary.”

“Well, you best not come back to me and cry when he tells you that he doesn’t love you. He saved you because he’s a good person. He’d throw Satan a life raft if he saw him drowning,” Randy said. 

“Then if he’s such a good person, maybe he will listen to me,” Danielson said. “Maybe he’ll realize that such a good person deserves better in life.”

“Really, Danielson? Are you really that blind to see that he _does not love you_. He’s only ever loved one person in his life, and that person is _me_ ,” Randy hissed at him. How dare anyone try and take the love of his life away from him?

“If you are so sure, then you’ll let me tell him. Just one on one, me and John. Then we’ll see what he has to say for himself once he finds out the truth.” It sounded reasonable to Danielson, and he could only hope that Orton would agree to it.

Randy’s face was puce beneath the tan and Bryan considered that the elder boy might actually kill him.

“Fine,” Randy spat, “You can _tell_ him. But as soon as he rejects you _that is it_ ; you don’t try _anything_ else and you will leave _him and me_ alone from now on. Do you understand me, boy?”

“I understand,” didn’t mean he was going to completely listen to those words though. John might _want_ something more from him after his confession.

“It’s late and I ought to be getting some sleep… I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow now.” Randy’s eyes widened as he stared after Bryan’s back as he walked away; he was going to tell John tomorrow? Randy found himself moving before he’d even considered it.

He was back at John’s room and knocking on the door in the quiet manner he and his lover had worked out to alert themselves to one another’s presences. The door opened a surprisingly short time later and John’s smile immediately became an expression of concern, “Randy, what is it?” he looked shockingly pale. 

Randy stepped into the room and John shut the door behind him. “I just spoke to Danielson.”

“Aaaand?” John asked. Randy looked so… _off_. Something was wrong, and it was worrying John. 

“And… he says that he loves you,” Randy whispered quietly. 

“Wait, _what_?” John asked, exasperated. “What the hell do you mean _he loves me_?”

“He’s going to tell you tomorrow. John… he said that I don’t deserve you,” Randy confessed. “That you’re too good for me, because I’m selfish and I’ll mess around with anyone who’ll take me and you only do it because _I_ do it… and he said that you only think you love me since we’ve been sleeping together for so long. I don’t know where the fuck that guy gets off saying those kinds of things…”

John had _never_ seen Randy looking so distraught before. “Hey, he’s got absolutely no right to say those things about you,” John said before pulling his lover into a deep kiss, Phil grumbling from his bed about how he didn’t miss that aspect of the three of them living together.

“Not the time, Philian,” John muttered as he and Randy parted and Phil obediently fell silent.

When John called him the ‘phe-male’ version of his name he knew it was serious. He sat up slightly and looked to Randy.

“You might want to sit down Orton, you don’t look so good.”

Moving Randy over to his bed John sat him down before sitting beside him, arms going around him.

“Randy, I’m not going to leave you for Danielson. I’m not going to leave you and you know that nothing he said was true.” John could rarely be genuinely awful to someone but he was going to be having some _very_ strong words with the Prefect who had upset his lover so… and it wasn’t easy to hit Randy’s insecurities. When you did though it lingered for a long while. “You’re staying here tonight.”

The Head Boy didn’t argue and even Phil looked concerned by the fact that he seemed to lacking in animation. Tomorrow John would ask Randy what the hell happened exactly between him and the Prefect but at that moment in time it was apparent that he didn’t want to discuss it.

“I love you so much, John,” Randy whispered as he began to undress him for bed. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“I already told you that I’m _not_ going to leave you, and you’d be a fool to think otherwise,” John assured him. How could Danielson ever think he had a remote chance with him after saying such spiteful things to his lover of so many years?

“But what if he’s _right_?” Randy asked quietly. He’d never been so unsure of himself in his life, and that alone scared the hell out of him. 

John paused in the unbuttoning of Randy’s pants and looked into his eyes. “He’s not right. You know it, and I know it. So stop doubting yourself, Orton, it doesn’t suit you at all.” 

Randy smiled slightly at that. He knew deep down that there was no one else for him but John, and that they were good for one another. He knew that he was a good person who was so grateful to have John in his life, as John was him. He knew it, but until John came to him after he had his words with Danielson would he be completely confirmed in that knowledge. 

Once Randy was divested of the last of his clothing save for his undergarments –for the benefit of Phil’s delicacy- John pushed him into bed.

Moulding his front against Randy’s back he wrapped his arms around his lover’s middle securely and pressed a few delicate kisses to the sensitive underside of Randy’s ear. “I love you, Randal Keith Orton,” he whispered, “I love you and no one else.”

A few more repetitions of this soothing mantra as he was surrounded by John’s warmth and scent was enough to finally send Randy into slumber.

Watching Randy’s face as he slept John frowned gently as he noticed that Randy still looked upset even in sleep. His love had really been shaken up and John was not going to stand for that.

It seemed a while before he too fell asleep and John grimaced as he realised that dawn had broken through the curtains after what seemed to him like only minutes of sleep. There was a gentle fleeting warmth appearing on his chest and he blinked slightly and looked down. Sometime during the night Randy had turned over and his face was now nestled against one of John’s pecs. 

~~~

But the kiss didn’t calm him down much, either. It was a wonderful kiss, they always were with Chris, but Evan still kept thinking that maybe Chris was just saying things to make him feel better about his lackluster performance. 

“Chris… is this really ok for you?” Evan asked, face scrunched up into a look of concern.

“Ev,” Chris said, thinking of what he could say to assure Evan that, yes, yes it was amazing. So, instead of saying anything, he took Evan’s hand in his own and slowly brought it downwards. “If it wasn’t ok, do you really think I would be _that_ hard right now?” he asked, stroking his cock with Evan’s hand. 

Evan actually smiled a little. “No… probably not,” he replied. He knew his first time, he’d actually gone a little soft when Chris entered him. But as they got more into it, as the pleasure built up, he grew hard again. Just like Chris had. And he hadn’t touched his cock at all since Evan entered him, so it was all due to Evan. 

“You can do it a little harder if you’d like,” Chris then told him. “Or faster.” He paused a moment, then said, “Or both.”

“I…” well, Chris would know better than he would wouldn’t he? It was his body after all and so Evan swallowed and shifted somewhat, drawing Chris’ legs higher around his own torso and scooting himself a little more forwards.

“Ev—“ Chris gasped and choked on a moan as Evan suddenly thrust into him solidly, swiftly.

“Like this?” Evan puffed out slightly as he began to roll his hips a little firmer now, doing his best to keep the feelings that Chris was apparently feeling going, “Chris, like this?” Chris groaned in pleasure, subconsciously clenching around Evan and making him mew in pleasure and protest, “Yes--- yes Evan, like this---”

He was rather impressed; Evan had lifted his lower-body off of the bed somewhat and was supporting him with his thighs and hands the sound of skin-on-skin telling Chris that Evan was finally taking his words to heart. However, he could sense that Evan was still holding back on strength if not speed. So, he naturally resolved to fix it.

Evan yipped and then moaned in tandem with Chris surprised as said blonde suddenly grabbed his arse and pushed firmly to send him inside of him harder than before.

“Evan, when we make love, do I ever hold back with you?” Chris asked, squeezing Evan’s ass in his hands. 

“No,” Evan squeaked in reply. 

“Then don’t hold back on me. I’m not going to break, you know,” he said. “So don’t even think about not giving me everything you’ve got.”

“But you’ve never—” Evan began, about to say that Chris had never bottomed before, but was quickly interrupted. 

“I’d say I’ve caught on pretty quickly,” Chris told him. “Please, Ev?”

Nodding, Evan drew his hips back, though Chris could tell he was still hesitant. So, while he was gripping Evan’s ass, he pulled him forward yet again. “Do it just like that,” Chris encouraged. “No holding back.”

A few more pushes from Chris and Evan finally seemed unable to keep his composure anymore---

_And Chris was absolutely loving it._

His body was bouncing and jerking as Evan began to thrust into him with the reserves that Chris knew he had been holding back from him.

Evan ground his teeth, knowing he wasn’t going to last much longer. On that note he reached down, beginning to stroke Chris.

The blonde moaned, thrusting himself into Evan’s hand and then further back onto his shaft.

“Chris—“ Evan was so close to coming but he didn’t want to leave the other behind, at least not for a big amount of time. His hand worked as quickly as he could manage, struggling to maintain both rhythms at once.

“Oh, Evan,” Chris moaned as that hand glided over his cock. “God, I’m so close,” he said. With every thrust and stroke, he could feel his orgasm approaching faster and faster.

“Me too, Chris,” Evan said, choking out a moan as his body jerked forward as he began to come. 

Feeling Evan’s seed inside of him for the first time as his lover’s body twitched above him as his cock twitched inside of him, finally pushed Chris over the edge, as well. Their combined moans and cries filled the air. “Holy Christ,” Chris whimpered, feeling completely and utterly sated. 

Pulling his spent cock out of Chris, Evan sat back on his knees and took in the scene before him. His hand was coated with Chris’ seed and he could see some of his own cum in Chris’ ass. He was still panting from his exertion, still couldn’t even fathom what just happened… but he knew he wasn’t dreaming. “Shit,” he muttered before a grin broke out over his face, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. “Chris, that was amazing.”

“Mhm,” Chris responded hazily, blinking up at Evan, “Get down here and give me a kiss, Bourne.” Evan chuckled softly and obediently leant down, sticky bodies pressing together.

The kiss was slow and languid, deep and yet without any incense or haste. They were merely appreciating one another.

“Did I hurt you?” Evan asked concernedly after they had parted for a few minutes and calmed down, now lain beside his lover instead over hovering over him. Chris turned his head before reaching and taking Evan’s sticky hand deliberately, drawing it to his mouth and licking some of the seed away.

Breath catching, Evan was hypnotised by the other’s sated and happy expression. It was like the one Chris had after they had made love when he topped, and yet it looked completely different all the same. “It was perfect Evan. We definitely have to start doing it more this way too.” Evan got up after a while though and fetched a shirt that was due to be washed to clean them both up somewhat. “We’ll need to get baths tomorrow.”

“Hmm, we will won’t we?” Chris agreed. 

“Yeah,” Evan said, tossing the shirt back onto the pile of clothes that needed laundering before setting back into bed beside Chris properly. “So, you’d really like to do it like that more often?” he then asked. 

“Absolutely. I wish I’d asked you sooner if you wanted to try it this way,” Chris said. 

“Well… sometimes I guess it just takes a bit of encouraging from John and Randy, that’s all,” Evan said with a smile. 

“I guess so. God, is there anything those two _haven’t_ done with each other?” Chris asked.

“I don’t think I want to know,” Evan answered, face scrunching up a bit. 

Chris chuckled and kissed his lover’s forehead. “I quite like sharing a bed with you.”

“I like it, too,” he confessed. “Sorry it took so long for it to happen,” he added very quietly. 

Leaning over, Chris turned out their light and sent the room into darkness. “It’s ok. I’m enjoying making up for lost time.”

“That does sound like you,” Evan smiled slightly.

“Shush you,” Chris chuckled quietly and drew himself closer to Evan so that their bodies were twined comfortably together underneath the soft covers. Each fell asleep with a smile curling his lips, contentment emanating from them.

Seeing Chris with him though, Evan wondered how he could hate Christian’s lover so much.

And, well, from what he had been told he could piece things together but he didn’t like to assume… though asking was probably a bad idea.


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives - Oscar Wilde

When Joe woke up the following morning, he quickly realized that he wasn’t in his own bed. He was on his side, facing his own bed, though. Which meant that he was in Heath’s. Right. They decided Joe was going to alternate whose bed he slept in each night.

He sat up and saw that Heath was also on his side, turned away from him. He wondered how long through the night they slept back to back. As he looked around the room, he noticed that Windham was still on his side, not facing them. Though… maybe that just happened to be his sleeping position preference. 

Then a thought crossed his mind that he was looking forward to sharing Windham’s bed that night. And that maybe he might actually kind of miss being in Heath’s. 

“Why are you up?” Heath grumbled, turning onto his back to look at Joe sitting up in his bed. He reached up and gently pulled the other teen down so Joe’s front was now against Heath’s back. Hesitantly he wrapped an arm around Heath’s middle. 

And it was almost as though doing that was the catalyst to waking Windham up because he heard the other murmuring the way that he always did before he pushed himself upright. Joe froze slightly despite himself as he felt Windham’s eyes alighting his back.

Bollocks, fucking bollocks. Even though he had no reason to be embarrassed, and Windham hadn’t protested, he felt as though he had been caught doing something wrong. Windham obviously thought that they were both still sleeping though because he didn’t say anything to either of them, merely started to get up.

It was only still early though, on a weekend, and Windham wasn’t exactly famous for waking up early unless he had some sporting event happening or something.

Turning his head Joe felt his face flame up slightly as he got a look at Windham’s naked back and backside before the other pulled on some fresh undergarments. He swallowed, mouth feeling dry. He really should look away, shouldn’t he?

He removed his arm from around Heath and sat up. “Oi, what’s that for?” Heath asked. “I was only just gettin’ comfortable.”

“You can go back to bed,” Windham said as he pulled on some trousers. “I’m gonna go… do whatever,” he muttered. “Grab some breakfast, maybe go practice on the field for a bit.”

Joe watched as Windham picked up the shirt he had lying on his bed and slipped it on, buttoning it up. He honestly didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to upset either of them. However, he did just spend the whole night with Heath… “I’m not really that tired,” he said. 

Heath rolled his eyes and muttered, “Go on if you want. I’m staying here.” With that, he yanked the covers up around him, pulling a good amount off Joe as he wrapped himself up.

This was not going to be easy, was it? Heath always seemed so unconcerned and yet he always had moments like this where he was clearly offended. He just couldn’t bloody win.

Getting up he was quick to dress himself and then tagged on to Windham as the other left their bedroom and headed for the bathroom.

“You could have stayed you know,” Windham muttered as he got his toothbrush ready and then began to clean his teeth, Joe moving to the sink beside him to begin doing the same. “I know,” Joe spoke around his brush, pausing its movements, “But I really wasn’t tired.”  
Windham didn’t look overly convinced but there was a small splash of pink in his cheeks that denoted a blush, and internally the other was pleased on some level that Joe had followed him. 

~~~

Justin awoke as the sun filtered in through one of the wide open curtains that someone obviously forgot to close before going to bed. He looked over to the window, but right in his line of sight was something that completely took him by surprise. Ted and Cody were in bed together. 

When he went to sleep that night, they weren’t talking to one another. Well, obviously something must have happened that he slept through. He had to admit that it was nice to see them together again, because those two belonged together. 

A groan came from Ted as he blinked his eyes open and ended up staring straight into the rising sun. Grumbling, he turned himself over away from the window, only to be greeted with morning breath. Realizing that he was probably no better off, he sat up and looked down, smiling. Cody was there with him. After the rollercoaster of the day they had yesterday, Cody was still right there with him. 

“He isn’t going to wake up until one of us gets him up,” Justin said lightly and Ted nodded. He had bathed the night before but Cody hadn’t, and he was struck by the sudden way he could make an apology to the other. “I’m just going to the baths,” Ted said, dressing in casual wear quickly.

Justin was confused but shrugged and expected that Ted wanted to wash up and get rid of his morning-breath before he awoke Cody. However, as it stood Ted ran Cody a nice hot bath and added a little of the bath-oil he knew that Cody liked.

Bribing a younger boy who had been in the bathroom with a coin to watch the tub to make sure no one pinched it Ted then headed back to their bedroom. Justin seemed to be readying to bathe for the day and all, and Ted moved to his lover. Telling Justin which tub he had picked for Cody, so the other could go near him, Ted then knelt by Cody. “Cody… Cody… Drama Queen who wears ladies’ undies--”

“Says the man who enjoys fucking me in ladies panties,” he mumbled back, smirking the whole while.

“You always gotta get the last laugh, don’t you?” Ted asked. He then stood from his kneeling position and sat down on the bed to shake Cody’s shoulder. “Come on, now, wake up.”

“Teddy, it’s so _earlyyyy_ ,” he moaned, pouting. “I don’t want to get up. And my arse still hurts.”

From across the room, Justin snorted just before he headed out the door for the baths. “Well, hopefully your bath will soothe that right away,” Ted told him. “I’ve already got a bath drawn for you.”

Cody looked up to Ted, still pouting as he asked, “Are there bubbles?” When Ted nodded, his eyes lit up a touch and the pout turned into a small smile.

“Carry me,” Cody then tried, extending his arms up and Ted’s brows rose, almost vanishing into his hair.

“What, are your legs broken?” Ted teased and Cody arched a brow in return, though he was still smiling slightly, “No, but walking after being fucked by you is no easy feat, Theodore.”

Ted blushed crimson and then eyed Cody momentarily before then sighing out, “Alright then,” Cody’s eyes widened.

Before he could even consider what was happening he found himself being hoisted easily from his bed and held bridal-style in Ted’s arms. Cody blushed too and spluttered lightly, but he didn’t offer protest.

“People’ll see me carrying you like this,” Ted pointed out as they moved out of their bedroom and Cody shrugged, “Ask me if I care. They’ll only be jealous.”

Ted walked Cody in through the bathroom door, and when Cody saw that there was no one in there aside from Justin, Joe and Windham, he wrapped his arms around Ted’s neck and kissed him. “Clean your teeth before doing that,” Ted muttered, and Cody stuck his tongue out at him while the other three in the room laughed. 

“So, I hear tell you two finally did the deed?” Windham said, watching them moving behind him in the mirror. 

“We did,” Cody answered. “Can the same be said for you two?” the asked. When they shook their heads no, he shook his own head as Ted set him back down. “Hey, if I can get the most religious, innocent man on this campus to stick his cock up my bum, then I think you two will be perfectly all right.”

Ted was blushing fiercely, doing his best to not look at Windham or Joe. “Can’t you just get in the bath now? Don’t want it getting cold.”

“Teddy, aren’t you going to undress me? Just no ripping of anything like yesterday,” he said. He still didn’t know what he was going to do about replacing that part of his costume.

As they listened to Ted and Cody bickering in the background, Joe and Windham finished up brushing their teeth and packed up their things. “See you ‘round, guys!” Joe said as they headed out. 

“Bye,” Ted, Cody and Justin said at the same time. Ted knew, though, that Cody was about to shout something inappropriate, so he clamped his hand over his mouth before he could do as such.

Once out of the bathroom, the two looked at one another quickly before looking down at the floor. Cody had a point… he slept with easily the most innocent person they knew within a week of their first kiss. But everyone knew that they belonged together and had teased them for years. This whole thing was completely new to both Joe and Windham and had quite frankly taken both of them by surprise. 

So, Windham did the only thing he could think of. He changed the subject to take their minds off of what Cody said. “Did you want to come with me to practice? I was planning on heading to the rugby field and tossing the ball around to myself, but it’d be more productive to have someone to practice with.”

“Sure thing, why not?” Joe shrugged lightly as they headed back to their room and dropped their things off. “I could do with some practice to ready for the tryouts,” he had only just remembered that.

The day was cool and overcast but at least it remained dry, for now. “We’ll have to keep an eye out,” Windham said in all seriousness, “We don’t want to get a cold because of the rain or anything.”

Colds were dangerous diseases and you’d have to be a fool to try and tempt one. Joe nodded his head as they moved to the equipment shed, “Yeah, we should be Ok for a while though. If it starts then we’ll head back inside.” Selecting a ball Joe then moved some distance away from Windham and then completed a standard pass, something Windham returned to him after a few moments.

They were quiet as they completed passes and throws, but that didn’t matter; they had played together so often that they knew what the other was intending even without verbal communication. Joe didn’t think it would be too arrogant to say that they, and Ted, would truly be assets to the team. 

After quite some time of tossing the ball back and forth, Joe shouted to Windham who was quite a good distance away. “We’ll be fucking incredible at tryouts come Wednesday!”

Catching the ball, Windham adjusted his grip and threw the ball back, responding, “I know! There’s no way anyone will be able to beat us out for those spots!”

“What kinda things do you think Cena will make us do for tryouts?” Joe asked as he heaved the ball back. 

“Run around the field a few times? Throw the ball? Tackle some people. I’ve got no idea. Why don’t you go ask him next time you see him?” Windham replied as he caught and threw the ball off to Joe. “Your dad gonna be at tryouts, too?” he then asked. Joe’s dad was a sports coach, after all. 

“Hell if I know!”

“You going to be nervous if he is?” Windham asked, watching as Joe’s face clouded up to the degree where he could see it even with the distance that currently separated them both.

“No…” Joe muttered slightly and Windham only guessed he’d offered the usual defensive protest because he had squared his shoulders and jutted his chin out.

“Well, you needn’t worry and I know you’ll do fine so he’ll be really proud of you,” he called lightly back to him.

Shaking his head slightly as he threw the ball back to Windham, Joe sighed; his best-friend was always trying to patch the gaps between himself and his father, always trying to assure him that things would be alright but Joe knew the truth… he was really just short of a disgrace to his old man.

And he always had been.

“You know, if you don’t talk to him, you’ll never be able to get close to him,” Windham said. He could tell what Joe was thinking. That there was no way his father would ever be proud of him. 

“I tried that. Didn’t work,” Joe answered, catching the ball gracefully even though he was hardly even paying attention. He was just that in sync with Windham. “Besides, he caught me smoking, then I actually cussed at him. Why would he even _want_ to talk to me after that?”

“Because he’s your _father_! If he didn’t care at all about you, he wouldn’t even try and talk to you about you smoking… or skipping classes,” he tried to reason.

“He’s just trying to control me,” John said. 

“Joe, he’s your father! He cares about you and he wants you to do well and he just wants to be there for you!”

“You’re just saying that.”

“I am not! My father told me that your father told him all that,” Windham confessed. Their fathers were good friends and spoke often of their children. 

“Yeah well—“ Joe looked away, always uncomfortable whenever the conversation turned towards the unstable relationship that he and his father possessed. “That’s his problem isn’t it at the end of it?”

“No, Joseph,” Joe winced at the sound of his full name being called firmly across the space between them, “It is not just _his_ problem, it is _your_ problem too. You’re both so damned stubborn and you just don’t know what to do to make it better between the two of you!” Windham said.

The fact that Joe didn’t rebuff him told Windham that his sort-of-boyfriend knew that what he said was the truth. Sighing, Windham began moving closer to the shorter.

“Look, I know it’s hard,” he started as he drew closer.

“But you really need to start thinking about these things, alright? You’d hate to find yourself an adult with children and still having a bad relationship with your dad…”

Joe looked at the ground.

“Just like your dad told mine because he cares, I’m telling you because _I_ care, Joe.” Windham placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder, squeezing lightly.

“I don’t want my dad to always be disappointed in me,” Joe said, his voice low enough that even Windham had a hard time hearing him. 

“He’s not. I promise you, he’s proud of you.”

“Proud of what? The fact that I cut classes, I smoke and am apparently turning into a queer?” Joe asked. “I don’t think he’d be very proud if he found _that_ out, do you?”

“Joe, he’s proud that you’re your own man. You don’t back down from your beliefs.” Windham placed his hand under Joe’s chin and raised his head to look into his eyes. “You just need to talk to him. I want you two to be able to do that. Will you at least try?”

Joe nodded, meeting Windham’s eyes and wanting to kiss him so badly right then.

“What?” Windham asked as he saw the way that Joe was looking at him. He couldn’t exactly name the emotion but it made him blush.

And his stomach was doing flip-flops as well.

“I was just thinking that… I really want to kiss you right now,” Joe admitted softly, gaining a blush on his own as he looked down at the well-kept grass under their feet.

He didn’t know why that surprised him, but it did--- though not as much as his own response. “Alright… but it’ll have to be quick,” you never knew who might see them and he _really_ didn’t need either of them getting into bother over something like that.

Plus, it was too early for them to use the excuse that they had been drinking.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Joe replied. 

“Yes it does,” Windham replied sharply. He did _not_ need to get spotted kissing his best _male_ friend.

Dropping his hand to Windham’s wrist, Joe began tugging him along towards the end of the field that held the sports shed where they got the ball to begin with. “We need to pick up after ourselves, right?” Joe asked when they made it to the door of the shed. 

“I didn’t realize we were done,” Windham managed to get out before he was once again pulled by the wrist, now heading into the shed. 

Once they were inside, the door remained wide open so some light could filter inside, Joe dropped the ball to the floor and pushed Windham against the wall, kissing his friend with all he had. 

~~~

Chris was the first to awaken the next morning and he smiled to himself as he was confronted with Evan’s angelic countenance.

When he moved a pain flared in his backside, but he reveled in it.

The pain was a reminder that they had truly done what they had, he thought to himself.

He walked awkwardly to grab his bathrobe and towel and then moved back to Evan again.

“Evvy…” he kissed the slumbering man lightly, “Evan—“ he kissed him again and slowly the ravenette began to stir, blinking hazily.

“Huh?” Evan asked, trying to register what Chris was saying. Then he realized he was simply saying his name. 

“I’m going to have a bath now,” Chris told him when he saw Evan’s eyes open and looking up at him. 

“Wait… wait for me,” Evan said, pushing the covers off his naked body. Even though it was only Chris in the room, and Chris had seen him naked more times than he could count, he still placed a hand over his front when he went over to grab his own bathrobe and towel. 

Chris waited contentedly. It was still early enough on the weekend that they could be one of the few, if not the only people in the baths. 

“Ok,” Evan said as he slipped on his robe. “Thank you for waiting.”

“Of course,” Chris smiled, beginning to lead the way out of their bedroom and down towards the bathroom.

The older you became and progressed through the school the smaller the communal bathrooms became.

Noticing that Chris was limping slightly Evan bit his lip; he did feel bad about that but at the same time there was a part of his male ego that was being stroked upon knowing that he was the one to make the other like that. “I didn’t hurt you after all, did I Chris?” he asked.

“No,” Chris said easily as they neared the bathroom, “I knew this would happen after seeing you, remember? I wanted this, still do.”

And didn’t that admittance make Evan smile like a fool for a while? 

“Well, I’m glad,” Evan said, the smile on his face not going anywhere. 

As they stood just outside the bathroom door, Chris mused, “I wish I could bathe with you.”

“Chris!” Evan exclaimed. 

“What? Don’t you ever think about it, too?” he asked. “I don’t necessarily mean making love in the bath, but just, you know, being able to wash one another and little things like that.”

“Well, I guess it would be nice,” Evan agreed, blushing. “It would be nice to have someone to get my back for me,” he teased. 

Chris smiled. He always loved when Evan’s sense of humour shone through. “So long as you do mine, too.”

“Depends what kind of mood I am in,” Evan joked lightly as they walked.

“And what kind of a mood are you in?” Chris asked lightly as they entered the four-person bathroom and took two tubs right beside one another.

“A pretty damn good one.”

Chris’ grin widened slightly; Evan hadn’t been this relaxed in a long time and it seemed as though this had been a catalyst to take a weight off of his lover’s mind for a while.

Setting up their baths Chris momentarily had a problem when he struggled to get his leg up without hurting himself. Of course Evan helped.

Blushing and mildly embarrassed that he had needed help, though grateful for it, Chris mused, “You are deceptively strong.”

Evan blushed and mumbled something along the lines of, “It’s the cricket.”

“Well, I must say, then, that cricket has served you a world of good.” He placed his hand on Evan’s chest, right where the robe crossed and slowly eased the folds of the robe apart. “You’ve got the most glorious body.”

“Chris, someone might come in,” he whispered, pulling his robe closed again. He stepped around to his own bath, hanging his robe up before getting into the tub.

“So you’ll suck me off in a little storage closet in a hall where hundreds of boys are walking past us, but you won’t let me touch you in the bath? Ev, where’s your sense of adventure?” Chris asked, looking straight into Evan’s eyes. 

~~~

John brought a hand up to the back of Randy’s head, stroking the short hair gently. “Morning,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

Randy lifted his head off John’s chest, looking up into his lover’s face for a moment before curling back up to rest against John’s solid chest. “Morning,” he replied, though the word got muffled.

“How’re ya feelin’ this morning?” he asked. 

“Pissed off,” he answered. 

“I don’t think anyone’s ever gotten you so worked up before. Not even Dupree,” John said.

“Well, at least all he wants to do is fuck you. He’s not claiming that he _loves you_ ,” Randy replied, still talking into John’s chest. “And he never said that I wasn’t good enough for you.”

“Well, he probably did but you don’t give a shit about Dupree and he wouldn’t have meant it seriously anyway,” John said and Randy muttered an agreement.

“Well, rest assured I’m going to turn him down and give him a serious talking-to about the way he treated you.” He could have felt flattered, sorry for Danielson, if he had been kinder about it all.

It was just hero-worship and gratitude, that was all.

“He’s apparently engaged you know.”

John started just a little, not having realised Phil was up, “You what?” he asked swiftly.

“I only found out yesterday when I saw Beth, wouldn’t have mentioned it if this hadn’t happened. Apparently some big Asian businessman moved to the area, his daughter goes to Beth’s school, and apparently Danielson’s parents have gone into an agreement for them to marry.”

“The fuck…?” John muttered, trying to wrap his head around it all, and still not really comprehending. “So, his parents arranged him to marry some girl on the grounds of merging companies, or something?”

“That’s what it sounds like. I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying a whole lot of attention, to be honest,” Phil shrugged. 

“That doesn’t surprise me,” John said, Randy still keeping quiet in the whole matter, which was so very unlike him. “You at least catch a name?”

“Umm. Kim?” he said after a moment of thought. “Yeah, Kim. Maybe? Or… No, wait, that was her family name. Gail! There we go, Gail Kim.”

“So this guy, something or other Kim, is some big businessman from somewhere in Asia?” John asked. “And Danielson is engaged to the daughter Gail, but for some reason or another is in love with me.”

“Sounds pretty fucked up to me,” Phil said. 

“No kidding… man, I feel bad for her,” John said honestly. It was different in the case of he and Elizabeth, or Randy and Samantha, because those two seemed pretty aware that their respective potential grooms didn’t love them...

They would just be under the impression that they could eventually convert them into feeling that way. This instance though...

“Maybe it’ll be a good idea if you talk to him and set him straight,” Phil said as he got up, moving to get changed and do his hair for the day.

“Yeah.” John looked to Randy and then stole a quick kiss; though it was returned the action was reflexive, absent-minded and that unnerved John.

“Come on Randy,” he coaxed, “We’ll get changed and go and get some breakfast.” Hopefully that would cheer the other up and the sooner they could sort this whole mess out the better. “Up and at ‘em, Randal.”

“Don’t call me Randal,” Randy smiled briefly.

~~~

“You’re never going to let me get over that particular thing are you?” Ted asked lightly, though he was still rather crimson in the face. “Besides, I’m sure the costume people will have more replacements.” He then shook his head and grinned slightly, “And just for being cheeky you can undress yourself, Cody.” He waited for him to do so.

“You’re so mean!” Cody pouted hard at the other but then stripped himself down as quickly as he could without aggravating himself.

Ted didn’t look as Cody undressed just out of politeness more than anything, Justin merely closing his eyes to keep privacy for the other. Slipping into the water Cody moaned in pleasure, the water lapping at his skin, “Oh…” Ted flushed lightly and shook his head slightly. Cody was so damned shameless.

But then that was one of the things that Ted admittedly found the most appealing about his friend. “Is the bath to your liking then?” he asked.

“It’s absolutely perfect,” Cody sighed, feeling the ache beginning to ease in his backside even though he hadn’t been about to overly complain about it. “Ted, you’re such a saint.”

“Well, he was until you corrupted him,” Justin said from his own tub. Cody shot him a dirty look. Ted blushed. 

Finally Cody said, “I guess that says a lot about my arse, then, if even a saint will fuck it.”

“Must you be so crude?” Ted asked as he remained standing right next to Cody’s tub. He was still blushing. Every now and again, his eyes would wander lower and a break in the bubbles would allow him to see through the surface of the water. That’s when he would look away again. 

“Sorry. Even a saint will make love to it,” Cody amended. “That better?” he asked, and Ted nodded. “So, when can we do it again, Teddy?” he went on to ask. 

“It better not be when I’m in the room,” Justin muttered. “I don’t need to listen to the sounds of your… coupling.”

“It definitely won’t be,” Ted said and Cody sighed slightly to himself as Ted’s expression darkened just a fraction.

It seemed that the other still hadn’t gotten over that whole ‘someone saw them doing it’ thing.

“Good to know,” Justin said, “I mean, it is just polite as well after all since I’ll never put either of you in that position when it comes to _my_ lover.” Ted glanced at the other and wondered whether he should express sympathy for Justin or gratefulness that that awkward situation would never happen.

“Oh, you never know,” Cody said with heavy faux-innocence injected into his voice as he reached for his soap, “We may enter his office one day by accident…”

“Shut up mouth-piece!” Justin hissed suddenly, eyes darting to the door as though expecting someone to walk in.

“Oh come off it!” Cody retorted.

“Well, I for one am not ever going into his office if you’re not in our room without knocking first,” Ted assured him. “I have no interest in seeing _anyone_ in the middle of… _anything_!”

“Take a walk on the wide side, Teddy,” Cody teased. 

“Thank you, Ted,” Justin said, smiling at Ted before scowling at Cody. 

“Oh, come on, aren’t you dead curious to know what Justin sees in ol’ Barrett?” Cody asked. 

“He’s not old!” Justin instantly protested, blushing. “He’s… he hides a lot under his suits, I’ll tell you that much,” he added, letting out a “Hmph,” before beginning to wash out his hair.

“You’re all so uptight,” Cody sighed.

“No,” Ted said lightly, “You’ve just never been as embroiled in modesty the way the rest of us have.” Cody gaped slightly at that but then sniffed with faux haughtiness and stuck his nose in the air, “I’m an actor.”

If he was modest he wouldn’t be so good in theatre.

“Wash your hair,” Ted said pointedly and Cody sighed before reached out.

Ted pressed the small jug and shampoo bottle into Cody’s hands and Cody sent him a smile.

Ted looked away as Cody washed his hair because the shampoo was making the bubbles disappear and seeing Cody naked, in front of Justin to see his reactions, was not good.

“Teddyyyyy,” Cody whimpered from the bath, “why aren’t you looking at me?” Anyone could clearly see that Ted was pointedly looking away from him as he did his hair. 

“Because you’re _naked_ ,” he whispered. 

Justin actually laughed at Ted’s answer. “Ted, you slept with him, I hope you know what he looks like naked.”

“Well if Wade was in the tub and you were where I am and I was where you are, would you be looking at him while I was right there?” Ted asked. 

“No, but that’s a completely different scenario, and the chances of it ever happening at one billion to none,” Justin said. 

“Damn you all,” Ted muttered. 

“Sometimes I could really hate you both,” Ted muttered, though Justin and Cody knew he didn’t mean it. In all honesty they didn’t think Ted _could_ mean anything negative.

“You love us, who do you think you’re fooling?”

Shaking his head and rolling his eyes Ted then moved and took hold of Cody’s towel, holding it up for him when he was done.

Cody looked amused and touched by the gesture, turning his head though he sent Justin a playful wink before standing up and allowing Ted to help him.

“Dry off quickly otherwise you’ll end up catching a cold,” Ted said in all seriousness and Cody’s expression sobered.

“Yes, I know,” he said softly. 

“You’re so good to me, Teddy,” Cody said then as he wrapped the towel around him. 

Ted smiled and said, “I only do it because I love you. And, because I love you, I’m telling you you should go do your teeth. I will, as well,” he added once Cody pouted at him.

As Ted and Cody headed towards the sink, Justin stood from his own bath and wrapped his towel around himself to dry off. “Mind if I join in the party at the sinks?” Justin asked. 

“Nope. I’m sure Wade will appreciate it, too,” Cody teased.

Justin shrugged, his expression growing sad. “I don’t know if I’ll have the chance to even see him today.” Just the morning prior, he was waking up beside his lover after spending the most magnificent night together. “That’s what I get for falling for the Headmaster, I guess…”

~~~

“Don’t even try and push that on me,” Evan muttered though he went redder still.

“I’m serious,” Chris said, looking to the other, “I don’t understand why it would be so different. It’s just us in here, no one else.” He moved to Evan’s tub and looked into the other’s eyes still, a hand reaching and caressing Evan’s cheek.

“Can I at least have a kiss if I won’t be able to do anything else?” he asked quietly and Evan nodded his head, rather transfixed by the look in his lover’s eyes right then.

Chris leant down and pressed their lips together, his hand skimming down the back of Evan’s neck, brushing across his bare shoulders. Breaking the kiss he smiled softly and rested their foreheads together for a moment before pulling back.

“Now, please, Chris, someone might come in,” Evan whispered nervously, biting his bottom lip. 

“Ok, ok,” Chris said as got back to his own tub. “Don’t you think it’d be fun, though?”

“What?”

“To make love in here,” Chris answered. “Sure, someone might walk in, but that’s all part of the risk, you know? Adds to the fun of it. Don’t tell me you’ve never walked into the bathroom and seen two kids jerking each other off.”

“Well, yeah, I have seen that before,” Evan said, scrunching up his face. “But even that’s different than what you’re suggesting! Jerking off is not making love.”

“No, it’s not… but I know you’ve got an adventurous side in you, Ev.” 

“My adventurous side has nothing to do with anything like this,” Evan said, tone flat and firm.

Chris sighed mentally as he recognised that tone; it meant back off, and do it sharpish.

Well, he’d never been too good at knowing when to back down.

“Yes it does, Evan. You’re always trying to restrain yourself and push yourself to please others and meet their expectations. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, far from it, but sometimes it seems to me like you’re close to suffocating yourself.”

Evan gaped at the other slightly--- sometimes he still couldn’t get over how serious Chris could become at the drop of a hat when previously he’d seemed flippant.

“I--- that’s not--- I mean, I don’t really---“ he stammered, wrong-footed.

“Yes, you do,” Chris stated. “And you know that’s how you are, too.”

At Chris’ raised brow, he shrugged a bit and mumbled, “No.”

“You always want to put everyone else’s needs and wants above your own. You shouldn’t have to do that all the time, you know. I mean, it’s nice and that’s an innate part of who you are and what makes you, you, but sometimes it’s even nicer to have someone cater to your wants and needs.”

“But I don’t _want_ to make love to you in the bathroom,” Evan whispered. 

“I bet you do,” Chris said in just as quiet a tone. “Somewhere deep down, there’s a part of you that wants to say fuck all the rules, because you’re done playing by those very rules. Am I right?”

“ _No_ ,” but it was apparent he was convincing himself more than Chris.

“ _Yes_ ,” Chris returned emphatically, Evan sinking down in the tub.

Even though he knew he was essentially hiding from the conversation Evan couldn’t help himself, using the excuse of going underneath the water to get his hair wet so that he could wash it. But… Chris was encroaching territory of his personality that Evan himself was too afraid to consider.

And it was setting all of his instincts into flight mode--- though not literally of course.

Gasping softly when he sat upright again Evan pressed his hair to get the excess water out and then reached for his shampoo, conscious that Chris appeared to have given up for he was doing the same.

“I would if you wanted to,” Chris said as he began rinsing the shampoo out of his hair.

“Huh?” Evan asked, not even realizing that he’d tuned out for a bit. 

“I said that I would if you wanted to. I mean, if you ever wanted to… make love in the bath,” Chris added. 

“Chris, I thought we were done with that! I don’t want to talk about it anymore!” Evan said. 

“I hope you know that I’m not trying to push you into anything… I’m just trying to awaken this part of you that I know is in there.”

“Well, you already got me to sleep with you, isn’t that enough?” He really wished that Chris would stop pushing the issue. Clearly, he didn’t want to talk about it. 

“Fine. It’s just fine.” Evan winced at the dryness of the other’s tone of voice as he said that.

Surely Chris couldn’t be angry with him after that? Evan thought to himself.

Evan looked at his lover as Chris finished cleaning himself and his hair, the blonde then looking to him.

“Well? Are you finished? If so we should probably get out,” the words weren’t unkind but something in them didn’t sit right with Evan.

“A-Almost,” he stammered slightly as he made quick work of finishing his own sanitary needs.

Chris got out of his tub and Evan followed suit, overcompensating somewhat on speed since he didn’t want Chris going off in a mood. He choked out on a gasp as he slipped from the tub, falling to the floor.

~~~

“I’ll call you Randal whenever I damn well please,” John said, face lighting up when he saw his lover smiling. “C’mon,” he said, smacking Randy’s ass hard when he didn’t move.

“It’s too early to get into that kind of thing, Cena,” Randy muttered. 

“Guys, you’re both great, but I don’t need any kinky sex shows taking place in front of me,” Phil chimed in. 

“Why not?” Randy asked, turning his head around so he could look at Phil. Eventually, the rest of his body followed and he was now lying on his other side. “I bet you could learn a thing or two.”

“Beth and I will be content to learn things together,” he said, rolling his eyes. 

“Whatever you say,” Randy muttered, finally sitting up. He looked to John and said, “I wish I could be there with you while you talk to Danielson. Just so I could fuck up his smug little face.”

“That would _not_ be a good idea regardless of how appealing it might sound,” John said in all seriousness, “I don’t want you in trouble over someone like him,” his tone was firm.  
Randy didn’t look too impressed about that but there was little he could do.

He really couldn’t do with attempting to pick fights with people for the sake of venting his anger out somehow.

“Fine… but that doesn’t mean I won’t be thinking it.” When they were ready then headed down to breakfast with Phil, finding places to sit after they had got something to eat. John was beside Randy of course.

They had just finished when Danielson suddenly appeared at John’s side, waiting.

He wasn’t surprised that John seemed unsurprised and John gently squeezed Randy’s thigh in reassurance before he stood up and walked out of the dining-hall with the younger man in tow.

Once alone inside of a classroom, John asked, “What the hell is this all about, Danielson?”

“Didn’t your fuck buddy Orton already tell you? It’s pretty simple John. I love you,” he said. 

“Danielson, I don’t even know you. Aside from the fact that I know you annoy the shit out of me,” John replied. “How can you possibly claim that you love me?”

“Because you saved me,” he stated. 

“What the fuck do you mean I _saved_ you?” John was even more confused than he already was by this point. 

“I mean you saved me. Saved my life,” Danielson told him, and suddenly John’s eyes grew wide. He knew exactly what Bryan was talking about now. 

“That was you?” John asked.

“When the ice collapsed on the Thames at the Winter Faire, yes,” Bryan said, smiling softly.

“I don’t believe it…” John muttered, shaking his head. That seemed so very long ago now.

“You saved my life even though it could have cost you your own and since then there hasn’t been a day gone by when you’ve been far from my thoughts, John.”

“Bryan, I’m flattered but that… that isn’t love.”

“You don’t know that,” Bryan said in all seriousness and John shook his head and held up a hand, “It isn’t me you should be loving.”

As the younger man tried to interrupt John cut in, “You should spare a thought for the girl you are engaged to and to the man I love with every fiber of my being.”

He met his eyes, “And you’re not him.” 

“But I could be. I _should_ be!” Bryan proclaimed. 

“No, you can’t,” John said. “Randy may have taken my virginity when I was thirteen, but he took my heart well before that. I just hadn’t realized it yet.”

“But, John, you saved my life! Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” Bryan asked. He would never forget the face of the young kid, his savior, whose face he looked into that day. The face of John Cena. 

John raised a brow. This kid did not let up. “I would have done it for anyone,” he told him. “You have to know me well enough to know that, at least. A simple thank you would have sufficed, you know.”

“You’re worth so much more than just a simple thank you, John,” Bryan said. 

“Bryan, I don’t _want_ anything more than a thanks.”

Danielson’s head ducked before he looked up. John didn’t want to hurt him but he wasn’t about to pussyfoot and give Bryan even a hint of misunderstanding.

“I love Randy Orton,” John said simply, “And you’re just confused feelings of gratitude for love. At best you’ll like me, and that’s it. I appreciate that you like me but I have to reject your feelings, Bryan.”

The younger man seemed to deflate and John momentarily felt bad for him for a moment but when he looked up something in the younger man’s eyes had John tensing somewhat in reflex, waiting expectantly.

“Give me a kiss. Just one kiss, and then I’ll try to forget about you, John.”

“No,” John said. “I’m not giving you anything of the sort.”

“Why not?!” Bryan asked, somewhat frenzied. 

“Because it won’t help anything! You’ve been fixated on me for how long now? If I kiss you, it will only make things worse. Not for me, but for you,” John reasoned. He’d kissed many boys in his lifetime, and only one actually meant something. Bryan coming along wouldn’t change any of that. 

“You don’t know that!” Bryan argued. “It might help me to forget you.”

“You shouldn’t even be thinking about me at all. What about the girl you’re—”

“I’ve met her once! Stop talking about her like I actually know her or love her, because I don’t!” 

Ah, so another young man trapped by circumstances it seemed.  
Well, that was just too bad for him--- and for her.

“I’m sorry, Danielson, but the answer is no. If you really must seek out a male lover then do so, but I won’t be him. And I suggest you at least attempt a friendship with the woman who will be your wife… you don’t want to bring shame upon her or yourself,” and as far as John was concerned he was done.

John was bigger than Bryan, and maybe that was why he’d let his guard down.

Because he suddenly found himself being shoved backwards onto one of the desks, hard, and it actually hurt.

“You audacious little bast—“ John started, cheeks blooming as his temper roused. 

When he had John pinned against the desk, he heard him speaking, cursing him, but he cut him off as he pressed his mouth to John’s. 

John was utterly stunned. His body hurt from the force of hitting the desk, and now… now Danielson’s lips were attached to his. Regaining his senses, he pushed at the younger teen, prying him off eventually. “You little fucker,” John cussed, wiping at his mouth. 

“Don’t pretend you didn’t like it,” Danielson said. 

“I don’t have to pretend! You’re beyond help, Danielson.” John had never felt so utterly violated in his life. He then chuckled harshly and said, “If you had come up to me one day before you started practically stalking me, taken me aside and asked me to suck you, honestly, I probably would have.” With that, he pushed past Bryan and began making his way to the door.

“I don’t want just a blowjob from you, John! Christ, aren’t you sick of fooling around with everyone just because Randy does it?” he asked.


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much - Oscar Wilde

“I could really envy you two,” Justin mused after he rinsed his toothbrush off afterwards.

“Why?” Cody asked, not making any flip comments about how everyone would envy them both because they were not only talented and gorgeous but they were together as well.

“Because you can be with each other all the time. You can be together all the time in school and out of it. I don’t get that with Wade, and even when we’re home he has visitors often…”

It was incredibly frustrating for Justin. “Don’t you ever wish he was our age?”

Justin cocked his head contemplatively as he heard Cody’s question, “I do, but then I tell myself off for it. Because if Wade had been my age chances were I would never have met him, or if I did then he would never have been able to take me in. I’m blessed as it is.” 

Cody gave Justin a true, genuine smile at that. Sure, he teased Justin often, but he was thankful to Wade, because without him to take Justin in, no one at the academy would have ever had the chance to meet him. “You’ve got a point,” Cody said. “Plus, if he were our age, he probably wouldn’t have all that prior sexual knowledge and wouldn’t be as good in bed.”

“Cody!” Justin chided. Leave it to Cody to turn a serious moment into… this. 

“Well, am I right?” Cody asked. 

“Are you saying I wasn’t any good?” Ted chimed in from the next sink down. 

“No, and that’s not the point here, Teddy,” Cody replied quickly before turning back to Justin. 

“Yes, ok, you’re probably right,” Justin gave in. Sure, he didn’t have anyone to compare it to, but he knew that Wade was amazing in bed. “But, you know, it kinda would have been nice to learn all that together,” he admitted. “Though I _was_ the first man he had.”

“ _Seriously?_ ” Cody gaped slightly despite himself, “You were the _first_ man he had?” and, considering Justin had never thrown some scorned lover’s fit about Wade being with someone else he could surmise that Justin was the _only_ man Wade had ever been with. Justin arched a brow as he dabbed his cheeks dry from where he had just finished shaving them.

“What’s so shocking about that? Wait… hang on let me rephrase myself—“ he started.

“What’s shocking is that he’s so much older, and apparently _very_ popular.”

Justin’s mouth formed into a pout before he sighed wanly and then smiled, “I know he is.”

Ted looked slightly impressed and awed himself, “Wow…” that was quite admirable in itself.

“Do you know,” Justin chuckled slightly as they all packed up and started out of the bathroom, “Wade shows me all the marriage proposals that he receives, and he has a whole drawer full of proposal gifts to try and sweeten his favour.” Justin laughed at his friends’ shock. 

“You’re joking!” Cody declared, gaping at Justin.

“Am I?” he asked in return. “Like I said, I was his first man. I wasn’t the first person he was ever with. And as he isn’t getting any younger, all the women are dying to be the one to tame the ruggedly handsome bachelor.”

“Little do they know that their rugged bachelor was tamed by a seventeen year old African boy,” Cody teased, muttering into Justin’s ear as they walked back to their room, earning him a light smack on the arm. 

“You know, I saw him once,” Justin recalled as they reached their room. Pulling open the door, he continued, “Having sex with a woman, that is.”

“Did you, really? How old were you?” Ted found himself asking. 

“I did. I think I was thirteen. He had company over, and I thought all the guests had left when I went to his room to go see him. Well, turns out not all the guests had left. But even back then, thinking about it, the sight of his bare arse got me hard.”

“Did he know you saw him?” Ted asked lowly.

“He does now,” Justin said easily as he moved to get something to wear for the day, “I told him about it once… I admit it was when I was in a temper at the time and it came out rather spitefully…” he trailed off sheepishly.

“Surely it made you jealous,” Cody said, as though it was obvious that that should somehow come out in a row. Justin looked pensively, “You know, I don’t think it ever really did.” Seeing their looks of disbelief he elaborated:

“I know Wade has no intention of marrying, and he hasn’t been with another woman since being with me. Now, if there was another man in the equation…”

“You’d kill him?” Cody supplied helpfully as Ted shook his head.

“It’s very possible,” Justin said with a sunny smile, “I am jealous now when it comes to Wade. But then I know it’s not just a childish feeling for me, because he’s confessed to me that he gets jealous before.” And that did thrill him deep down inside.

~~~

To say Windham was startled wasn’t an understatement.

He had never been on the receiving end of such aggressive passion before and he almost didn’t know how to react.

For one heart-wrenching moment Joe thought that Windham wasn’t going to respond to him, but when he did he immediately felt at ease. Sometimes he really did wonder whether Windham had only just accepted his feelings to protect his general sensibilities.

This was really very different from being with a woman, though he’d only done that once. For one thing she had expected he’d do the leading.

A muffled sound emitted from Windham’s mouth as Joe’s tongue was suddenly pressing between his lips and plundering the mouth that was then made available to him, touching and tasting.

Joe had kissed Windham before, but _never_ like this. Never with such raw need and passion. And, god, if Windham returning the kiss wasn’t the best feeling in the world. No girl he had ever kissed had kissed him back like this. 

“Touch me,” Joe muttered during one of their small pauses for air. He could feel his cock stirring just from the kiss alone, and dammit, he wanted Windham’s hand touching him there. He reached up and grabbed one of the hands Windham had resting on his neck and brought it downwards until he was palming Joe’s cock through his trousers. 

Turning his head to break the kiss, Windham looked down to make sure he was seeing what he was feeling. 

“Shit, did I do something wrong? Do you not want to?” Joe asked taking a step back, breaking all physical contact, thinking he’d gone too far in pushing his friend into something he didn’t want. 

But instead, Windham shook his head side to side before grabbing Joe’s wrist and pulling him in close. While Joe was still somewhat stunned, he reversed their positions, this time pushing Joe into the wall while he initiated the kiss and undid Joe’s trousers so he could more easily slip his hand inside. 

Whining low in his throat in pleasure as Windham’s hand met his bare flesh after some fumbling Joe had to lock his stance since his knees went embarrassingly weak for a moment there, hands clutching at the other’s shoulders tightly.

The only comfort that Windham had concerning his technique was that Joe couldn’t like things _too_ much different than he himself did, and so he just tried the things that he had done to himself in the past. Plus, the way Joe was soon shivering and moaning in his arms was very gratifying soothing the hurt ego he had received seeing him with Heath.

Not that he would ever actually admit to anyone that he had felt like that because of something so mundane.

When Windham got something more of a rhythm going Joe’s hips began to thrust into the channel the other’s fist provided for him, panting against Windham’s mouth when the kiss broke so they could breathe.

“Win--- oh, _fuck_ Win—“ Joe whimpered, eyes hooded, cheeks flushed and lips swollen, Windham’s gaze torn between looking at the other’s wanton expression and the actions his hand was currently executing. Joe was so wet, the pre-cum he was exuding making the motions of Windham’s wrist slicker.

“Is… is this good?” Windham asked, though Joe kept panting and groaning and his cock was dripping, so it appeared to be a good thing. 

“Yes!” Joe cried. “Oh, Christ, Win. Just like that.” As Windham stroked his cock, Joe brought his hand up behind his friend’s neck and pulled him in for another kiss. He couldn’t get enough. 

Windham kept his rhythm, somewhat surprised at how… _not_ strange it was. Yeah, Joe’s cock felt different than his own, but it was still a cock. He still knew what to do, since he’d been doing it to himself for years. 

Girls, Joe quickly decided, were nowhere near as good at this as Windham was. None of the girls he’d been with really even _wanted_ to stroke it, much less suck it, but, Christ, Windham knew _exactly_ what to do with it. Maybe there was something to this whole being with another man thing.

Soon, Joe was throbbing and his whole body seemed to be straining towards Windham’s fist, “ _Oh--- oh!_ ” he shuddered powerfully and moaned.

“Win—hand---!” Joe was going to come and if Windham’s hand didn’t move away then chances were he was going to end up coming all over the other’s hand and shirt and that would be hard to explain.

Windham however merely stepped to one side so that Joe was ‘pointed’ ahead of them both. Joe’s hand flexed and eased over Windham’s arm before he was then gasping, “Windham!” and grunting lowly as he came. Hard.

It was definitely the hardest he had come before from a handjob, and his head was spinning. Falling back against the wall Joe locked his stance weakly to keep from sliding to the floor. Windham meanwhile was looking at the impressive distance Joe’s come had managed to clear, “Nice shot, Joe,” his voice belayed his casual words as he’d been affected by Joe’s display.

“Thanks,” Joe replied in a heavy breath. “Christ, Win, that was… That was the best damn handjob I’ve ever gotten.”

“Guess it’s my turn to say thanks,” Windham replied, blushing as he realized he still had Joe’s cock in his hand. His fingers unwrapped and with some uncertainty, he tucked Joe back into his pants. 

Before Windham even saw the arm moving, Joe’s hand was now palming _him_ through his trousers. “Did you want me to return the favour?” he asked. 

“Only if you swear to me that you’ll make me feel as good as I seemingly made you feel,” Windham answered.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out, right?” Joe then asked, already undoing Windham’s trousers. 

“Right.”

The first touch of Joe’s hand was oh so very different but not unusual and Windham sucked in a soft breath of anticipation.

Watching the other’s face closely Joe began to stroke, slowly at first and then a little faster. His thumb curled around the swollen head and he twisted his wrist on every upstroke, personal experience again playing a part.

Even though Windham managed to seem more stoic than Joe had his hands were soon gripping his boyfriend’s hips to keep himself steady as he leant against the wall.

“Joe,” the almost growl that had emitted from Windham’s throat thrilled Joe to his very toes even though he had come not minutes before.

He bit his lips, eyes riveted onto Windham’s face as his cheeks grew flusher and perspiration began to bead on his forehead.

“Joe—”

Joe definitely lived up to his promise. Already Windham could feel that tingling in his lower belly and he swore that they’d only just begun, though Joe had been stroking him for quite a while now. 

“You feel so natural in my hand,” Joe whispered. This was nothing like fumbling around with a girl, nowhere near it. He was fooling around with someone who had all the same parts. 

“Shit, Joe,” Windham muttered. “I’m close,” he said. “So close,” he repeated. 

“That’s it, Win.” Now it was Joe’s turn to step to the side. “See if I make you come as hard as you made _me_ come.”

With a few more strokes, Joe had Windham coming, and it seemed his orgasm was just as intense as his own had been. “Fuck,” Windham breathed out after his orgasm had run its course. 

Joe tucked the other back in when he was sure he was finished and smiled slowly, “Not bad, aye?” Windham chuckled lowly and slowly straightened himself out when he felt less jittery, “Definitely not.”

Glancing at the mess they had made on the floor Joe shrugged, “Ah well, I guess we need to do something about that…” not that anyone would know it was them that had done it.

Windham reached into his pocket and held out a handkerchief to Joe, “Here.”

It was better than nothing and Joe nodded thanks before kneeling down and cleaning up the mess as best as he could do.

It was odd, since Joe had knelt down in front of him hundreds of times before for whatever reason, but this time around when he did Windham’s eyes were immediately drawn to his backside. 

Joe could _feel_ that gaze upon his backside, and his own cheeks were turning red. He wasn’t even bent over for that long before he stood and said, “Good enough,” as he kicked some dirt over the stains. Lord knows they weren’t the first to do such a thing in the shed and they surely wouldn’t be the last. 

As soon as Joe stood, Windham averted his eyes, now trying to look anywhere but at Joe. It just make for a slightly awkward moment. “Yeah,” he agreed as he looked to the roof of the shed. 

“So, um, did you want to practice anymore?” Joe asked. 

“Doesn’t really matter to me,” Windham answered. “If you want to…”

“Don’t care,” Joe muttered. “Would you rather just stare at my arse again?” Joe then quipped, taking Windham completely by surprise.

“You are a cheeky bastard,” Windham shook his head, pausing when a sudden rumble sounded overhead. “Bollocks, a storm, now?” he moved to the door and it took mere seconds for him to blink and then it began to rain. And, just like they had predicted, it had begun to rain _very hard_ indeed. “Oh for fuck’s sake…”

“Looks like we’ll have to make a run for it,” Joe said, though he didn’t sound too enthused. “Well we can’t stay in the closet forever.” They both ignored the irony of the statement Windham gave.

“On the count of three?” Joe then suggested to him.

“I guess so—“ Windham allowed the other to move to the door first.

When Joe counted to three both boys made a quick dash back across the grounds from the sport’s shed to get inside just as the lightening started.

~~~

Hearing the sound behind him of a body hitting the floor, Chris turned, wide eyed, knowing that it had to be Evan. “Shit!” he cried as he rushed to his side. “Evan!” He knelt down beside the fallen form and looked him over. 

A hand went to cradle Evan’s head to at least get it off the wet tiled floor. After a few moments, he pulled his hand away, relieved beyond belief that there was no blood. “Ev, I’m grabbing your towel, ok?” he said as he set Evan’s head back down. He stood up and quickly grabbed Evan’s towel and bathrobe that was hanging by the tub before returning right to Evan’s side. He folded the towel and raised Evan’s head, placing it back down on the soft surface. Evan’s robe he used to cover his lover’s nude form. 

It felt like _hours_ passed by, and Evan hadn’t moved, hadn’t made a sound. Chris checked multiple times to make sure he was still breathing. But then, finally, _finally_ a pained groan sounded from Evan. 

“Shhh,” Chris soothed, patting his head lightly, not wanting to cause him anymore pain by aggravating him. “I’m here, baby, you’ll be ok.”

“Chris?” Evan managed to painfully cracked one eye open a fraction and asked, “What’s wrong?” Chris actually looked as though he might start crying for some reason, and he had obviously been biting his lip in apparent anxiety.

A sense of unease washed over Chris; Evan’s eyes were unfocused and his speech was mildly slurred. He had seen the other in the throes of a concussion before after a particularly violent game of rugby and he had been as panicked internally then as he was now. “You fell out of the bath,” Chris spoke lowly and slowly, “I’m going to help you stand up, Ok? And then I’m going to take you to Madame Guerrero.” This time when Evan groaned again Chris could swear that it was from pain--- his lover wasn’t too fond of the matron.

Not to say that he was especially. She was widowed and old enough to be the mother of most of the boys in the school, and she had an apparent tendency to act flirtatious with any boys that caught her fancy in the infirmary.

“I’m not going. I’ll be fine, just need to lay down for a while,” Evan tried to sound firm but his voice failed him as he grimaced and closed his eyes, the room spinning.

“Oh no you will not,” Chris said. “Evan, this could be serious, you _need_ to go get checked out.”

“I’m fine,” Evan muttered again. 

“You’re _not_ fine! Ev, you’ve got to go see her. I don’t want anything to happen to you,” he said, worry seeping into his voice. 

Evan groaned again. His head _hurt_ , but it wasn’t as though he wanted to admit that to anyone, and he really, _really_ didn’t want to see Madame Guerrero. But he also knew that Chris wouldn’t take no for an answer. 

Knowing that he was taking Evan to see here whether he liked it or not, Chris managed to get Evan’s bathrobe on him, covering him up as best he could. With that done, he began walking them towards the infirmary. 

“This is so degr—degra—embarrassing,” Evan murmured, glad at least that the weekend meant there wasn’t as many people about.

“Better embarrassing than dangerous,” Chris chided.

Pushing open the infirmary door he called, “Madame Guerrero?” she was in school all the time but she might have popped out for some reason.

“Hello?” the squat dark haired woman poked her head around the door of her office and then squealed when she caught sight of Evan leaning limply against Chris. Chris rubbed Evan’s back soothingly out of her line of sight to reassure him.

“Evan fell in the bathroom,” Chris was doing his best to appear the right level of concerned that _friends_ should be as opposed to _lovers_ but it was hard, “And landed on his head hard. I’m afraid he might be concussed.”

“Yes, let’s go have him looked at,” Madame Guerrero said, standing from her desk. She had Chris follow her to one of the beds in the infirmary, which had many more windows so she could look at him more clearly. “You said he fell in the bath?”

“Well, when he was getting out. I had finished mine and was going to the sinks to do my teeth and shave when I heard a loud thud. When I turned around, he was on the floor.”

“You did right in getting him here,” she said as she looked him over. His eyes were glazed, his pupils were dilated and he wasn’t focusing, even still. “I’d say your assessment was correct,” she told Chris. 

“He’s concussed?” he asked and she nodded. 

“He’s lucky you were there. I can’t tell you how many people have slipped on those tiled floors and done the same thing.” She’d been there a long time and really had seen it all. She told him what Evan needed to do to prevent his injury from worsening, then said, “Keep taking care of him.”

“Yes ma’am,” Chris said in all seriousness as he helped Evan off of the bed where he had been placed for the matron to look him over. She handed Chris a little bottle of pills and said, “They should help his headache, but he can _only_ have _one_ every 6 hours.”

It wasn’t especially strong medication but you would have to be a fool to mess around with it. Thanking the matron Chris pocketed the bottle and then helped Evan leave the room.

After getting Evan back to their room Chris laid him down before changing his clothing (much to Evan’s embarrassment but he was feeling too hazy to protest) and then he helped him take the tablet to ease his pain.

“I feel like death warmed up. This is worse than last time.”

And last time he had actually had his head cracked open when the tackle had given him a concussion. The boy had apologised afterwards but Evan had never really gotten over his stint in hospital. Even though he had received the best care money could buy it still hadn’t been a great experience.

“God, Ev, I don’t want to leave you alone but I need to go get Randy,” Chris said. He thought Evan would appreciate having his cousin by his side, and Randy would like to know what was going on. 

“I’ll be fine,” Evan told him, but his voice wavered. He really didn’t want Chris to leave him. 

“Ok, hold on,” Chris muttered. He opened the door to their room and stood leaning against the frame with the door cracked a bit. The first person he saw walking by was a familiar face, so he called out, “Hey could you go get Randy Orton for me?”

“You want me to go get Orton? Why?” Phil asked. He didn’t have any problem with it, he was just curious.

“His cousin Evan’s got a concussion and wants to see him.”

“Sure thing. I’ll be right back, Chris,” Phil told him. They weren’t exactly friends, but they had some classes together so they did know one another. 

~~~

“I don’t do it just because Randy does it,” John answered reflexively, but even he wasn’t sure if that was entirely true. However, it wouldn’t be the way Danielson was thinking it. It was just something they had both done, that they may not have done otherwise if you got him.

“Yes you do,” Bryan said, red-faced and clearly wound up, “You wouldn’t mess around if he didn’t. You’re only doing it to protect yourself.”

“You’re completely out of order,” John snapped.

Wrenching the door open he stormed out of the classroom, ignoring Bryan’s calls for him to go back, and he slammed the door firmly behind him. He was so angry that he couldn’t even see straight for a moment. He wasn’t sure where Randy had gone to and so he figured he’d try the most likely place: his bedroom. Any boys who passed John were startled to see the usually smiling captain in such a bad mood.

John reached Randy’s room in record time and pushed the door open, revealing his lover had been pacing the floor, “I am so pissed off!” John growled.

“What happened?” Randy asked. He didn’t think he had ever seen John so incredibly angry. 

“He told me what happened, how I saved him… then told me he loved me… I told him that I only loved one person, and that person was you, that he needed to get over me because he has a bride waiting for him. Then said that he wanted me to kiss him so that he could try and forget me, and I declined. So you know what that little fucker did?” John asked.

“No?” Randy replied. His lover was only getting _angrier_.

“I wasn’t expecting it, and he pushed me back onto a desk and he kissed me. I’ve probably got black and blues from where my legs hit the desk!” John exclaimed. “I feel disgusting, like I need to go bathe and do my teeth because his lips touched mine.”

Now Randy was pissed off. “He _what_?! I swear to god, the next time I see him—”

“Don’t do anything. Randy, I couldn’t stand to see you expelled because of that utter jackass. He’s not worth getting into trouble over.”

“You seriously _can’t_ expect that I’m not going to do something to him after all of _that_?”

Now Randy looked pissed off and though John could understand it he wasn’t relenting, “Yes. You _are not_ going to put a hand on that boy because _he is not worth it._ ” John scrubbed his hands over his face and then leveled a kick at Randy’s bedpost as it was closest. It hurt his foot a little since his shoe wasn’t that thick but he felt a little better.

John was so lost in his rage that he didn’t notice Randy go still, watching him.

“I mean, the fucking _cheek_ of it--!” John’s eyes widened as he suddenly found himself being pushed onto Randy’s bed, said male hovering over him and kissing him as though he intended to steal the very breath from his lungs… or to remove Bryan’s touch from his lips.

Flailing momentarily only with surprise John then succumbed to the kiss and returned it.

Randy hadn’t missed the way John had winced though when the backs of his thighs had connected with the mattress. Oh, Danielson was _so dead_.

Pulling back from the kiss, body still lying on John’s, Randy asked, “What desk in Cole’s class does Danielson sit?”

“I think he’s over in the far corner away from the door,” John answered. “Why?”

“Because tonight after I’m done with detention, and after we fuck on Cole’s desk, I think you should fuck me on Danielson’s desk,” Randy told him. If he couldn’t beat Danielson to a pulp (yet), then the least he could do is have his lover fuck him on the seat he sits in first class Monday mornings.

“I think I could do that,” John said. “I never thought I’d be more satisfied about fucking you on another student’s desk than on Cole’s.” Randy smirked at that, then lowered his head to meet John’s lips once again.

They kissed for a long time, or so it felt, but neither minded. Many ignored the importance of kissing, but Randy had a reason for that:

_They just weren’t doing it good enough to really feel good. Pathetic amateurs._

“So… you’re gonna fuck me over Cole’s desk, and then not minutes after you want me in your arse over Danielson’s desk… sounds like an excellent evening’s plan to me.” Randy chuckled, “Well, it’ll certainly be an improvement from sitting there watching the idiots who were daft enough to get caught.”

“Oh yes, because _you’re_ such a bad boy—“ it was only after the words had left his mouth that John realised what opening he’d left Randy. And then, sure enough, Randy said, “Oh but John, you should know better than anyone that I am a _very bad boy_.”

“I suppose you’re right,” John agreed, smirking. “Although when it comes to sex, you’re anything _but_ bad.”

“Oh, I know,” Randy said, leaning down for another kiss.

It was while they were kissing that a series of pounding knocks came on the door. “Orton!”

“It’s Phil,” John said, pushing Randy’s shoulders to get him off of him. 

Randy got the door, opening it to a somewhat worried looking Phil. “What’s wrong?”

“Evan’s got a concussion,” he answered. “Jericho saw me in the halls and set me to get you,” he explained, walking alongside Randy as he already began heading down the halls in a near panic to get to his cousin’s room.

~~~

“He _does_ know that he’s got nothing to be jealous of, right? You make goo-goo eyes at him every time he walks into a room. God, you’ve never so much as _looked_ at me, much less anyone else,” Cody said.

“Self centered much?” Ted asked as he began making his bed. 

“Well, he knows that I really don’t have eyes for anyone but him, but he thinks that others might have their eyes on me,” Justin told them. “Still, he also knows that I would _never_ be with anyone but him.”

“Therefore, he’s got nothing to be jealous of,” Cody said once again. 

“Right. But I think it’s sweet of him,” Justin confessed with a light blush. 

“I guess I can see where you’re coming from,” Cody agreed, looking to Ted. God, his Teddy got so jealous… and he loved him for it. 

“It still amazes me just how much that man has done for me,” Justin said, a fond look in his eyes.

“I think we should be allowed to come to your place one time,” Cody decided as he began to make his own bed, as usual behind as Justin and Ted had already done so. The comment had Justin falling still though, surprised in himself.

It had never occurred to him before to have a friend over, believe it or not.

“Cody—“ Ted admonished but Cody merely waved his hand and sent his lover a pointed look, “Come on, Teddy, you know you’ve wanted to see Justin’s home as much as I have.” Ted still clucked at his forwardness.

“I guess one time I could see…” Justin said pensively as he perched on his bed.

That would explain why Wade had gone through a period of believing that Justin had no friends in school. Or not close friends at least.

“Yes!” Cody said jubilantly, “Though not New Year’s or Christmas… maybe before?”

“Cody, will you behave yourself?” Ted asked, though he was smiling slightly, showing that he wasn’t that mad.

“Well, you’ll have to let me ask him if it’s ok that you come over first before you start making dates,” Justin told them. 

“Do you really not think he’d want you to have friends over?” Ted asked. 

“Uh, I don’t really know. I’ve never talked to him about it before,” he said. “I think he’ll be ok with it, though. I’ll bring it up the next time I see him, promise.”

“Good. Because I’ve been wanting to see your house for years. Ever since you told us that you lived with Wade,” Cody said. “I mean, I want the grand tour.”

“Cody, jeez, let him ask Barrett first,” Ted told him. “Then once he asks you can start daydreaming about our Headmaster’s house again.”

“You’re just mad because I don’t daydream about your house anymore,” Cody said lightly and Ted went pink in the cheeks.

“That isn’t the point at all!” he insisted somewhat to the other with a stumble.

“Stop teasing the poor boy, Cody,” Justin said lightly as he deposited himself onto his bed, sighing gently. He really didn’t learn that talking about Wade didn’t help.

Even when they were in the same general building together they always felt so far apart from one another… hence why Justin risked Wade’s wrath sneaking to see him.

Cody reached and pulled Ted to sit with him. He wasn’t trying to rub Justin’s nose in their closeness but talking to Justin made him appreciate their chance together.

“Does he ever have gatherings with the staff, or anything like that?” Cody asked. When Justin nodded, he went on, “Does that mean Win and Joe have been to your place before, then?”

“No. Just their fathers,” Justin answered. 

“What exactly do you _do_ when he has all these gatherings, then?” Cody wondered. 

“Uh, well… sometimes I’ll join them, but it’s usually pretty boring, so I end up in my room a lot reading or something,” he told them. 

“Boring even for you? Now that’s saying something,” Cody teased, and Ted smacked him in the arm lightly. 

“Yeah well…” he trailed off, then said, “God, I want to go see him.”

“Good, then you can ask if we can come over!” Cody said with a grin. 

“You just don’t give in, do you?” Justin said though it was more than obvious he wasn’t actually asking the question since they all knew how Cody could get--- single-minded.

“Let’s go see him now,” Cody prompted.

“It is still early…” Justin thought, “And he likes to take long breakfasts and relax during weekends… he mainly does paperwork.”

“He finds paperwork relaxing?” Ted asked with some curiosity in his voice, head tilting.

“As opposed to the usual dealing with people and doling out canings, yes,” Justin said as he started to the door.

“We should go too,” Cody said immediately, pulling on Ted’s hand.

“I think that _we_ should stay _right here_ ,” Ted returned firmly.

“But Teddy! It was _my_ idea,” was what Justin heard as he made his way out of his room, shutting the door behind him to leave the bickering couple to themselves. He headed downstairs and clearly heard the sounds of rain pounding against the window panes. It was really coming down out there. 

He continued walking along the halls on the familiar path to Wade’s office. “Christ, what happened to you?” he asked when he saw two of his good friends utterly drenched obviously on the way back to their rooms.

“We were out on the field practicing, just tossing the ball back and forth for a while,” Joe began, “then we went to put the ball away when we were done and in that short moment, it started to piss on us.” He didn’t feel it was necessary to say that they were in the shed for a whole lot longer than the few seconds it would take to put the ball away.”

“Well, you guys go dry off. I won’t keep you here any longer,” Justin said, giving them a smile and a quick wave as he continued on down to Wade’s. 

While still in the hall, Windham used his hands to ring out his hair, figuring they were already tracking enough water in the halls, a few more drops wouldn’t matter. “Christ, talk about bad timing,” he muttered. 

“You’re not… you’re not upset about what we did, are you?” Joe asked uncertainly. 

Windham looked to the side at his friend, then raised a brow. “Not at all. I’m just upset we got caught in the first rainfall we’ve had in weeks. I don’t know about you, but as soon as we’re back, I’m getting out of these clothes, putting my pajamas back on and going back to sleep.”

“That sounds like a good idea to me,” Joe agreed, reaching the door to their common room area. They headed to their room and found Heath there polishing his trumpet, his clarinet and flute also out, sitting on his bed. 

“What the hell happened to you two?” he asked, barely looking up from his task. 

“Did you miss the fact that it’s pissing buckets out there?” Joe asked, already beginning to strip off his clothing, which was getting cold and sticking to his body in the most unpleasant of ways.

~~~

As the door all but flew open Chris wheeled around and hissed, “Be quiet would you?” under other circumstances Chris would have been told to go fuck himself but Randy managed to rein himself in.

Instead he merely moved to Evan’s side and knelt down, seeing his peaky and dazed cousin.

“It might look worse,” Chris said, “Because the medicine has made him a little drowsy,” from what Chris had seen though Evan’s headache seemed much better… well, as well as it could be as things stood. Randy brushed a hand over Evan’s forehead.

“What happened?” he asked Chris, voice low and John moved up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

He was clearly concerned and probably angry he hadn’t been alerted immediately.

Running a hand through his hair and not tearing his gaze away from Evan, Chris recounted what had happened in the bathroom and how he’d fallen.

“It’s not like you to be so klutzy like that…” Randy murmured quietly to Evan and his cousin gave a tiny smile in response.

“I don’t need to hear that from you of all people, Randy.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Randy asked, though it was clear that he was playing.

John pretended to huff, “You’re lucky that tryouts aren’t today, Evan.”

“Sorry John,” Evan murmured, but John waved a hand and assured him he was joking.

John backed off a moment to let Randy and his cousin talk, Chris assuring Evan he was still right there before then backing to stand with Phil and John. Phil looked pensive, “That really doesn’t sound like something Evan’d do.”

“I know, I know, he’s usually far more cautious,” Chris said. “And now I feel awful for saying what I did.”

“What do you mean saying what you did?” Randy asked, turning his head from Evan to look over at Chris for a moment, eyes narrowed. 

“It’s so stupid,” Chris muttered. 

“Randy, it’s not his fault,” Evan said, putting his hand on his cousin’s wrist. 

“What the fuck did you do?” Randy asked again. 

“I just think what we were discussing maybe threw him off his game for a bit.” When Randy didn’t stop staring, he finally gave in. “I was just saying to him that… that there’s a part of him that’s a bit more adventurous. Like… having sex with me in the baths,” he confessed after a brief pause. 

“Wait, shit, you two are fucking one another, too?” Phil asked, shaking his head side to side in disbelief. 

“I told you it was just something stupid. I should have dropped the issue, but I kept pushing it… and we both ended up a little angry and… Like I said, my words broke his concentration. If I knew this would happen, shit, I never woulda brought it up,” he said, his eyes sad as he looked to Evan, who still had his hand on Randy’s wrist.

Before Randy could start chewing Chris out about it, Evan pushed on his wrist and tried to sit up somewhat.

Randy braced an arm around Evan’s back to help him and Evan murmured gentle thanks before looking to Chris, “Chris, come here.”

Chris hesitated momentarily until John pushed him.  
Phil exhaled a breath, muttering, “Jesus, does _anyone_ here fuck girls?”

“Nope,” John joked as Chris drew level with Evan, “Just you.”

“Chris—it isn’t your fault,” Evan said, eyes closing momentarily as his head hurt, mewing lightly when Randy lightly probed the back of his head, hissing out a breath when he felt the lump there; no wonder Evan had a headache. He was lucky not to have cracked his head open again like last time.

“It was mine. I was the one who tried to rush because I was afraid that you were mad at me about all that.”

“So it _was_ my fault,” Chris said morosely and Evan shook his head as firmly as he dared, his other hand reaching for Chris’ and curling his fingers through his, “It’s _not_ your fault, and I will not be happy if you keep blaming yourself over it.” Randy snorted lightly and it was apparent that he wasn’t going to be as easily forgiving.

“But it _was_ my fault. I should have just dropped the issue like you wanted me to,” Chris said. 

“And maybe I just got upset because I was thinking about what you said a bit more than I would have liked,” Evan muttered. 

“Well, don’t let anyone talk you into doing something that you feel uncomfortable about doing,” Randy said. “Though I gotta say, it is a bit of a thrill, isn’t it, John?” Randy then asked of his lover.

“Christ, is all you’re going to talk about fucking one another?” Phil asked. 

“You’re clearly missing out on something,” John replied. “And yes, Randy, that it is.”

“You mean you two have…?” Evan asked, though with all the things he’d learned about his cousin in the past few days, he didn’t know why he even sounded surprised. 

“Many times,” Randy answered. 

“Oh, gross, does that mean I’ve bathed in tubs where you two…? Gross,” Evan repeated, scrunching his face up before his head began throbbing once again.

“Stop pulling faces,” Chris chastised gently, “You’ll strain your head.” Evan made a sound of ascent.

Phil was muttering something in the background that sounded like, “I’m never going to take a bath again,” and John snickered.

“You’ll never want to go into Cole’s classroom again—“ Randy started and then amended, “Well, more than usual after tonight then.” Evan turned his head towards his cousin and quirked a brow weakly.

“Why?” Phil asked with what sounded like mild dread beginning in his voice.

“Let’s just say John and I have plans this evening and leave it at that,” he grinned.

“Seriously, how am I friends with such an unscrupulous tart as you?” Phil directed at John, who sputtered lightly in protest and then paused, “Can’t really deny that, can I?”

“Nope, sorry baby,” Randy smirked.

He was pleased that Evan was alright and admittedly the news had distracted him momentarily from planning Danielson’s murder. He’d go back to that later though.

“Oh, hey, what happened with Danielson?” Phil asked. 

“That motherfucker,” Randy growled.

“That bad?” Phil went on. 

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Evan asked. He knew that the prefect had been giving John a hard time, but he didn’t know that things were _that bad_ between them. 

“Do I really have to talk about it?” John asked. 

“Wow, it must have been bad, then,” Phil said. 

“It was. I told him that didn’t love him because I love Randy, and that he needs to focus on the girl he’s going to marry… and then… he kissed me,” John told them. 

“Wait, hold on… _what_?” Evan asked, still completely confused.


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same - Oscar Wilde

Joe didn’t even think twice about stripping naked before pulling some pyjamas back on. They would have to throw on some trousers and a shirt when they wanted to go for lunch and dinner but that didn’t bother them.

“Oh, is it?” Heath said absently, eyes on Joe as the other undressed and dressed.

Windham rolled his eyes and felt no small measure of pride that minutes before Joe had been begging and moaning for him--- and not Heath. It wasn’t a competition where Joe was concerned, no, but between he and Heath? Oh yes, there was definitely a competitive streak going on there.

“Yeah,” the clueless brunette indicated the window, “Look,” it was so strong with the rain the sky was turning as dark as though it was nighttime all over again. Heath whistled lightly, then returning to cleaning his trumpet.

Windham settled on his bed and Joe hesitated momentarily before going to his own bed.

They settled down, taking the time to warm their chilled bodies and thanking that they had gotten out of that downpour before it had reached its build-up; colds were dangerous things after all.

~~~

Reaching the office Justin brought a hand up and knocked. The resignation that filtered through Wade’s voice as he called for him to enter amused Justin because he knew he would react differently once he realised who was there--- and that wasn’t some ego-stroking point. He pushed the door open slowly.

“Hello, _sir_ ,” Justin grinned slightly to himself as he closed the door behind him, finding Wade dressed as usual but minus a waistcoat, jacket and cravat, definitely taking advantage of his casual weekend chances.

“Justin,” Wade smiled and motioned for him to go closer, Justin eagerly doing so. As per their rare overnights together Justin had expected that he wouldn’t see Wade for the rest of the weekend. Embracing his lover for several blissful long moments Justin then found himself being pulled onto Wade’s lap; something he’d done since Justin was small but held more meaning now.

“Is something wrong?” Wade asked as Justin took the chance and nuzzled into him closer, a hand finding Wade’s and twining their fingers, “No, nothing wrong.”

“So, may I ask why you’re here?” It wasn’t often that he got to see Justin this much in a single week, though, so he certainly wasn’t complaining. And, as it was the weekend, he didn’t have to worry about anyone coming in for a meeting and interrupting their moment together. 

“Well,” Justin began, raising his head off Wade’s chest to look him in the eyes, “I got talking to some friends and… um, they were, or I’m wondering if it would be ok, if you’d let them, could they maybe come over?”

“Justin, I do believe that was the most roundabout way you could ask if you could have friends over,” Wade said. “I’d be happy to have some of your friends over. During the holiday?”

Justin nodded. “It’d be ok, then? Thank you!” he exclaimed, kissing Wade square on the lips without hardly even thinking about it. 

“May I ask who it is you’re inviting?” Wade then asked. 

“Oh, my roommates, Ted and Cody,” Justin answered.

“Ah yes, the DiBiase boy and the Runnels boy,” Wade nodded pensively. He knew their fathers quite well, Ted’s being self-made in his money and Cody’s progressing into decent society as merchants. “I’m surprised you haven’t asked to have them over before now,” he pointed out.

Justin fiddled with Wade’s collar slightly as he looked down at Wade’s broad chest, a rueful smile tugging at his lips, “Would you believe me if I told you it had never crossed my mind to ask for such a thing before?”

“When it comes to you that wouldn’t surprise me at all,” Wade said, a hand rubbing Justin’s back, “So what _did_ bring this on suddenly?” Justin then explained Cody’s curiosity about their home.

“Ted is also curious but there’s no Ted without Cody, and they are both my closest friends in their own rights and I—“ Wade placed a finger over his lips.

Chuckling, he nodded, “I get what you’re trying to say.”

Justin pressed a kiss to Wade’s fingertip in acknowledgement.

“So, it is ok then?” Justin asked. 

“Of course. I’d be happy to have your friends over,” Wade answered. 

Justin grinned and this time, he leaned in and kissed Wade properly. “Thank you!” he said once he pulled back. “But… um,” he scratched the back of his head and looked at Wade curiously.

“Yes?”

“What exactly is there for us to do?” Justin asked. He’d been to their houses before, but having never had friends over himself, he wasn’t so sure how to be the entertaining, gracious host. 

“Whatever you’d like,” Wade answered. 

“Well, that’s a whole lot of help,” Justin mumbled. 

“You’re cheeky in a morning you know.”

“I can’t help it,” Justin responded, and then realised Wade was teasing him.

“Justin, really, you can do whatever you like. You can take them out onto the estate grounds for some cricket, or you can always go down into the kitchen as you like to do--- you can show them your room.”

“Cody’ll want to see _your_ room.”

Which Justin supposed was technically _their_ room because when they were home Wade was much more comfortable having Justin in his room. Staff were discrete for a reason, he always said.

“As long as my things aren’t messed with I don’t mind.”

That surprised Justin, but he smiled slightly despite himself.

“You’d actually allow them in your room?” Justin asked, still a bit shocked. 

“Of course. You may as well show them the entire house,” Wade said. “Why leave off my room if they’re so curious?”

“Wade, you’re fantastic,” Justin declared as he leaned in for yet another kiss. “They’ll be so happy to know that you’ve allowed them to come over. I already can imagine Cody stepping into the house and dragging _me_ around from room to room,” he said with a chuckle. 

“At least introduce your friends properly first before you allow them to drag you all around the house?” Wade asked.

“Yeah, I can do that,” Justin replied, this time leaning in for a much slower and deeper kiss. 

Wade was smiling lazily when they parted; Justin’s presence always put him at ease.

Bringing a strong hand up he threaded his fingers lightly through Justin’s hair before cupping his cheek, “You’re so excited.”

For a moment Justin’s eyes darted downwards, mortified –Wade’s kisses always made him tingly and it wouldn’t be the first time he’d grown aroused during longer period of lip action- but then Wade’s low laughter alerted him that he had been talking about the impending visit.

“You’re so mean!” Justin swatted at his guardian with a pout and Wade laughed as he caught Justin’s hands in his own.

“It’s not my fault you have a dirty mind,” he then paused, “Actually, it _is_ rather my fault.” 

“Yes, it really is,” Justin agreed. “You’re such a bad influence.” That, however, was far from the truth. He had seen so many things while living on the streets of the city. Sex, drugs, death… Going in with Wade had truly been a blessing as it removed him from the chaos of the streets. If he hadn’t gone in with Wade, then he knew that one day he’d have ended up living a miserable life filled with sex, drugs and death. 

“Haven’t heard you complaining about that before,” Wade said. 

“Believe me, I’m not complaining. I love you, Wade. Dirty mind and all,” he added with a slight grin. 

“Love you, too,” Wade whispered back. 

“Well, I should probably get going now. I didn’t mean to interrupt your work,” he said, making a move to get off Wade’s lap.

“What, you’re going to go? Just like that?”

“I don’t want to bother you,” Justin told him.

“Justin, I’ve been working all morning. Now you’re here. Do you really think I want to return to my work so soon?” Wade asked.

~~~

John gave an almost piteous mew as Randy growled.

“Right, everyone just listen, alright?”

Taking a breath he explained the whole situation.

Evan was slightly slack-jawed and even Chris looked incredulous, Phil meanwhile was looking at Randy, “I’m surprised you haven’t tried to drown him in the pond or something.”

“Oh, believe me, I was, and _still am_ tempted.”

“Don’t blame you,” Phil said with a firm nod.

If some bloke had forced their attentions upon Beth (or even if a girl had) then he would have some serious problem with it and he didn’t know _what_ he’d do.

“Oh my goodness…” Evan managed when he had recovered a little.

“So… what _are_ you going to do about him?” Chris asked. He knew that if someone did anything like that to Evan, he’d already have dealt with the situation. 

“ _Nothing_ ,” John said once more. “He’s not even worth our time, and he’s certainly not worth getting in trouble over.”

“So, what, you’ll just let it happen again?” Randy asked. Each time John said he couldn’t touch Danielson, he found himself even more pissed off. He wanted to rip the man’s head off. 

“If it happens again… then _I_ will deal with him,” John replied. “Personally, I don’t think he has the balls to try that kind of stunt again.”

Phil whistled lightly and it was apparent to everyone there that Randy was not happy about it. And it was a mark on their relationship that he was actually listening.

As soon as John headed out to use the WC though Phil immediately looked to him, “You’re going to go for him, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” said Randy without hesitation, scowling. “I’m letting this time go only for John because he was so upset, but if he so much as _looks_ as John inappropriately again then I’ll kill him.”

“Don’t blame you,” Chris said, eyes flickering to Evan. He had yet to deal with a rival for him but he didn’t doubt that one day he would encounter one.

“John’s right, though,” Evan chimed in. “If he’s acting like that towards someone like John, who he knows is committed to you, then going after him and getting in trouble for it just isn’t worth it.”

“Ev, I promise you… _this time_ , I’ll leave Danielson alone. _This time_. But he’s dead if it happens again.”

Evan bit his lower lip, because, from the sound of Randy’s voice, it really didn’t sound like he was exaggerating. “Just… don’t do anything overly stupid.”

“We’ll see,” was all Randy said to that. 

“So, boys, what’d I miss?” John asked, returning to the room after a few minutes. 

“Nothing much. Just Evan groaning in pain over here,” Randy answered, to which Evan scowled… which made his head hurt some more. 

“Stop teasing the boy when he can’t fight back, Randy,” John chided lightly, seemingly in a much better humour that he had been when he had exited the room. Randy managed to give a genuine smirk back.

Soon Evan began to get tired, and Chris was aware that he would have to keep him up a little bit longer to be safe.

“We’ll stop by with some lunch for you both when it’s time, Ok?” Randy said, motioning to Chris and drawing the other aside to speak to him quietly.

“You just best keep an eye on him, I mean it.”

“Of course I will,” Chris said, guilt keeping him from making a smart-alec return.

Randy looked suspicious before nodding. Bidding Evan a speedy recovery their visitors soon left, leaving the blonde and the ravenette together alone once more.

~~~

“So, Teddy,” Cody said after he finished complaining that they should have accompanied Justin to Wade’s office.

“Yes, Cody?” he asked. 

“We’ve got the room all to ourselves right now.”

“And?”

Cody’s jaw dropped. “And? That’s all you have to say for yourself? And, Teddy, we have the room all to ourselves.”

“Justin could get back at any time,” Ted told him. “Plus, I’ve got homework I need to finish for tomorrow.”

Cody was actually sputtering by this point. “ _Homework_?! You’d rather spend your time doing _homework_ instead of _me_?”

“I think that you _had enough_ yesterday, thank you very much,” Ted’s cheeks were red even though he wasn’t attempting to be lewd.

“You’ve _got_ to be joking.”

“No,” Ted said lightly, getting up to fetch his bag.

“Theodore!”

Ted stilled and turned to face his lover--- and he had to fight to laugh at the expression on Cody’s face because it was just so odd.

“Yes, Cody?” he managed to ask lightly as Cody’s cheeks sucked in, highlighting his strong cheekbones and pouty lips.

“Put that bag _down_ and get back over here _right now_.” The ravenette’s brow arched, clearly waiting for Ted to do as he was bid. 

“Cody, I _really_ have a lot of work that needs doing,” Ted replied. “I don’t want to put it off—”

Deciding he needed to take matters into his own hands, Cody marched right up to Ted and cut him off mid sentence with a kiss. “Teddy, you have the rest of the afternoon and evening to do homework. We only have the room to ourselves for a short time.”

“But what if Justin comes back?”

Cody kissed him a second time, this time it was just a quick peck, “So what if he does? I think he knows to shut the door and piss off, don’t you? Don’t you want this, Teddy?” Cody asked. 

Ted nodded. But that was the problem. He wanted it, but on the same note, he didn’t because then he wouldn’t want to pull himself away. 

Seeing that Ted was dithering and knowing that he had to act fast Cody took Ted by the shirt collar and pulled.

The motion caught Ted off-guard and he fell into him, Cody falling backwards onto the bed and ending up with the very pleasurable weight of Ted over him. Barely giving the other chance to react to what had happened he pressed their lips together.

Ted resisted momentarily and then gave in.

He really shouldn’t indulge Cody, he knew, because that was why the other got uppity and spoiled on occasion… but Cody made it so hard for you to resist spoiling him. The blonde shifted his weight to his arms a little more.

Cody hummed low in his throat happily, tongue curling around Ted’s as soon as he got the blonde’s mouth to open for him, tasting Ted greedily. 

While his tongue explored Ted’s mouth, his hands began to unbutton Ted’s shirt, making quick work of the buttons, allowing his hands to roam the expanse of Ted’s toned abdomen and chest. 

However, when his hands went to Ted’s pants, the blonde pulled back. “Wait, are we…? I thought we were just gonna…”

“Just gonna what? Kiss? Teddy, I want you _right now_ ,” Cody said. 

“But… aren’t you still…?”

“Are you not able to finish sentences today or something?” Cody asked. “Am I still what?”

Ted’s voice was low when he replied, “Sore from yesterday?” he finished, blushing deeply.

Momentarily Cody looked touched--- he could bet there were some boys who wouldn’t care if he was sore or not and would just push for the situation. He wasn’t going to let Ted’s compassion get in the way though.

“Don’t care,” Cody said simply, “There’s no way it could hurt as much as the first time so it will be fine,” his hands went back to Ted’s pants.

The blonde was chewing on his lip, the plump appendage swelling a little.

Oh Lord, Ted’s _mouth_ would be his downfall one day.

“Come on, Teddy,” Cody cooed pleadingly, lips moving to Ted’s sensitive earlobe, “For me?”

Ted moaned despite himself, Cody using the distraction to get Ted’s pants off completely.

“I knew you wanted me,” Cody said now that Ted’s pants were off. He rubbed his hand over Ted’s rock hard cock, loving the little whimper he let out. “See, you want to be inside me.”

He then nodded. God, he wished he was able to resist Cody more, but it was as though he lost all will power when it came to the other teen. “I do,” he whispered. 

“Good… because I want you inside me,” Cody told him. “I _need_ you inside me,” he amended as his hands began working on his own shirt buttons. 

This time Ted was the one to bring his head down and initiate the kiss between them, his tongue forcing its way into Cody’s mouth, much to the younger teen’s delight. He did enjoy when Ted took control.

~~~

“No,” Justin said embarrassingly, blushing and looking downwards for a few moments; he realised now that seeking Wade out like he had and then apparently intending to bugger off after he’d asked a favour of him seemed very callous indeed. Expression softening Wade settled his hands comfortably on Justin’s thighs, gently kneading them in a way that he knew excited and soothed the other, a fun contrast indeed.

“I’m sorry,” Justin said meekly and Wade shook his head lightly.

“I’m not going to forgive you,” he teased, Justin looking momentarily stricken, “Unless you do something for me.”

“Anything!” the younger man answered, obviously missing that it was a joke.

“Kiss me,” Wade said even as he leant in and used the positioning of his hands to ply Justin forward, the younger man gasping.

The low whimpering mewl of pleasure shot straight through Wade’s veins.

_Lord, how could you have let this one fall?_

Never again though, Wade promised to himself as he greedily, eagerly, plundered the willing mouth of his lover, nothing would ever get to Justin like that in his childhood again. 

Justin pulled back, licking Wade’s lips as he did, before circling his own lips with his tongue. “Do you forgive me now?” he asked. 

“Oh, Angel,” Wade whispered, pressing a kiss to Justin’s cheek. “You know you’re welcome to stay here with me for a while if you’d like,” he then told him.

“I don’t want to keep you from anything important, though,” Justin said. 

“I don’t have anything of importance left to do. Besides, _you’re_ the most important thing in my life. So, would you like to stay for a bit?” Wade asked. 

Justin blushed a bit before asking a question of his own, “Did you mean stay and just… just sit around, or did you mean stay and…?” 

“And?” Wade raised a brow, his expression remaining serious. 

“And _do stuff_ ,” Justin finished, his blush deeper now.

For a moment Wade looked surprised, and then one of those slow, sensual smirks that never failed to make Justin’s stomach tingle appeared.

“Well, I _was_ just intending to have my dear Angel’s company, maybe a kiss or fifty—“ Justin giggled, “—but if you’re feeling something _else_ \--“ he paused.

“Wade, around you I _always_ feel something else,” Justin admitted softly.

Sometimes he was ashamed of his baser urges (not because they were towards Wade, never that) because they seemed to be upon him often with Wade there.

To be fair though sometimes he could end up going for a fortnight without so much as a kiss from his lover because he was busy with his work.

“You drive me crazy, Angel, everything you do—“ Wade stroked his cheek.

Shifting to straddle Wade in his expensive leather chair, Justin kissed his lover again.

Wade gladly kissed him back, but let Justin take control. He moaned as Justin’s tongue roamed his mouth and his hips rocked just slightly to rub against his hardening cock. His hands curled into Justin’s hair and gripped tight. 

Justin’s own hands found their way to Wade’s hair, which was gel free, his natural curls now visible. The way Justin liked it best. “Mmm, I want you, Wade,” he moaned. 

“Do you now, Angel?” he asked, looking into Justin’s eyes. 

He nodded. “I feel like I’m spoiled now, seeing you, being with you three days in a row. But I can’t help myself when I’m around you.”

“I think three days is hardly spoiling yourself,” Wade whispered. _He_ was the spoiled one, he knew that, as he was the one that had this beautiful young man sitting upon his lap. 

Justin’s fingers caressed Wade’s hair as he pressed some kisses to the man’s obviously recently shaven jaw, “You should leave your hair natural more often.” Though Wade looked dapper with his slick locks his natural look was amazing.

“You’re joking, right?” Wade tried to sound amused but as Justin nibbled his Adam’s apple the words came out as something more than a moan, “They wouldn’t stand for it.”

Somehow Justin doubted many of the parents would complain that Wade didn’t look as professional as one would expect a headmaster to look if he didn’t gel his hair up.

“Maybe that could be _my_ next birthday present—“ he mused.

Before Wade could ask what he meant he felt Justin’s mouth attaching to the nub of his collarbone, exposed by his open shirt collar.

Wade’s head lolled back, letting out a small moan as Justin’s mouth worked its magic on his collarbone. He sucked and licked and nipped, drinking in the sounds Wade was making. 

Slowly, Justin began to kiss his way across Wade’s collarbone, making sure that he’d kissed each centimeter of skin before he moved along. He paused when he got to the hollow of Wade’s neck. He took extra time there. 

“Oh, Justin,” Wade said, sucking in a breath, which only accentuated the area Justin was concentrating on even more. 

“Do you like this, Wade?” he asked. 

“I’ll give you three guesses,” he replied, his eyes now falling shut as Justin continued moving along down the length of his collarbone. 

“Can I take your shirt off?” Justin mumbled against Wade’s throat, drinking in the faded scent of the cologne Wade wore, the soap he’d cleaned the other with before and his natural scent.

“If you want to,” Wade said lowly, forcing his eyes open again. He really did enjoy letting Justin aid in undressing and dressing him because it was a great deal of fun for him to see the expressions on his face and in his eyes.

Everything Justin did for Wade he seemed to take great pride and care in, and Wade appreciated every little touch.

Justin traced his fingers down his lover’s torso.

A small sound emitted from Justin’s throat as he greedily latched himself onto one of Wade’s nipples, the man’s hips bucking firmly in response. 

“I hope you—” Wade sucked in a breath as Justin’s tongue now joined his teeth in pleasuring him, “give my lower half the same attention when you get there.”

Justin raised his head, his eyes twinkling with mischief and he gave him a small smile. “That’ll be a while yet, Wade. I hope you don’t mind waiting.”

“Not at all,” he answered just before Justin dropped his head back down and picked up right where he left off. He always loved taking his time in taking care of Justin, and he loved when that same treatment was returned to him. Of course, it drove him wild with want and need, all the slow pleasure, but every second of it felt incredible. 

“Good,” Justin whispered against Wade’s skin. Now that he was there with his lover, he didn’t want to leave him. So he was going to make this last. Even though his own cock was aching and his body wanted to be filled in the way that only Wade could fill him, he was going to take his time. 

Justin shifted further down Wade’s chest once he’d left his nipples hard and tingling, nipping at Wade’s strong stomach. “I still can’t believe you did bare-knuckle fighting in your youth.”

“Hn?” Wade’s fingers curled through Justin’s hair as he opened his eyes again, grinning slightly at his young charge, “Surely my physique proves it, Angel?”

That, yes, but the fact that he had seen commemorative photos of Wade after fights when he was a teen and he had been black and blue, and it was amazing he was still as handsome and well-proportioned as he was. “It does, but I mean… never mind,” Justin shook his head and smiled slightly; he was sure he’d have fallen for Wade regardless of looks.

Once he needed to get lower Wade’s chair was pushed back enough to allow Justin to kneel between his spread legs and tug at the ties to his pants. Without needing to be told Wade lifted his hips up to allow Justin to free him properly for what he needed. “Angel—“ he swallowed thickly in anticipation.

“Yes, Wade?” he asked, eyes flicking up to look at Wade’s before flicking back down to his cock, then back up to Wade’s eyes.

He shook his head side to side; he really had nothing to say, but even if he did, the words would get caught in his throat. It never failed to amaze him just how truly beautiful Justin was. 

Justin reached out with one hand, allowing his index finger to trail up the underside of Wade’s cock. He had promised Wade that he’d pay the same amount of attention to his lower half. So that’s just what he intended to do. So very slowly his finger trailed upwards until it reached the tip. And then it began its journey southward.

Wade was going absolutely crazy. Even the slightest touch from Justin had his body reacting. It was like nothing he’d ever experienced with anyone before. That was how he knew that he and the young African man were made for one another.

~~~

The moans Cody released were what Ted assumed was what his older brother meant when he had called something ‘whorish’, though Ted did not mean it in any derogatory fashion at all.

The noises Cody made, the way he tasted, how needy his body seemed for him… it all conspired to turn the young DiBiase into a muddled combusting puddle of lust.

Soon both boys were completely naked, Cody’s body now atop Ted’s and their mouths still fused. Admittedly a good portion of time to breathe was sacrificed to keep the kisses going.

When Cody pulled back suddenly Ted wondered if he’d done something wrong, chest heaving and Cody’s body essentially straddling his rocking with those motions and that of his own. Holding Ted’s eyes he brought one of his lover’s perfectly large hands up and took three fingers into his mouth.

“Oh, God,” Ted moaned as Cody’s tongue did things to his fingers that he was certain was illegal in his country. He knew Cody’s mouth and tongue felt good on his cock, but _on his fingers_? He had no idea. 

Cody smirked around the fingers in his mouth, and continued his actions, lapping and sucking on them as Ted was practically writhing beneath him. When he was satisfied that they were good and wet, he pulled off the fingers with a pop, then leaned forward over Ted while he brought the hand around to his backside, and there was no question about what he wanted Ted to do. 

But Ted still hesitated. “Cody, are you sure?” he asked, though his fingers were rubbing up and down just slightly around Cody’s hole. 

“Positive,” he answered. “Do it, Teddy, please. Go slow if you need to. But I want you _now_.”

Sucking in a breath and murmuring a quick prayer that he wouldn’t hurt his over, Ted then pressed a finger inside of him. Cody let out a high, breathy moan, his head falling back slightly as his fingers curled into the sheets underneath Ted’s body. Ted felt himself pulse as he saw the expression on Cody’s face, borne from pleasure-pain thanks to their previous love-making of an almost mind-numbing degree.

After that singular finger had been working into him for a while Cody then mewed out a plea-demand that Ted add another finger. Mind blank save for how Cody’s needy body felt over him Ted did as he was bid to.

When Cody tried to get him to skip that third finger though Ted managed to keep presence of mind enough to refuse that; Cody _would_ be hurt that way.

Eventually though the fingers eased from Cody’s body and the ravenette held Ted in place as he started to slide down on him.

Ted’s eyes grew wide, then squeezed shut as he entered Cody’s body. Fuck, it felt _so good_. “You’re still so tight, Cody,” he managed to say. 

“You’re so _big_ ,” Cody said in a breath as he slowly sunk lower. 

“Are… are you ok?” Ted asked. He knew how Cody was, if their current situation was anything to go by, and the last thing he wanted was for him to rush through things and wind up hurting himself. 

“I’m more than ok, Teddy,” Cody assured him. He brought his hands up from the sheets they were gripping to so tightly and ran them down Ted’s chest. “With you? I’m always wonderful.”

“Quit sucking up,” Ted told him. 

Cody gave him a smile, then leaned down and kissed him, moaning as their tongues twined together and Ted’s hips bucked up, probably of their own accord, driving his cock deeper within Cody’s body.

Cody gave a squealing moan of pleasure in surprise at the action, shivering hard and squeezing Ted deep inside of him with his inner-muscles in return.

This had something akin to a low growl sounding from Ted in return.

After a while Cody pulled his mouth back from Ted’s, planting his hands on his lover’s chest as he started to rock his hips up and down. He was still getting used to the motions even though they’d already made love twice.

“Cody—“ Ted gasped slightly, eyes flickering closed for a moment and his head rolling backwards. Cody was transfixed by the exposed hollow of Ted’s throat, skin glittering lightly.

They were both burning with need.

Unable to contain himself Cody leant down and attached his mouth to Ted’s throat as low as he could go, beginning to nibble and suck on the supple flesh to leave his marking behind and ruin the perfect expanse. 

When he leaned back up a bit, he saw the fresh mark upon Ted’s skin… and he wanted to leave another one. So he did. He well and truly belonged to Ted, but dammit, Ted belonged to him, too. “You’re mine,” Cody said. 

“Mmm, yours,” Ted replied. Truth be told, he was Cody’s long ago. Long before they first made love, long before they first kissed, long before Ted even knew he had any kind of attraction to his best friend. But, all these years later, he was still Cody’s. There was no denying that. 

“Tell me that I’m yours,” Cody ordered, words coming out in short panted breaths. 

“You’re mine,” Ted told him. “All mine. No one else can have you,” he said as he gripped at Cody’s hips, his possessive side beginning to show. “No one’s ever gonna have you like this. Just me.”

“That’s right, Teddy, only you,” Cody agreed, breath choking in his throat as Ted’s hips began to drive upwards once again. 

“Always, always me,” Ted breathed, not knowing exactly where the words he next spoke came from but knowing that deep down in his heart of hearts he meant it, “If I find you’ve been with another like this… I’ll kill him, I swear it.”

Even though Cody would _never_ risk Ted getting into such trouble over him the deep possession and pure masculine determination that came through in the words –coupled with Ted thrusting into his willing body so firmly- had Cody giving gasping moans of delight, “Teddy, oh, Teddy~~”

Ted moaned low in his throat as Cody clenched around him, fingers pressing into Cody’s flesh as though hoping that the sensation would somehow keep him grounded even as he felt like he was flying.

“I love you,” Cody forced his head to roll forwards from where it had fallen back, looking down into Ted’s lust and adoration filled eyes.

“I love you too, Cody,” Ted murmured, biting his lip as he drank in the sight of Cody over him.

“Teddy, I’m so close,” Cody moaned. It amazed him how good Ted made him feel. Despite the pain that seemed to accompany each time he entered his body, their lovemaking quickly became pleasurable. And he was certain that the fact that it was _Ted_ inside him only made him feel even more incredible. 

“Me too,” Ted admitted. “Kiss me?” he asked.

As though Cody could turn down an offer like that. He leaned forward once again, eyes closing just before his lips met Ted’s. His body continued to rock, as did Ted’s, a steady, seemingly natural rhythm having formed between them. 

Cody moaned into the kiss, his hands tangling into Ted’s hair. Ted could feel Cody’s cock rubbing against his stomach and he nervously reached one of his hands downwards to take hold of Cody’s cock. That made Cody gasp into the kiss. 

Shivering violently and mewing Cody tried to press himself further into the fist even as he tried to push himself down on Ted’s cock. It was slightly awkward but neither of them cared; messy kisses and caresses were exchanged as they both chased the orgasms that they could feel building deep inside of their stomachs.

“Teddy--- unh, Ted---ahhh!” Cody cried out lightly.

His lover’s orgasm erupted after mere minutes of Ted thrusting into his prostate, his seed splattering across Ted’s stomach, and even his chest and up to his cheek. The sensation of Cody clenching around him and the seed on his skin spurred Ted into his own orgasm.

With a final handful of deep and unsteady thrusts Ted spilled his seed deep inside of Cody in return, hands clutching Cody’s hips tighter as though to keep him in place--- as though Cody would have ever moved away from receiving _that_ part of Ted.

“My god, Teddy,” Cody breathed as he lifted himself up, reaching behind him to pull Ted’s cock out. “That felt amazing.” His fingers felt the cum that began drizzling out of his body, still stunned that he wasn’t dreaming. 

“Glad you thought so,” Ted panted. “You… I can’t get over how tight you are,” he said. He didn’t have anyone else to compare it to, but he honestly didn’t think he’d ever feel so _right_ with anyone else. Though he didn’t really care to find that out.

“And I can’t get over how _big_ you are,” Cody replied. “Teddy?” he then asked softly.

“Hmm?”

“Have you really not ever thought about what it’d be like if we reversed roles?”

“Cody, I told you before, this is all still so new to me. I’ve hardly had time to think about anything. I’m sure… I’m sure I’ll come around to it one day; I do want to experience everything with you, and I swear I’ll let you know when I’m ready, but until then, can we just let it be?”

~~~

“Jesus Christ, this is too much to happen in a day,” Randy said once he and his lover were down the hall a bit. 

“I know. But Evan’s gonna be ok. Chris will look after him,” John assured him.

“Well it’s Chris’ damn fault that this even _happened_!” Randy exclaimed. He knew it wasn’t exactly true, but at the moment, he was simply looking for someone to blame. 

“Randy, come on. Chris loves him! You saw how horrible he looked knowing that this happened,” John said. 

“Well… It shouldn’t have happened at all,” Randy grumbled, now at the door to his room.

“It was an accident, Randy. They happen. I’ve fallen in the bath before, and it’s not exactly the most pleasant experience. Incase you’ve forgotten about that,” John reminded him, though he was sure Randy could never forget that day.

“Of course I haven’t,” Randy grumbled. Why did John think he was so wound up? Not just because it was his cousin.

When John had hit his head it had been awful… Randy shivered at the memory.

Once inside Randy’s room John grabbed his lover’s hand and brought it to the back of his head, Randy flinching reflexively as his fingers touched the slightly bumped area.

It had healed well and though a bout of temporary minor memory-loss had hit John he had recovered well, “Evan’s going to be Ok he’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

“I didn’t mean to push you that hard, you know,” Randy mumbled, fingers stroking his scalp.

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop feeling guilty about it? I was the one who said we’d be fine to do it in the tub that way… I guess we just got a little vigorous.” Luckily Randy had managed to do the fastest clean-up of any incriminating evidence before getting help.

“I guess we did,” Randy said. “And I’m still sorry.”

“Well, stop being sorry about it. And stop blaming Chris for the accident. You know as well as I do that he’s not the one responsible. Because it was an _accident_ ,” John said once more. 

“Ok, ok, yeah, it was an accident. I’m just worried about him, that’s all. He’s the closest family member I have.” Randy had a younger brother and sister, and while he was somewhat close to them, simply because of age and going to school together for their whole lives, he really became close friends with Evan, considering him to be like a second brother to him. 

“I understand that. But Chris cares about him; you can see it in the way he looks at him… or the way he looks when he talks _about_ him. He’d never hurt him intentionally, just like you’d never do to me.”

Randy mumbled unintelligibly and John chuckled.

“You big soft pussycat you,” he cooed and Randy sent him a look of affront momentarily before John’s lips met his and he felt it more worth his energy to participate in that exchange instead.

Just as he was getting into the swing of trying to draw John in closer though the elder boy pushed back from him, wagging a mockingly reproving finger at him, “Steady on Casanova--- if you want to make things worthwhile you’re going to have to save it for after dinner when detention starts.” Randy almost, almost whined; he couldn’t wait for that long, damn it!

However, he reined himself in and even forced John into doing homework to kill some time. The way that John continually insisted on chewing the cap of his pen when he was thinking though caused Randy great distraction.

“Can we go eat now?” John asked around the pen in his mouth that he’d been chewing on as he thought. 

“How close are you to being finished with you assignment?” Randy asked in turn. 

“Few questions left,” he answered, still chewing on the pen. “I can’t think anymore, though. Can’t you hear my stomach?”

“No, I can’t. But I suppose it’s probably best that we go eat something, otherwise you’ll just sit there and chew that damn pen cap all afternoon instead of doing the work that’s right out in front of you.”

“Sounds good,” John said, placing his pen down and standing right up. He was so ready to get away from his homework. “Don’t forget we need to grab something for Evan and Chris, too.”

“I know,” Randy said, finishing a question with a flourish before then following his lover and standing, stretching out.

His spine popped satisfactorily a few times as they made their way to the door.

Stealing a quick kiss before he left the room first John was all but skipping as they made their way to dinner, much to Randy’s amusement.

John was just so easy to please and food gave him great pleasure. Randy knew for a fact he could seduce John with the right food (and drink) as the champagne and chocolate-covered-strawberries last New Year’s had proved.

Not to say that it didn’t work on him too--- there was something about the way John ate sometimes that had Randy hard-pressed to looking away from his lover’s mouth. Before too long they reached the dinner hall.

“Hope there’s a good selection today. I’m starving,” John said as they got into the back of the line.

“You’re always starving,” Randy returned.

“All that homework and thinking I had to do made me extra hungry,” he told him. They took a couple steps up, but the line was a pretty decent size so they had a little while to go before they actually had their trays. 

“So, homework makes you hungry, thinking makes you hungry, class makes you hungry, your practices make you hungry…” He raised his brow and gave John a smirk, his expression alone saying, ‘sex with me makes you hungry.’ “Is there anything that _doesn’t_ make you want to go eat an entire cow?”

“Not that I can think of, no,” John answered, finally getting a tray, ready to load it up with whatever food they had.

It was only as they were sitting down that Randy noticed Danielson had joined the queue across the hall for food.

His hand clenched, bending his fork a little.

“Randal,” John’s tone was warning and Randy blinked a few times before looking at his hand. Muttering a curse he attempted to push the bend back in place, thinking it was a good job no one’d be able to pick him up for the damage.

“I just want to drown him in the soup tureen,” he growled as he stabbed at his own food with a particularly vicious motion.

“Don’t--- at least not until I’ve had seconds,” he indicated the little bowl of hot soup that he was about to start on, his bread roll ripped in half in one hand as he buttered it with the other. Randy looked momentarily hopeful, “Does that mean I _can_ kill him then?” because, you know, he really, really wanted to.

“No,” John said flatly. “That’d be a waste of good soup,” he then added.

“Oh, come on, man. How can you not be absolutely pissed off about it?” Randy asked. He was ready to rip the man’s head off while John seemed so calm about it, at least on the surface. 

“Believe me, I am pissed. But you are not going to potentially get expelled in your final year here because of someone as worthless as him! Do you understand? We’re going to go to Uni together and we’re going to spend the next four years together, with no one else coming in between us,” John said. “I’m not going to let you throw away your future _with me_ because of him!”

Randy sighed. Killing Danielson would have to wait until another day. When it wasn’t so fresh. When he wasn’t expecting it. “Fine,” Randy grumbled. 

“Good. Now I’m getting seconds.”

Randy almost let his head fall onto the table, a low groan leaving him.

How the fuck John managed to eat so much and still find the presence of energy and fitness to play so much sport Randy had no idea. Shaking his head somewhat the Head Boy returned to his own food.

However, he found his attention remaining on his lover. He could see Danielson looking to John from where he sat and though the boy’s expression was essentially unreadable Randy wasn’t fooled. Someone who was desperate enough to try and force their will and attentions on someone despite knowing that they were already attached and not interested was someone who had no morals.

It would just take something little and the kid would snap, Randy could just feel it. He stabbed a chunk of carrot violently, placing it in his mouth.

John better get back to the table pronto.

The line was a lot shorter than when they initially entered the dining hall, so John moved through the line quickly. “I thought you were just getting soup,” Randy said when John sat down with a second tray piled high with food. 

“That’d be a waste of waiting in line!” he exclaimed. “You don’t go back in line _just_ for soup, no matter how good the soup is.”

“I’m amazed you’re still so fit,” Randy told him as he watched John begin to eat. 

“Why?” he asked around the green beans in his mouth. 

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, John, it’s undignified. And disgusting.”

Swallowing, John went on, “It’s not like I just laze around all day. I do sports and… other extracurricular activities. Contrary to popular belief, I really don’t just eat and sleep.”

“I’d get bored of you very easily if you did,” Randy smirked slightly, resting his chin on his hand and looking across to John. The brunette was too focused on eating to realise he was the focus of his attention until he glanced upwards.

“Something wrong?” John asked as he cocked his head and Randy chuckled slightly in response, “No, I was just thinking about something.”

John hated when Randy teased him by drawing their conversations out like this.

“What? Thinking about what?” not murder, he was too calm.

“There’re strawberries on the cakes for dessert,” he indicated the one before him.

“So? What’s the problem with there being--- _oh_ ,” he cut himself off and then quirked a slight smile, cheeks pinkening a little. He recalled their New Year’s easily as well it seemed.

“Well, strawberries are a really good fruit,” John said. 

“Especially when they’re covered in chocolate,” Randy added with a nod. 

“Most especially, yes,” John agreed. “I wish I could feed this to you right now,” he told Randy as he looked down at the cake. 

“I know what you mean. I wish I could kiss you right now,” Randy muttered to him. “Feed you strawberries, then kiss you so I can taste the strawberries on you.”

“I hope you know what we’re doing for New Year’s,” John said.

“Would that be the same thing we did last year?” Randy asked. At John’s nod, he smiled. “I figured as much.”


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance - Oscar Wilde

A few more times Justin teased Wade with his finger, dark eyes focused on the way he pulsed with each touch of the warm digit.

“I don’t think I can wait anymore,” he admitted lowly, leaning in as he secured his hand around Wade’s base and swallowing the other slowly into his mouth, causing Wade to grip the arms of his chair.

Moaning at the first taste of Wade’s pre-cum to his tongue Justin continued to take as much of Wade as he possibly could into his mouth before then pushing back and going down once again. He could hear a creaking noise and forced his eyes upwards, seeing that Wade was clutching the arms of his chair tighter than he had before.

It was so he wouldn’t pull at Justin’s hair, the younger man knew, but he _wanted_ Wade’s hands on him. So, keeping his motions as best he could he reached with one of his own hands and pulled lightly on Wade’s wrist, eyes holding his.

“Justin,” Wade whispered as the young man tugged at his wrist, shaking his head slightly side to side. 

Justin pleaded with him with his eyes. He needed Wade’s hands upon him. He needed to feel Wade’s touch. Really, it didn’t bother him when his hair was messed up, because it was Wade who was doing it. It didn’t bother him when his hair was pulled, causing him the slightest bit of pain, because it was Wade who was doing it. So he tugged a bit more incessantly; he really wanted Wade’s hands on him. 

And Wade gave in. He allowed Justin to move his hand and place it on his head and his fingers instinctively curled into his dark locks. If anything, that encouraged Justin along even more. His head bobbed faster, taking Wade all the way into his throat on each trip down. Then, on one trip down, he held himself there, his nose buried in the curls at the base of Wade’s cock. “Oh _fuck_ ,” Wade moaned. 

When he raised his head back up, he was panting slightly, his saliva leaving a shiny trail behind. “I want to feel you inside me,” Justin then said, his lips quivering with need and anticipation, also covered in his own spit. 

And _Christ_ how could Wade say no to _that?_ Taking a breath to calm himself he nodded his head.

Easing himself off of the floor Justin’s fingers trembled with anticipation as he worked on the fastenings of his pants, toeing off his shoes so that he could get them off, leaving them to fall to a puddle of fabric on the floor. Wade’s eyes were dark as coal as they focused on Justin, making him oh-so-very aware of his aroused and exposed state but then empowering and emboldening him at the same time.

With an ease of action that told of the numerous trysts they had sneaked like this since they had first begun their relationship Justin straddled Wade on the chair, his naked backside pressing against the throbbing, spit-slickened cock standing tall and proud from between Wade’s legs. Wade’s hands moved to Justin’s hips and gripped them firmly, preventing Justin from just pushing down on him without a second thought.

Whining slightly but obediently keeping still as Wade fumbled in his desk drawer, the South African then keened low in his throat as two of Wade’s slick fingers firmly but carefully pressed inside of him, making his back arch.

Wade watched as Justin’s body moved in the most wonderful of ways. His body was so reactive, which was just one of the many attributes that attracted Wade to Justin in the physical sense. He pushed in deeper. 

Justin inhaled sharply as Wade’s fingers worked into his body. They’d been together like this for quite some time and he had yet to tire of the way Wade made him feel. If anything, their times together only got better. He was certain that he’d never get sick of the way Wade made him feel. 

“I’m ready for you, Wade,” Justin whispered, unable to make his voice any louder. 

“Are you sure, Angel?” he asked, twisting his fingers, earning himself a whined moan from his young lover. 

“Please don’t tease me like that,” Justin pleaded. He wanted Wade’s cock inside of him, _needed_ his cock inside him. 

Giving a few more pushes of his fingers for Justin’s benefit (and to tease) Wade then eased his fingers out of Justin and made short work of using some of the substance still on his digits to coat himself in the aiding substance.

When Wade was done Justin took over, holding Wade steady as he started to lower himself onto him. He went slow enough so as not to cause himself an injury but fast enough so that it wasn’t ridiculously drawn-out; he didn’t think he could wait another moment to be connected with Wade again.

A breathless moan left Justin as Wade released a deep growl, both rolling their necks backwards in pleasure.

“I wish you could stay inside of me forever,” Justin whispered as he composed himself.

“Oh Angel, if I could I’d probably get you bored of me because I’d never let go,” Wade grinned crookedly, rocking his hips lightly.

 

Justin shook his head side to side. “I could _never_ get bored of this, bored of you,” he said, returning Wade’s grin. 

“Not even when I’m old and can’t make love to you anymore?” Wade asked, continuing the light rocking of his hips.

Chuckling, Justin replied, “I’ll keep you young. But even then I’ll still want to be with you.”

“You don’t know that,” Wade whispered. Surely, eventually, Justin would want someone younger who could truly fulfill all his needs.

“Yes, I do,” Justin told him, lightly pressing his lips against Wade’s. “I could never leave you; you mean too much to me. I love you.”

“Even if you do get old, and grey,” he kissed Wade again and touched his currently uncoiffed dark hair, “I won’t care, Wade.”

He could see the doubt in the older man’s eyes and knew that their age difference bothered his caretaker sometimes.

“I’ll still know that in here—“ he placed his hand over Wade’s heart, “You’ll still love me.”

Even as he spoke he was rocking his hips lightly and Wade was matching his movements, “Forever,” he promised, “Even when I die.”

Justin definitely didn’t like thinking of that eventuality so he kissed Wade again soundly, reminding him that he was very much alive. 

He was smiling into the kiss, his eyelids closed as he gently rocked himself on Wade’s cock. There was no denying he loved it when things got rough and Wade all but pounded into him, but when they had moments like this together, it was a whole new sort of feeling of gentle, carefree lovemaking. Like they were the only two people in existence. Of course, in their eyes, they were the only two people that mattered at that moment in time. 

“Touch me, Wade,” Justin whispered as he pulled back from the kiss, opening his eyes to meet Wade’s, still smiling. 

Gladly doing as Justin asked, Wade let a hand fall to Justin’s cock, long languid strokes matching the rocking of their hips. “I could make love to you like this for hours,” Wade told him.

“I don’t have anywhere to be,” Justin replied, once again running his hand through Wade’s curls. He would happily stay like this for hours, perfectly contented. 

Moving his other hand so it splayed over Justin’s lower back Wade pressed his face into the crook of Justin’s neck. Butterfly kisses were pressed to the coloured flesh and Justin shivered in pleasure at the light contact. Wade was such a contradiction; a big and powerful man who could possibly break Justin in half but wouldn’t, who treasured him with every kiss and every touch, making him feel cherished but not undermining his male pride.

The sensation of Wade’s hand was making Justin’s abdomen quiver and twitch in pleasure, his fingers gently tugging Wade’s curls.

Pulling back from Justin’s neck before he could give into the urge to mark his lover in a very public and essentially unacceptable manner--- that had nothing to do with the fact they were both men.

“Wade—“ Justin used his leverage in Wade’s hair to pull his caretaker in close and kiss him slowly and passionately once more, rocking on and off of Wade and in and out of his hand. 

“I want to stay like this forever,” Justin whispered against Wade’s lips before going back to kiss him again. 

Justin’s words always did unspeakable things to Wade. There was something about his tone, the innocence that his voice held despite the things they were doing, and the trace of his South African accent that remained despite his being in England for so long now, that all conspired against his body. 

Wade turned his head, breaking the kiss so he could reply with a whispered, “Oh, Angel.” 

Chuckling, Justin then added, “My legs will probably be cramped from staying like this for so long. But you feel so amazing, Wade, like always; it’s worth it.”

Honestly, Wade hadn’t even thought about the position Justin was in, how his legs could get cramped up as he rocked so easily on his cock. “We can go to my bed if—”

Justin smiled and shook his head. “No, right here’s fine,” he said before leaning in for another kiss… god, he loved kissing Wade. 

Although Wade returned the kiss he couldn’t help but be concerned about the possibility of Justin hurting from their position.

Shifting both of his hands to Justin’s backside and holding him firmly he then shifted and with a quick motion had them upright. Justin yipped softly, legs dangling since they were suddenly left in the air with the removal of the seat. Wade didn’t hang around though, merely placed himself across his desk instead.

This meant that Justin was once again on top of him but he had more room for his legs.

“Show off,” Justin chuckled slightly when he had managed to calm down and get over his shock at the sudden movement, beginning to start rocking his hips again.

Wade grinned lazily, fingers caressing and essentially massaging Justin’s thighs, “I’ve learned not to completely take your words at face value when it comes to things like this.”

Justin flushed sheepishly; he’d forgotten about that particular episode where he’d all but put his back out to remain in a certain position with Wade. 

“Well, to be fair… I don’t usually think about much else when you’re inside me like this,” Justin said with a smile, continuing to rock his hips. It felt absolutely incredible, having Wade inside him, filling him up so full, while they moved so slowly, gently together. 

Wade returned the smile, his hand now wrapping behind Justin’s neck, fingers stroking lightly through the hair there. He was amazed that they’d managed to keep up such a languid pace, normally one or the other… or both… began thrusting harder, faster, increasing the pace as they neared their completion, wanting to feel that utter bliss of orgasm. 

But now they weren’t even fighting urges to go faster. The past two days they had their frenzied fucks; now was simply a time for them to be together in the most intimate of ways and making the absolute most out of it. 

Justin’s head was urged down gently until their lips were meeting again in a deep, but lazy kiss. There was no battle for dominance between them, just a simple easy about it, as though they had no other care in the world. “I don’t think you’ve ever been inside me for so long at one time,” Justin whispered as he pulled back, though their noses still touched.

“Doesn’t make my stamina sound too good does it?” Wade joked lightly and Justin giggled, shaking his head, “You know I didn’t mean that.” He had no complaints whatsoever about Wade’s stamina when it came to their physical couplings, or indeed anything else.

After a while Wade suddenly angled his hips and Justin shuddered and gasped, arching his back out somewhat as he felt Wade suddenly snugly settled against his prostate and sending little prickles of electricity dancing up his spine. The tightening of Justin’s muscles around him had Wade groaning quietly too, hand squeezing Justin’s thigh momentarily.

“W-Wade—“ the tremulously aroused gasp that Justin gave fuelled Wade’s ego; his reservations about their ages might get to him, but at times like this he couldn’t deny any time Justin had told him he was the only one he wanted.

“I know, Angel,” he murmured, “Trust me, I know,” he began to rock his own hips back, not particularly quickly or hard, but enough for the both of them to feel it after their lazy rocking. Oh, if someone were to walk in on them now they’d get a sight indeed; a half-naked student and a partially undressed headmaster loving one another so intimately and tenderly.

Wade returned his hand to Justin’s cock, stroking it lightly, keeping in time with their bodies’ movements. “Oh, Wade,” Justin cried. He fought to keep his eyes open, but he was fighting a losing battle. With every brush of Wade’s cock against his prostate, he got closer and closer to coming. 

The Headmaster was nearing his own orgasm, as well. Justin’s muscles were so tight around him, squeezing each time he hit that gland within his body. “Angel,” he whispered, bottom lip quivering, simply no longer able to hold back. His body arched up as he came, eyes now squeezed shut as he cried out. 

Wade’s seed filling him, the twitching of the cock inside him, all conspired together to now send Justin over the edge. His muscles convulsed as he came, his own seed coating Wade’s chest, even his chin. “Oh my god,” Justin said in an exhaled breath as he began calming down. 

“Are you ok?” Wade asked, raising himself up onto his elbows. 

“I think you know damn well that I’m plenty ok,” Justin told him with a smile as he reached up and wiped his cum off Wade’s chin. “But can the same be said for you? Did I wear you out?”

“Of course,” Wade said easily, “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Besides, I know I can recover quickly enough,” he smiled slightly and caught Justin’s hand, licking the cum away that the other had just wiped from his chin. Justin’s lashes fluttered slightly and he nibbled his lip, fighting a smile.

“I’ve told you before that you really don’t need to do that,” Justin mused lightly as he recovered from his momentary embarrassment. “I know I don’t _need_ to do it, but I _want_ to do it,” he pointed out to the other, licking Justin’s fingers again and making his sensitive cock tingle somewhat in response.

It was much too soon for even him to recover so soon after their last bout, teenage stamina or not. Leaning down Justin kissed Wade lightly, uncaring that he could taste himself on the other’s lips. He then gently began to ease himself off of the other so that he was perched on the desk.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Wade—“ he realised then that Wade’s seed would be leaking out of him as it always did when the other filled him so full, and that in turn would be making a mess of Wade’s polished desk.

“Don’t be,” Wade grinned, “I rather like seeing you all messed up.”

“But I’m making a mess of your _desk_!” Justin said hurriedly, making to move. 

“Don’t worry about it. Just like clothing, desks can be cleaned… and I do believe I’ve had worse things on my desk… like say, that ink you knocked over,” Wade teased. 

“I said I was sorry for that!” Justin said, eyes growing wide. 

“Justin, it’s fine,” he assured him with a little half smile. “I’ve knocked over the same bottle before. Believe me, it’s fine.”

“I should probably get my clothes back on properly, though,” Justin said with a little puff of laughter. 

“You don’t have to. In fact, we can take them _off_ properly and go into my bedroom,” Wade suggested. 

And at Wade’s suggestion, Justin’s stomach grumbled. He grinned sheepishly and said, “I guess I’m a bit hungry.”

~~~

“Sure…” Cody _really_ didn’t want to start another fight between them but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t keep thinking about it and mentioning it now and again. He just… didn’t know how comfortable he was always being the bottom.

It wasn’t entirely anything to do with his masculine pride per se but it was definitely something he couldn’t ignore. He wanted to try being on top _at least_ once. Stretching out slowly he felt slightly comforted when Ted’s arms wrapped around his waist.

The blonde pressed a kiss to the younger man’s shoulder, a silent plea that he’d not be mad.

And he wasn’t… entirely.

“I think you’ve worn me out before the day’s even really begun…” Ted mused.

“Feels so good though doesn’t it?” Cody returned, eyes closing momentarily and just reveling in the aftermath of his climax. Little did he know that Ted’s hand that was lightly flexing on his side was debating going to touch Cody’s entrance and feel his seed there like before.

“Yeah,” Ted answered. It was a good kind of worn out, as he still had this lingering feeling of bliss from his orgasm. He tapped his fingers against his own thigh, then finally gave in. He touched Cody’s entrance. 

“Teddy!” Cody exclaimed. He had _not_ been expecting Ted to touch him there. Not that it was a bad feeling. Far from it. 

“Sorry,” he said, making to pull his hand away. 

“No, don’t,” Cody said quickly, grabbing his wrist. “You can keep touching. It’s nice. Please keep going?”

“Are you sure?” Ted asked. He didn’t know if the touching was weird, or something.

“Ted, you just had your cock up my arse, I hardly think I mind your finger being there now,” Cody told him.

“Cody,” Ted scolded lightly but without heat, fingers gently tracing the stretched entrance. “You’re so open…” he whispered, completely awed by the revelation. Sure, he had seen it before but he hadn’t _touched_.

“Have you seen the size of you? And, wow, when you get going, the force—“ Cody shivered at the remembrance and Ted’s touches.

“Flattering me to get me in your bed again?” he joked.

“Is it working?” Cody sent Ted a lazy smile and then mewed gently as Ted’s index finger pushed into him a little.

Realising that that had been a little rude Ted murmured, “I’m sorry, Cody, I just…” he trailed off somewhat and sighed.

“I just can’t get over the fact that that is _my… seed_ inside of you,” he whispered. 

“Believe me, Teddy, I’m stunned by the same thing,” Cody said to him. “And… you don’t have to stop,” he added when he felt Ted’s hand pulling back. 

“But… it’s not… uncomfortable?” he asked, gingerly moving his hand back to where it was. 

“Not at all. Feels nice,” he said with a little smile. “Real nice, actually. It doesn’t hurt since I’m already, you know… stretched.”

Ted blushed at that. He had made love to Cody. Three times. He was still sure that he was dreaming about it; there was no way it really, truly happened. But as he fingered Cody’s hole again, he knew that it wasn’t a dream. 

He wasn’t lying _it did_ feel rather nice. His body was still so sensitive that his skin tingled whenever Ted’s finger brushed against it even a little bit.

Closing his eyes Cody was surprised himself _lulled_ by the touch, or was that the sex exertion? Either way he was quite hazy.

“You going to sleep your Sunday away?” Ted teased, but was in no hurry to move himself.

“Maybe,” Cody responded lightly, “Do you care?” the blonde shook his head somewhat, tracing his finger lightly around Cody’s entrance, “No, not really--- but I do think that we should be getting something to eat at _some_ point.”

Once he was reminded that they’ve yet to eat, Cody found himself suddenly very hungry. “I suppose we should get cleaned up, then,” he said.

“I suppose so,” Ted agreed. “Lucky Justin didn’t come back,” Ted muttered as he rolled out of bed to go retrieve his clothes and put them back on. 

“He’s probably enjoying himself as much as we did,” Cody said with a smirk as he, too, began getting dressed.

“Do you think so?” Ted asked, buckling up his pants.

“What? Do you really think he went all the way down to Wade’s office just to ask him a question? I mean, I’m sure he’s asked, but don’t you think it’d be a waste of a trip if he didn’t at least get a little action out of it? It’s what I’d do if _I_ were sleeping with Wade,” Cody reasoned. 

“Now there’s a mental image I could have done without,” Ted mumbled slightly as he did his best to adjust his clothes. He’d need a bath later on.

“What?” Cody asked, turning to look at Ted since he’d been focused on putting his shoes on--- and sitting already had the familiar ache starting. _Bliss._

“You and the Headmaster,” the blonde flushed even as he said it, grabbing his waistcoat back and placing it on too.

Cody tried not to giggle at Ted’s display of jealousy.

“I’ll bet you’re as handsome when we get to that age,” he assured as he made quick work of his hair and then moved to their bedroom door, waiting for Ted. For a moment he seemed immobile and then was quick to follow him, querying, “You think that he’s _handsome_?” as they closed the door.

“Well… yeah,” Cody answered with a shrug. “You don’t?” he asked in return.

“He’s the Headmaster, though. How can you even think about him as handsome?” Ted then asked.

“Because he is! Who cares if he’s the Headmaster? He’s still fairly young; it’s not as though he’s ancient. He’s got a… a look to him,” Cody said. 

“A look?” Ted could hardly even believe that they were actually having this conversation in the first place.

“Yes. A look. And, honestly, have you _seen_ Justin? He could have anyone he wanted, but he chose Wade. Do you really think that Justin would be with him if he didn’t find Wade attractive?” Cody questioned his lover. 

“Wade was the one that took him in, though. You heard him say that he probably would have…” Ted flushed slightly as he thought of Justin saying that he would have offered his body to Wade in thanks. 

“I think he’d be forever grateful to Wade if he weighed four hundred pounds, was ugly as sin and had taken him in. But he’s not. Wade’s terribly fit and he’s got a rugged handsomeness about him, so why wouldn’t Justin offer himself over to him in such a fashion?” Cody reasoned out. 

Ted had a sudden disquieting thought that he knew he probably _shouldn’t_ ask but couldn’t bring himself _not to_ despite the possible consequences.

“If our Headmaster had ever asked you to his bed would you have gone to him?”

Cody, the ever-poised and well-postured Cody, actually tripped over his own feet at Ted’s mumbled question.

He gaped somewhat at Ted, wondering if he had possibly misunderstood something; was Ted suggesting he’d cheat on him?

“I mean,” Ted looked down at the floor and cursed his mouth for not following the sensible direction of his brain to keep quiet, “If there was no Justin, or, say that there was nothing at all _between_ the headmaster and Justin?”

Initially Cody’s reaction was to start chewing Ted’s ear off with demands as to just what the _hell_ the other was on about when it clicked: Ted was potentially jealous that Cody might gain an affection for an older man over him.

Now, Cody never claimed to be super intelligent but he _knew_ Ted, and he could get what the other got like when he let his mind and insecurities (of which there were many for such a loving, intelligent, handsome athlete) run away with him. “Teddy, Wade is very handsome but he’s not a patch on you.” 

“What about before, though?” Ted asked. 

Cody raised a brow, confused as to what Ted was talking about. “What do you mean before? Before what?”

“Before _us_ ,” Ted replied. “You’ve been with other guys before… so, would you have been with the Headmaster before there was ever an ‘us’?” Ted asked again. 

Shrugging, Cody thought for a moment. “You know that I never would have slept with him, right?”

Ted blinked at that answer. “But… you’re saying that you would possibly do _other_ things with him?”

“I don’t know. It’s all hypothetical. Imagining that there was nothing between him and Justin, or that Justin didn’t even exist… it’s almost impossible! But, yes, ok, it’s possible that I might have… I don’t know. It’s never going to happen, though. I think he’s only got eyes for Justin, and before that, he only had eyes for women. So quit thinking about it,” Cody said. 

“Is there anyone else you would ever sleep with, though?” Ted asked. It still made him somewhat uncomfortable thinking that there had been people before him, not that Cody had slept with, but he still had so much more experience… what if he alone didn’t satisfy him?”

Cody flushed, thinking that he would consider sleeping with John Cena or Randy Orton should they ever approach him… but he didn’t know how to tell that to Ted without upsetting him.

“Is there?” Ted asked again as Cody remained quiet.

“Not in any sense that I’d’ve actually pursued it,” Cody said weakly and Ted twitched a little, reminding himself to keep calm.

He _had_ been the one to ask Cody after all, and as the other had said this was all completely hypothetical. He _knew_ that Cody would never cheat on him.

“Who?” he asked, despite all of his instincts telling him to stop asking before he found out something he really didn’t want to.

“I’m hungry, come on Teddy!” Cody said with injected brightness in his voice as he strode on ahead of Ted.

Well, as much as he could stride considering that his backside was throbbing lightly with each movement that he gave. Not that he was regretting the events resulting in that consequence, but still. Ted noticed his awkward walking and felt a small thrill of pure masculine pride; surely no one else could make Cody feel like he made the other feel when they were together.

But, he wasn’t letting this go. Now he knew that there potentially was someone and he wanted to know who it was. Nothing like knowing your competition, as his father always said, particularly to explain to his sons why he was having someone over to dinner whom he couldn’t stand.

Hardening his resolve to get Cody to fess up to him later he lengthened his stride to catch up with his lover; something he managed without much difficultly thanks to Cody’s incapacity.

“You want to tell me,” Ted went on, now slowing down in order to keep pace with Cody.

“No, I don’t have anything _to_ tell you,” Cody replied, but he couldn’t get away from Ted. He was already going top speed and his backside was in a constant state of ache. 

“Yes, you do,” Ted prodded. 

“You wouldn’t want to hear it! If I tell you yes, yes there are other people that I’d sleep with, you’d get mad at me again. Then, when I tell you no, you don’t believe me!” Cody exclaimed. 

“Well, that’s because I know you well enough to know that you’re not telling me the truth. You’re dying to tell me who it is! Look, I won’t care, just as long as you don’t actually do it,” Ted assured him. 

“Teddy… this is just a really bad idea. I don’t want you looking at them any—”

Ted’s eyes widened and he drew in a breath. “ _Them_? There’s _more than one_?” he asked, astounded. 

Well, shit, now he’d gone and done it. Sighing, Cody brought his hands to his face and then looked to Ted. “If I tell you, you swear to me that you won’t get pissed off? You have to swear to it before I tell you _anything_.”

Ted’s lips pursed together in that way that Cody knew so well as his consideration face.

“Alright,” the blonde finally managed, eying his lover, “I won’t get pissed off at you _if_ you tell me who _they_ are.” Ok, maybe he could have sounded less bitter but never mind.

Cody winced and sighed before taking a breath and steeling himself for the reaction.

And there _would_ be a reaction.

Looking around Cody spotted an empty classroom, grabbing Ted’s hand and startling him since they were in a rather public hallway before he realised that Cody was attempting to lead him, following the younger teen confusedly.

Closing the door after them both Cody leant on it, then he swallowed and licked his lips before blurting out in one breath, “I would consider sleeping with Randy Orton or John Cena.”

For a moment it seemed as though Ted didn’t realise what had been said to him, but then his face seemed to lose all expression whatsoever. It was surprising to hear it, and yet the same time it wasn’t because of _who_ they were.

“Teddy?” Cody prompted meekly when his boyfriend made no move or sound for several long moments, not even blinking.

“So… Cena and Orton?” Ted asked, shaking his head side to side. They were the two most well known figures within the entire student body. And they were easily the two most attractive. They also had a reputation for sleeping around with anyone they deemed fit. 

Cody would certainly fit the bill. 

That thought worried Ted to no end. The fact that Cody would consider sleeping with either (both… at once?) of them. How could he compare to what they had to offer? They were two grades ahead of them, they both held positions high up in the ranks and they had a lot of experience that Ted simply didn’t. 

“I’m not saying that I will!” Cody exclaimed. “You said you wouldn’t get mad. I knew telling you would be a bad idea,” he added, sighing. 

“I…” Ted paused for a while again, standing there in silence while Cody stood before him. “How can I ever compete with them?” he asked in a whisper.

“Ted! I would _never_ ask you to try and compete with them. I love you more than I’ve loved anything else in the world. They’re just… they’re attractive and I’d sleep with them. But I’m not _going_ to sleep with them! Fuck, this isn’t coming out right,” he muttered. This really was a bad idea.

“I’m going to dinner,” Cody murmured after a few moments, hair messy from where his fingers had been grabbing at it in agitation, his face still rather ashen from his reaction to Ted’s earlier words. He didn’t know how much more he could say to convince the other boy.

When Ted was convinced of something he was so stubborn that he could make Cody and his mood-swings seem like they had barely lasted for any time.

“Cody, wait,” Ted shook himself.

The blonde moved forward and caught Cody’s hand, stilling him. He wasn’t going to say he was sorry, because he didn’t feel like he had anything to apologise for and Cody _owed_ him the explanation of who held his fancy, as his lover he had the _right_ to know… he couldn’t even explain his emotions to himself right then.

Turning slightly, Cody’s lip quivered and Ted realised with mild horror that the other was teary-eyed, “Why don’t you trust me?” Cody whispered.

“I do trust you!” Ted protested, it was… it was just everyone else he didn’t trust when it came to Cody. It was no small measure to say that even though he might not display the emotion often he was very selfish indeed when it came to Cody, and the idea of trying to get Orton or Cena to back off from him if they took a fancy...

Well, it shook him.

“Quite frankly, this doesn’t feel like _trust_ to me,” Cody said.

“Dammit, Cody, I don’t want to lose you to one of them!” Ted exclaimed.

Cody’s watery eyes turned up to look into Ted’s, a look of complete shock in them. “Lose me to one of them? Teddy, are you serious? First off, I love you. Let’s just get that straight. I. Love. You. And those two? Are fucking each other. I’d venture to say that they’re also in love with one another.”

“Well, if you’re so in love with me, and they’re so in love with each other, why would you sleep with them? And… and why do they sleep around like they do?” Ted asked, completely confused. 

“For the thrill of it? They’re with each other, but they trust one another enough to know that they’ll always go back to one another, no matter _who_ they may mess around with,” Cody tried to explain. 

“That doesn’t even make any sense!”

~~~

“Did your parents even mention the champagne bottle?”

“No,” Randy chuckled slightly, “I think they’d forgotten how many they’d bought.”

Last year they had filched one from the selection on the table, stashing it in Randy’s room to have with their dessert and watch the fireworks.

The champagne wasn’t their favourite tipple, it was just commemorative.

“Are they doing fireworks again this year?” John asked as he placed his fork into the strawberry and ate it, though wishing he could have fed it to Randy instead.

“Most probably,” Randy nodded, beginning in on his own cake. It would be a shame to waste the dinner ladies’ efforts after all.

“Oh, good. That’s the best part of the celebration, the fireworks,” John said, shoveling more food into his mouth. 

“The best part?” Randy asked. 

John nodded. “That and the food. Your cooks make the best food.”

“That’s the only reason you come over? For the fireworks and the food?” Randy raised a brow at his lover. 

John nodded some more. “Yup. Food and fireworks. Though I guess the company’s really not that bad,” he told Randy with a sly grin. 

“Not that bad, huh?”

“Nope. Not that bad at all.”

Chuckling slightly at John’s cheek Randy finished the last piece of his cake and then set his fork down neatly, wiping his mouth on a napkin.

“Are your parents going to be attending the party?” he added as an afterthought and John nodded, “They wouldn’t miss it.”

Their parents were close after all.

“Just think,” Randy smirked, “If you were a girl they probably would have secured you for my bride years ago.”

John arched a brow, “And if _you’d_ been a girl?”

“Then they’d have picked you for _my_ husband.”

“So basically you’re saying I’d be _yours_ either way?” John mused.

“Of course,” Randy answered. “It wouldn’t be at all the same though, had one of us been a girl, you know.”

“No, that’s for certain. For one thing, one of us would be going to the girls’ school and we’d never be able to be alone together,” John said.

“Our parents would never let us stay in one another’s rooms during holiday parties or things like that,” Randy added. 

“We’d probably still be virgins waiting for one another like Phil and Beth because we couldn’t get time alone together and we wouldn’t want to risk getting into any trouble,” John went on. 

“Then say we did get married, we’d be expected to start having children right away and we couldn’t even _enjoy_ the sex we were having,” Randy mused. “I certainly think that I prefer things the way they are.”

“I think that I agree with you.”

“I’d make a stunning girl though,” Randy smirked as they finally left the dining-hall together, John going to walk Randy across to detention.

John snorted and grinned back as Randy pretended to look affronted at the noise, “Sure you would, Randy.”

He probably would though. John couldn’t imagine a gender or a lifetime where Randy wouldn’t have been gorgeous inside and out.

John sat inside of the classroom with Randy since the students had fifteen minutes between dinner ending and the detention, so the Head Boy had to be there early to make sure they were on time with their arriving.

When the last boy arrived John pushed himself off of the desk he had been perched on and slipped Randy a wink before giving him a completely friendly nudge against the shoulder.

“I’ll be seeing you in an hour.”

Randy sat in the detention room, glaring at the wayward students, making sure they behaved. He wasn’t afraid to take their names down to pass along to the Headmaster for a good caning if they misbehaved. 

While Randy took care of detention, John headed over to Chris and Evan’s room to bring them some food and kill some time. John knocked and Chris opened the door for him with a small smile. “Thanks. I’m fucking starving,” he said. 

“How’s Evan?” John asked as he stepped inside. 

Chris took the plate of food and they both walked over to the bed. “He’s doing fine. I still feel awful, though.”

“Don’t,” Evan said. “It was a stupid mistake, but like you said, I’m doing fine. And I’m hungry,” he then added once he saw the food in Chris’ hands. “Hey, where’s Randy?” he asked, finally noticing that John had come in by himself. 

“His lordship is overseeing the detentions this evening,” John joked grandly and Evan chuckled and shook his head wanly, “Let’s hope he doesn’t frighten any first years into disgracing himself again… that poor boy.”

Randy had frightened one boy so badly with the prospect of a caning that he had wet himself. Of course those who had been there knew, but Randy put the fear of God in them about gossiping and sent the boy to change before returning.

Even he didn’t mock people about such incidents.

“Feeling lonely already?” Chris grinned slightly as he handed Evan some of the food and sat with his own plate.

“I am rather,” John’s dimples then appeared in a playful grin, “Hey Ev, mind if I get back in there with you?” Chris choked on a bit of his bun and Evan reached to smack his back before chiding lightly, “John don’t tease him like that.”

“Terribly sorry, Chris,” John said, though he still had that mischievous glint in his eye. “I’ll be seeing Randy soon enough, though,” he added with a smirk. 

“What exactly are you two planning, anyway?” Chris asked, having recovered from his little coughing fit. 

“Nothing,” John answered. 

“Now a blind man could see that that was a flat out lie,” Evan chimed in.

“Could he? Well… really, it’s nothing that anyone needs to be concerned about,” John told them. 

“You wouldn’t have a look on your face like that one if it was nothing,” Chris said. John just shrugged and continued to smirk. 

“John,” Evan eventually said, “You obviously want to tell us what it is so come on, out with it!” the other was all but bouncing in his temporary seat with excitement.

“I would tell you but I don’t know if I could trust you not to intervene,” he said honestly, “It’s a little… _risky_.”  
Evan’s eyes widened in alarm.

“It’s not dangerous,” John replied immediately as he spotted his expression.

Well… it _was_ dangerous really but the only potential hazard to their health would be a caning if Cole caught them.

With the other couple looking at them expectantly John couldn’t help but blurt out what they were intending to do--- and the reactions were _so_ worth it.

“You are _not_!” Evan exclaimed. 

“It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for years,” John told them. “Fuck in a classroom, that is… but the fact that it can be on Cole’s _and_ on Danielson’s desks? Well, that just makes it even sweeter.”

“You’ll get into so much trouble if you’re caught!” Evan said, now worried about his cousin’s well being. 

“We’ll be fine,” John assured him, though, well, one could never be overly sure of what would happen. 

“Good for you two,” Chris chimed in. “It’s pretty gutsy what you’ve got planned… Brilliant idea, though… fucking on Cole’s desk like he so often fucks us… metaphorically speaking,” he added, a slight cringe on his face.

“Ick,” John agreed, wrinkling his nose.

“I’d be surprised if that man had ever been in bed with someone, man or woman,” Chris agreed, shaking his head. “Did you know, I heard rumours about him, Professor Lawler and that school governor… Mr. Ross?”

“J.R?” John grinned; the rivalry between Professor Cole and Mr. Ross was legendary when they were away from the parents of course.

“I should have known you’d be on first name basis with him,” the man was hugely contributory to their school sports teams.

“Will you two please focus?” Evan cut in, unable to take it anymore, and quite unable to believe they could both be so casual about something that could potentially place Randy and John into indescribable about of trouble.

“Focus on what?” John asked. He and Chris were in the middle of a very interesting conversation, after all.

“Umm, on the fact that you’re actually _considering_ what you’re considering!” Evan told them. “It’s way too risky, John.”

“What’s that they say, Ev? No risk, no fun? We know we’re taking our chances here, but we’re willing to take them,” John said. “Believe me, we’ve thought about this for a long time now. Right now is just the perfect opportunity.”

“But John, what if you get caught?” Evan reiterated. 

“We’ve been walked in on once. By Barrett. This was about three years ago now, but we didn’t get into a whole lot of trouble then. How worse could it be if Cole happened to find us?” he asked. 

“Probably nothing good!” Evan exclaimed. 

“Ah, we can handle him,” John said easily and Chris had to admire how daring the pair were; it was a big risk as Evan said.

Evan pursed his lips, clearly unimpressed at the blasé attitude.

“Evan, nothing’s going to happen, and if by some chance it does I think Randy and I have enough know-how to deal, honestly.”

It was fruitless to appease him he knew but he’d tried.

“How long before you’re meeting him?” Chris asked John, not entirely interested in discussing their sex in detail but he was interested to know what was happening in the grand scheme of things. John glanced at his pocket-watch.

“In about half an hour,” he then pouted somewhat with a sigh; why was time so much slower when you actually _wanted_ it to hurry up? What did they call it? Oh, yes, that’s right: Sod’s Law.

“You worried about your nerves getting to you at the last minute?” Chris asked. 

“Not at all,” John answered. “We haven’t fucked at all today, I didn’t get to spend the night with him last night, Danielson did unspeakable things to me… Believe me, I don’t think I’ve ever been so horny in my life, and I’m more than ready to have Randy fuck my ass _hard_ on Danielson’s desk.” 

“Well, at least you’re confident that this’ll work,” Chris said. 

Evan just sat with his face scrunched up, his head beginning to hurt again. “I still can’t believe you’re actually planning on going through with this,” he said as he brought his hand behind his head, feeling the good sized bump left behind. 

“We’ll be fine, Ev, I promise. I won’t let your cousin get in trouble,” John assured him.

He sighed again and said, “I’m taking one of my pain pills, then I’m falling asleep and I better not wake up to the news that you two have gotten expelled!”

“Yes Evan,” John said meekly to him. Well, as meekly as a boy of his size could.

Chris handed Evan a pill and his drink, watching as the other swallowed it before then taking his drink back and seeing him settle down in bed. He knew it’d been driving his lover crazy to be in bed all day doing nothing save for the embarrassing jaunt where he needed to be helped to the bathroom, but it was for his own good.

It took very little time at all for Evan to nod off into slumber.

“Aren’t you bored sat here while he sleeps?” John asked as he pulled his watch out again.

“Actually, I like it. I’m catching up on some reading and well, this might sound weird but I like watching him sleep… and normally he wakes up when I try to.”

John grinned slightly, “I understand that,” he then clapped Chris on the shoulder, “Well, I’ll have to love you and leave you I’m afraid, Chris m’boy, for I have a date with a fine head boy frustrated from detention duty and a vendetta incurring teacher’s desk, bye now!”

“Bye, John. Have fun,” Chris said with a little salute. 

John smirked. “We sure do plan to.” He then opened the door, headed out and shut the door behind him, leaving Chris to Evan. 

He made his way down some halls and corridors and walkways until he had reached the classrooms. The students were still inside when he headed into the room. “What brings you here, Mr. Cena?” Randy asked as he looked to the door from his seat behind Cole’s desk.

“Orton, I needed to talk to you about the rugby tryouts schedule.” He had a vague idea of how tryouts would go, but he did want to jot some things down, and he figured he would use Cole’s paper and ink instead of wasting his own. 

“By all means,” Randy said, ushering his lover further into the room.


	36. Chapter 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works - Oscar Wilde

“Fear not my angel,” Wade grinned as he placed his hands on Justin’s hips lightly.

“My lunch will be due shortly and I assure you that there will be more than enough for the both of us,” he lifted Justin from the desk and helped him stand on slightly shaky legs.

“You… you’re sure?” Justin never liked to feel like an imposition.

“What a question! Of course I’m sure you silly boy,” Wade kissed Justin’s forehead lightly and then gave his backside a light pat.

“I feel like a horse or something when you do that,” Justin grumbled good-naturedly, realising only last minute the opening he’d left Wade.

“Well, I do enjoy riding you—“ Wade said innocently, Justin almost tripping as he headed for Wade’s bedroom.

Pausing in the doorway though Justin chewed his lip shyly and asked, “Um, you _are_ going to clean your desk, right?”

“Perhaps,” Wade answered.

“Umm… that’s… that’s not a yes,” Justin said, still working his lip between his teeth nervously. 

“I know,” Wade said, flashing him a grin. A knock came on the door just then, and Wade quickly did up his clothes so at least those looked proper. His hair on the other hand? Not so much. “Why don’t you finish undressing and get under the covers? I’ll be right back with lunch,” Wade suggested. 

“Ok,” Justin agreed, though he still couldn’t help but wonder about his desk…

“Good afternoon,” Wade greeted the lady who brought his lunch over. “Thank you so much,” he said as he took the food from her. 

She smiled; she found Wade to be quite charming. “You’re welcome,” she said in reply, ever proper. “Enjoy.”

“You didn’t clean it did you?”

“Not yet,” Wade answered honestly without hesitation, once again admiring Justin in his bed.

“Wade!” Justin whined lightly, sitting upright though not needing to really scoot over to give Wade room since the bed was _huge_ despite it seemingly being only for one person. “I’ll do it after,” Wade said absently, waving a hand. He set the tray between them, it containing multiple sandwiches, a salad, dessert and a drink.

“They like to spoil you when it comes to portions don’t they?” Justin mused.

The dark haired man nodded, shedding his own clothes and throwing them over the footboard absently as he got under the covers carefully.

“Hm, I know. I don’t see why since it’s not as though I’m in need of extra feeding-up,” he patted his toned stomach.

“It’s like they know that you need to keep your energy up. I’m hungry after that… at your age, you must be famished,” Justin teased, picking up one of the sandwiches and taking a nice big bite. 

“I am, rather, yes,” Wade agreed, smiling as he picked up a sandwich of his own. 

“This is really good. Do you have your own cook, or something? Because though the food’s good in the dining hall, it’s not _this_ good,” Justin told him after taking another bite. 

“I’m just special, that’s all,” Wade said. 

“Oh is that it? They make sure to cook extra well when it’s just for you?” Justin asked.

“Yup, that’s it exactly. You’re just the lucky one who gets to experience it with me right now.”

“I best be the only one who gets to experience this with you,” Justin said after he had finished his mouthful, then realising how territorial he had sounded and ducking his head in embarrassment.

The possessiveness only had Wade’s smile growing; Justin was so cute when he got mad.

“Of course you are Angel,” Wade said, “No one has ever been in this bedroom other than myself, yourself and the cleaner. And she doesn’t share lunch with me,” he teased lightly.

“Well, good,” Justin cleared his throat lightly.

Sometimes he hated how insecure he could get, but Wade could always make it better.

Winking at his lover Wade finished his sandwich and then reached for another, biting into it. 

Justin finished his own sandwich, then used his fingers to pick up a bright red cherry tomato from the salad, popping it into his mouth. “Maybe I should come here every weekend,” Justin said once he swallowed. 

“You know that I’d never object to your company,” Wade told him.

“To make sure your housekeeper _isn’t_ sharing lunch with you,” Justin then added teasingly.

“Oh, is that the only reason you’d come and see me on the weekends?” Wade asked before having some more of his sandwich. 

“Yup. Only reason… has nothing to do with the food… or eating said food with you while we’re naked in your bed,” Justin said, nodding his head in the affirmative, though he didn’t look very serious at all.

“Of course not,” Wade mocked playfully and then they both fell into companionable laughter. Justin then voiced a thought that had occurred to him when Wade had graciously said his friends were more than welcome over.

“Will we still be… like we are usually at home even with them there?”

For a moment Wade wanted to ask ‘them who?’ but then he remembered, and the question did give him pause.

“Are you sure that will be a good idea?” oh he’d heard the rumours of the Runnels and DiBiase boys but he didn’t want to risk too much.

“They won’t mind it,” Justin said immediately, not wanting things to change when they were at home where they could act the freest, “I know… I know they won’t mind,” he trailed off sheepishly, smiling wanly.

 

“They won’t mind? How can you know that for sure?” Wade asked. 

“Umm… well… I mean… they know about us,” Justin said. “It wasn’t as though I was screaming it to the world, or anything, but… they were able to deduce it on their own and asked me if it was true. I had to say yes.”

“And who else, may I ask, knows about us?” 

“Windham, Joe, Heath… I think that’s it… though I do hear… I hear a lot of rumours from people about us… saying that because you’re my guardian and I’m the head of my class, I must be sleeping with you to get my grades. I want to tell them that that’s not why I’m sleeping with you, but I can’t ever say anything… but all my friends, they understand.”

Wade didn’t mind that Justin’s friends knew, just so long as they would keep it to themselves. “Tell me, then… is it true what I’ve heard about Cody and Ted?”

“ _You’ve_ heard about them, too?!”

“I’ll take it from that reaction that it is true,” Wade picked up a slice of cucumber.

Gaping slightly at his lover Justin then asked, “But _how_ have you heard about them?” Wade shrugged lightly, “The same way people seem to have their own ideas about us. It’s amazing how much boys and men can gossip.”

“So, um, does this make them knowing easier?”

“Well, I’m slightly more reassured now that if they find us exchanging a little kiss in the garden or something they won’t be freaking out.” Justin couldn’t help the slight tease/genuine question of, “Just a kiss?” Wade grinned as Justin picked another sandwich and took a bite so he wouldn’t be able to respond to Wade right away. “Cheeky angel,” he chided.

When the food was finished Wade set the tray aside for later when he would take it out ready for collection since he’d have his dinner brought to him.

“I’m going to get fat if we keep this up,” Justin chuckled.

“You know I’ll love you no matter what, right? Even if you do eat too many sandwiches… though I’m fairly certain that you’ll be able to work off those sandwiches soon enough,” Wade said. 

“Oh? Is that so?” Justin asked.

Wade nodded. “Yes. I was thinking of maybe going to the field and—”

“No, you’re not going out. It’s _still_ pouring out. Has been all day. But I guess you’re too busy being stuck in your office to actually notice,” Justin said as he adjusted himself so he was now straddling Wade’s legs, the covers falling off his body as he moved. 

“Oh, is it? Then I guess I’ll have to figure out another way for us to work off all that food we just ate. Any ideas, Angel?” he asked, a hand lazily stroking up and down Justin’s arm.

~~~

“That’s it exactly! Everything has to be so black and white with you Ted!”

For a moment the blonde looked startled, blinking rapidly, “What do you mean?”

Cody threw his hands up in frustration, a few tears being dislodged by his long lashes as he blinked rapidly, still teary-eyed but red in the face and showing that he was getting worked up. “You think that sex has to be between two people who are in love, but you don’t get it! The sex itself doesn’t have to mean anything—”

Before Ted could cut in Cody continued, “It’s the person you’re with and what you feel about it that makes it matter! They love each other but they can sleep with other people without jealousy…”

He had no intention of fooling around on Ted but he couldn’t deny that he was jealous of how much Cena and Orton had to trust one another to allow certain things to happen with others without jealousy or bitterness.

“Just forget it, Ted. Let’s go or we’ll miss the food.”

“I don’t really know how you can expect me to forget something like that,” Ted said as he walked out of the room behind Cody. 

“Well… do it, because I’m not going to explain myself anymore.”

“This is a whole lot for me to take in, ok? This past week… Cody, I’ve been thrown completely for a loop. _Everything_ changed this past week and now you’re throwing this at me? I don’t even know _what_ to think anymore,” Ted told him. It hadn’t even been a full week since he and Cody first kissed, and now they had already slept together three times. 

“Then maybe you should try and open your mind a little bit. Tell me this, Teddy… let’s say you graduate from University and you’re expected to get married. So, you marry the girl that your parents have been intending you marry practically since she was born, Kristen’s her name, right? You’ll have sex with her, but will you love her?” Cody asked, looking to Ted out of the corner of his eye.

Ted’s mouth opened, and then closed, and then opened and closed again without a single sound coming out. He _didn’t know_ what to say.

His feelings for Cody and his feelings for Kristen were completely different.

“See?” the silence to Cody said more than Ted’s words ever could, “You’ll care for her, certainly on some level, and I’ve accepted that you’ll find her attractive at least slightly—“ not that he was happy about that, “but that is different. They obviously don’t see more to the people they spend time with like that than ending mutual attractions. Stop overthinking it!”

Ted’s jaw dropped, staring at Cody’s back as the other walked down the last few steps of the main hall stairs to get to the ground floor where the dining-room was. Recovering his composure Ted hurried after Cody, struck by the sudden realisation that although the younger man was still a complete diva it was times like these when he got the disquieting thoughts of how much Cody was growing up and maturing.

“I’m not overthinking anything! I’m just trying to rationalize it, that’s all!” Ted exclaimed.

“Because they’re two completely different things?” Cody asked. “I thought we decided we were done talking about this?”

“Well… I didn’t actually decide anything. I… I just… I don’t even want to think about another man’s hands on you,” he whispered as they walked through the halls towards the dining hall. 

“Teddy, there won’t be any other man’s hands on me. And even if there were, they wouldn’t mean anything to me. I waited for _you_. You’re the only person that’s ever going to have taken my virginity,” Cody said, voice just as hushed as Ted’s. 

“This is all just so… so _weird_.”

“Let’s just stop talking about it, Ok?” Cody asked weakly, feeling very tired by that point.

Frowning slightly Ted had little choice but to let the matter go when he followed Cody into the dining-hall since it was busy.

Despite what Cody said Ted couldn’t help but feel threatened; it was all just so new and unnerving and he was terrified of any and every bad eventuality that could come about.

Even though he knew he was hungry deep down Cody didn’t really feel like he had much of an appetite left and as such he only selected a salad and a buttered bread roll. It took all Ted had not to chastise him for his lackluster meal choices.

It never got him anywhere to do so.

“Did you, um, want anything from my tray?” Ted asked as Cody picked at his salad. 

“No,” he answered. 

“I have plenty,” Ted told him.

“I’m fine,” Cody replied. He was picking at his salad, picking up little shavings of carrots and eating them. 

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Ted said. “I didn’t even realize how much it would upset you… or that it’d upset you at all,” he confessed. 

“I thought we were done talking about it?” Cody asked, lifting his head up to look at Ted instead of his salad. 

A sigh left Ted and he returned his attention back to his food. There was just no reasoning with Cody sometimes.

It took all of Cody’s willpower not to snap at Ted when he gave that longsuffering sigh.

He was tired of fighting.

Cody finished his food long before Ted.

“Um, do you have a rehearsal tonight or anything?” the blonde asked, hoping to make peace somehow with his lover.

“I was just going to read over my lines,” Cody responded lightly, wiping his mouth with a napkin, “We don’t rehearse on Sundays remember?”

“Oh, that’s right.” Ted couldn’t keep track of Cody’s schedule. It always seemed like he was in the theatre, though. “I can help you.”

“Really?” Cody asked. Ted wasn’t usually so willing to go through lines with him. He always helped when asked, but he never volunteered to help. 

“Yeah… but only if we can do that whole… kissing thing,” he said.

“I think we just might be able to do that,” Cody said, giving Ted a little smile. This was good, they were getting back on track. Just so long as that whole topic of ‘is there anyone else you would sleep with?’ didn’t come back up. 

~~~

A boy doing detention was quick to get up and get John a chair.  
The brunette thanked them absently and then arched a brow more firmly when he realised who had handed him a chair, “What happened this time?”

One of his current rugby players who always seemed to be getting into bother was yet again in detention. The boy tried to look unconcerned but John could see the concerned in his eyes; failure of conduct and classes meant that you could lose your team placement.

As the boy scuttled to his seat John sat next to Randy, their talk excusing them to sit close but he was subtly resting a hand on his lover’s thigh underneath the table. Randy’s hand covered his as they began ‘conversing’, thumb stroking John’s knuckles.

And it might seem like an innocent, innocuous touch, but John loved it.

“See, I was thinking something like this,” Randy suggested, drawing a little diagram on paper so John could see what he was picturing. He explained his thoughts as he drew, since even though he didn’t play rugby, he was an avid fan and had learned quite a bit from John about it. 

“That’s not bad, but—” John said, reaching out to take the fountain pen from Randy’s hand (making sure his fingers brushed Randy’s), he then made a few corrections to Randy’s diagram. “It’d work much better like this.”

“Makes sense. You _are_ the sport’s captain after all,” Randy said. He made a show of looking at his pocket watch, then looked up to the handful of students sitting in the classroom. “Your detention’s now over. Don’t let me see you here again,” Randy told him.

The silence in the classroom turned quickly into murmurings between them, but Randy quickly put a stop to that. “Did I say you could start talking again? No, the detention may be over, but there’s no talking until you’re out that door.”

The students shuffled out quietly, soon leaving John and Randy alone.

Once the door had closed securely behind the last one John stood up, moving behind Randy’s chair and bracing his hands on his lover’s shoulders, beginning to gently squeeze and knead them. “My poor baby,” he grinned slightly, leaning down and kissing underneath Randy’s ear, “Were they unbearable?”

“I hate detention duty,” Randy grumbled, leaning back into John’s hands and moaning softly; they had given one another many a massage over time and they knew exactly what felt good, “It’s so fucking boring sitting here and watching them.”

John clucked his tongue sympathetically and nibbled Randy’s ear, “Would it help to know I’ve been thinking about you?” Randy’s eyes opened and he turned his head, starting to get up out of his chair, “Now that you mention it I think it really might,” he nodded, smiling slowly.

“Well, I have,” John said, moving Cole’s chair back when Randy vacated it, perching himself on the desk edge, legs crossed at the ankles and a fingertip tracing patterns on the table as he looked up to Randy demurely, “I’ve been thinking long and _hard_.”

He reached forward and gripped Randy’s shirt collar, pulling him in for a kiss.

Randy’s body instantly molded into John’s, moaning as their lips met in a deep kiss. He grabbed John’s collar in return, then flipped them around so that John was now the one leaning against him. 

John pulled back, a little grin on his face. “You taking charge of the situation now?” he asked. 

“I just wanna save pounding your arse until we’re over on that side of the classroom,” Randy said, jerking his head towards where Danielson’s desk was situated. 

“I feel kind of bad about that now,” John suddenly said. Randy quirked a brow, and John went on, “Well, I mean, he’s not the _only_ person that sits there!”

“And everyone else would be flattered to know that we fucked on their desk.”

“You think awful highly of yourself,” John said, pecking Randy quickly on the lips.

“And that’s why you love me.”

“Sadly, yes,” John joked, jumping when Randy suddenly pinched his arse in retaliation, smirking like the devil. “Fucker,” John grouched playfully before leaning in and kissing Randy deeply once more.

Unfortunately they didn’t have the time to linger and so John pushed Randy back onto the desk some more, Randy parting his legs to allow John to get between them.

“We gotta be quick,” John spoke against Randy’s mouth, licking the smooth lips his lover had.

“Mhm,” Randy responded, starting to unbutton John’s shirt somewhat and slipping his hand inside, “Talking to you about your rugby had me thinking of you in your uniform.”

John chuckled, “You and your damn uniform fetish,” he teased, arching lightly.

“It’s not the uniform entirely--- it’s those tight white shorts framing your big arse.”

“For the last bloody time my arse isn’t big!”

“John, I don’t know what planet you’re living on, but here on Earth, your arse is huge,” Randy told him, sliding his hands from John’s chest to his backside to take big handfuls of John’s backside, squeezing, pulling him even closer towards him. 

“Fuck, Randy, that feels good… but we don’t have time for this,” John said. 

“Right, right… in, out, done, that’s the plan here, right?” he asked.

“Well, it doesn’t have to be _that_ fast. I know my dick’s amazing, but you’ve got a bit more stamina in you to go longer than in and out, right?”

“Of course I do. You’ve been fucking me for how long?” Randy asked with a raised brow. “Now… where was I?” He then went back to unbuttoning John’s shirt, roaming his hands over his broad chest and toned stomach. 

Kissing the other soundly they both had their shirts open as much as possible, fly buttons being undone and the zippers following. Randy hissed out a breath when John’s hand first wrapped around his cock, causing his head to fall back as his hips jumped.

“Fuck, John—“ he forced his eyes open and saw John holding three fingers to him.

Without preamble he took them into his mouth, licking and sucking.

Fuck, John really hated to rush a good thing but, well, they had another round after this and he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t a little turned on with the urgency.

Their eyes met and held as John continued to stroke Randy as Randy gave a veritable blow-job to his fingers. The digits were removed from Randy’s mouth with a wet ‘pop!’ and John removed his hand from Randy’s trousers, “Turn around.”

“Mmm, yes Sir,” Randy teased, turning so his front was against Cole’s desk. 

John was far from gentle as he yanked down Randy’s trousers so his ass was completely exposed. Next thing Randy knew, one of John’s fingers was inside him. “You’re always so damn tight,” John muttered. 

“You love it,” Randy said, pushing his hips back so more of John’s finger was inside him.

“Fuckin’ right I do,” he replied. His finger twisted around as he pulled out. He then twisted more as he pushed back in. The next time he pulled out, he went back with two fingers. 

“Ohhhh, John,” Randy groaned as those fingers stretched him. “When am I gonna feel _you_ inside me?” he asked.

“Patience is a virtue,” John said as a third finger pressed inside of Randy.

There was a small thudding sound as Randy’s fist connected with the desk and he arched up, wanting John inside of him more than ever since his prostate was being teasingly stimulated by his fingertips with each motion.

“Quiet down,” John told him off playfully, stepping back after a few more moments, freeing himself from his boxers and stroking a few times after spitting into his hand discreetly.

“Hurry up!” Randy shot back, rolling his hips in a manner that immediately had John pulsing inside of his own hand, reminding him that he was more than ready.

Moving behind his lover, John then braced his hands on Randy’s hips and pushed into him.

“ _Yes_!” Randy cried as John pushed his cock deep into him. “Fuck me, John,” he pleaded. “Don’t hold back.”

So, John held nothing back. His hips rocked back and forth, driving his cock into Randy’s body over and over and over. 

They would have to move the desk back into its correct position once they were done in the room. 

Randy, never one to just stand around and take it, began to push his own hips back, meeting John’s movements with his own. The sound of skin smacking against skin echoed in their ears. Better than Mozart as far as Randy was concerned. 

~~~

“Are you _really_ sure you’re up for something like that again?” Justin asked Wade with mild disbelief though he knew better than to truly question Wade’s stamina; the man had had him up all night one night.

“Give me a minute and I will be.”

Justin’s naked splendour before him and his subtle little movements were more than gaining his attention, but he’d never force it upon the other if _he_ wasn’t in the mood for it.

“I should be concerned about how easily you’re ready,” Justin teased.

But before Wade could consider that he was indeed being rather overbearing with his physical needs the younger man had wrapped a hand around him. The strokes he started with were as light as a butterfly and Wade groaned lowly as his head fell back slightly in pleasure.

A groan escaped Wade’s mouth as Justin began stroking him. Even the smallest, lightest of touches from the younger man were enough to send his body into overdrive. 

“I guess you were right,” Justin said, still stroking Wade ever so gently. “You didn’t need much time to get ready for me again.”

“Like you said before… you keep me young,” Wade told him. It was true, though, even though Justin teased him about his age constantly, it _was_ Justin that helped to keep him so young and active. Not that he was old, not at all, but Justin’s youth rubbed off on him.

“I’m happy to hear my youth keeps your stamina up,” Justin said, increasing the pressure of his hand just that bit more. 

“Of course,” Wade chuckled slightly and then rolled his shoulders a little, fingers flexing as he reached forward to touch Justin’s hips and thighs, any bit of him he could reach.

“I hope I still entice you as much when I’m your age,” Justin teased and Wade groaned slightly, “Must you bring that up?”

“Aww, I’m sorry,” Justin cooed lightly as he leant down, kissing Wade on the lips and stroking his free hand through the other man’s hair, “One day, please wear your hair naturally at school.” Because then everyone would get to see the Wade that belonged to Justin.

And then Justin could privately feel smug and gloating the way that lovers were supposed to be about one another, “I’ll see.”

“No one will recognize you,” Justin teased as he pulled at one of the curls, straightening it out before it recoiled back into place. 

“I don’t know what you find so appealing about my hair,” Wade said, though he never had any complaints when Justin played with his hair. 

Justin shrugged. “I don’t know… It adds charm. You’re always so pristine looking, you know? Seeing you like this… It lets me see this other side of you that _isn’t_ always made up and looking perfect for the public. Not that I don’t think your hair is perfect as is, just like this, but I think you know what I mean.”

“You asking me to go without my hair gelled is like me asking you to go without putting on clothes.”

Justin raised a brow before he let out a laugh. He leaned forward and pecked Wade’s lips before leaning back and saying with a grin, “Wade, I don’t think that’s at _all_ alike. I don’t believe it’s considered proper for one to go out without clothing on.”

“And I say it’s not proper for anyone to see my hair like this,” he said running his hand through his own curls. 

“It’s far more publically acceptable for you to go without hair gel than it is for me to go without clothing. Though, quite frankly, I don’t think you’d ever let me out if I wasn’t wearing anything, while on the other hand, I’d love to see you in public with your hair like this,” Justin told him, still playing with the curls.

“That’s true,” Wade agreed, “I wouldn’t let you out if you weren’t wearing anything. I’m far too jealous to allow such a thing,” he added.

Justin giggled slightly, shaking his head as his other hand continued to stroke Wade in languid, slow strokes, “You don’t need to be jealous.”

“Not on your part, no,” Wade acknowledged. He had never told Justin about the time he had been walking through the corridors and had heard two boys talking about how they would _love_ to approach the African beauty, and how best they could _engage him in conversation._ Wade had wanted to strangle them.

“How do you mean?” Justin asked, both his hands stilling on their respective parts of Wade’s body as he paused.

“Nothing,” Wade leant up and pressed their lips together before pulling back and sighing, “On the last day of term,” he bargained, “On the last day of term I’ll wear my hair naturally for you. Alright?” He felt that was fair considering he’d usually just say no.

Pouting momentarily Justin then conceded, “Alright Wade, but you’ve promised and I’ll hold you to it,” he pointed out.

“You can hold me to anything you like, Angel,” Wade wiggled his brows at his young lover and Justin broke into giggles once more, the sound being lost into Wade’s mouth as he leant down and instigated another kiss. “You’re so cheeky,” Justin chided his lover playfully as they pulled apart from one another again. 

It was some time later that Justin collapsed to the side, breathless and completely sated once again. He then rolled onto his side and rested his hand upon Wade’s chest, which was rising and falling quickly as he tried to even his breathing back out. “I love you,” Justin whispered. 

Wade turned his head to face the young man, giving him his crooked smile. “I love you, too,” he returned. 

“I think I spent a little bit longer here than I intended to,” Justin said, though he didn’t regret a single second of it. He wished he could be there even longer. 

“Just a little,” Wade agreed, eyes roaming over Justin’s face. 

“I should go. I have got some homework to finish before tomorrow.”

“Stay for dinner,” Wade blurted out before Justin could so much as think about moving from his spot. 

“Are you sure? I’ve already been here half the day; I don’t want to impose on you any longer,” Justin said, letting his fingers trail over Wade’s strong chest.

“Angel, you could be here all day every day and I would never consider it an imposition,” he assured the younger man, bringing a hand up and caressing his flushed cheek. “Bring your homework here and you can stay with me until curfew,” he admittedly wheedled a little bit.

“Wade, are you sure?” he didn’t want to get in Wade’s way, and working he wouldn’t be much of a companion.

“Completely and utterly,” Wade assured Justin, “I’d welcome you being here longer. Plus, it’ll give me a chance to see how your class progress is going, hm?”

Well, Wade did annually review his work, and the chance to spend some more time alone with him was very appealing to him indeed.

“Alright,” Justin nodded his head, leaning in to kiss Wade lightly.

He got up after a few minutes when he had recovered, needing to tidy up to get dressed before he headed back towards his room to collect his homework.

“Don’t be too long,” Wade sat up to sort himself out, kissing Justin before he left.

“I promise, I’ll be quick,” Justin said, smiling at Wade as he left the bedroom. 

“You best be,” Wade told him, smiling in return. He then got out of bed and wrapped his bathrobe around him. While Justin was gone, he wanted to take the time to get a little more work done. 

Justin headed back through the halls and noted that the sky was a lot darker than it was on his walk to Wade’s office, but the rain was still coming down. He didn’t really care about any of that, though. What he did care about was the fact that he was going to be going _back_ to Wade’s room for a few more hours that night. He had seen him every day that weekend, which so very rarely happened. 

The smile he had on his face when he left Wade’s bedroom was still on his face as he walked through the familiar halls of his school. It wasn’t much longer until he was in the common room of his dorm. Joe greeted him, but Justin then said, “Hey, I can’t really stick around… I was just coming back to go grab my books.”

~~~

Taking their trays back to the front they then cleared them before heading back out of the dining-hall and starting down the hallway.

A thump inside one of the classrooms caught Cody’s attention and he stopped so suddenly that Ted almost bumped into him from behind, “Cody?”

“I thought I just heard something,” Cody said, indicating a door off to the side.

“It’s probably just the building,” Ted said, not really thinking too much of it, “Remember that time we thought there was some ghost in that dorm room during our second year?” turned out their ghost had been the pipes rattling.

“Teddy, that is _not_ the building,” Cody said to him. At least he didn’t _think_ it was, because over his years, he’d heard lots of noises the building made, and that had never been one of them. 

“How do you even know that?” Ted asked, following his younger lover as he headed towards where the noise came from. 

“I just have a feeling, Teddy,” Cody replied. 

“And you also had a feeling that we had a ghost in our dorm,” Ted told him, though Cody chose to ignore him. 

“Oh, fuck,” Cody blurted out, eyes going wide as he was frozen in place. “I told you it wasn’t the building settling.”

“What?” Ted demanded, seeing Cody turn bright red in the face in mere seconds, jaw slack and eyes wide and focused on something through the little window that was near the top of the classroom door.

Pushing Cody aside gently as much as the frozen teen would allow, Ted then peeked in too, his jaw falling open then in turn.

He would have cried out in shock had Cody not suddenly seemed to realise what was coming and slapped a hand over his mouth.

A lot of mumbled speech was garbled into Cody’s palm.

Realistically Cody knew they should leave, but he couldn’t stop looking. Suddenly he realised how Mike had felt watching he and Ted the other day.

John’s hand threaded into Randy’s short hair, yanking his lover’s head back and kissing him passionately as his hips kept going.

The desk was undoubtedly bruising his hips with each thrust but he didn’t give a fuck, he welcomed the pain and relished in it.

Saliva leaked from the corner of both of their lips, the kiss messy and fraught--- like their lips and tongues were fucking the same way their bodies were.

John’s arse was clenching hard with each thrust he made into Randy, his other hand moving from his lover’s side to wrap around his cock after a few more minutes. Their mouths tore apart and John panted, “Fuck, I love you Randy, so fucking much.”

Ted’s eyes were wide at the sight. They shouldn’t be watching, it was such a private moment between the two of them but… but he couldn’t stop staring. It was one of the most stunning sights he’d ever seen. 

There were rumours about them, and Cody was sure that they were fucking, possibly even in love with one another. He didn’t know if fucking like _that_ could constitute love, but… it was nothing short of beautiful seeing their two bodies come together like that. 

Suddenly, he couldn’t blame the person he discovered was watching him and Cody as harshly as he did before. Though now he wondered just how he was supposed to face John come Tuesday when he had his tryouts for the team. After seeing him pound into Randy like that, he didn’t think he could ever look at him the same. “We should go,” he finally managed to say (though he really didn’t want to), but Cody’s hand was still over his mouth. 

And Cody was also staring just as intensely. He was clearly intrigued himself. Just so long as he didn’t start insisting that _they_ fuck in a classroom, or something. The dressing room was public enough. A little too public, even. “We’re not going _anywhere_ ,” Cody whispered, obviously able to tell what Ted had mumbled into his hand. 

“I love you, too, John,” Randy panted back just before John slammed his hips forward hard, driving Randy even further into the desk. Yeah, he was definitely going to bruise. But all this was so worth every last black and blue. It was one of his fantasies come true. Finally. “That’s it, John,” he moaned. 

John continued to stroke, keeping in time with the thrusts of his cock into Randy’s body, and the younger teen was practically putty in his hands. He loved being able to drive Randy up the wall with want and need. 

Then he stopped. He pulled out of Randy completely, leaving Randy dumbfounded. At least for all of three seconds. “Turn around,” John commanded. 

Randy did just that, turning around, and before John could even say anything, he was already sitting down and lying back on Cole’s desk until his back was flat against the surface. Soon enough his legs were over John’s shoulders and John’s cock was once again inside him. 

The blonde wanted to protest because he doubted that if Cena and Orton found out they had been watching them that they would be too impressed--- though being that they were in such a public place they might not mind.

Ted couldn’t deny that even when he had heard the rumours about the two boys whose sex they were currently witnessing he had always struggled to formulate in his mind which of them would submit to the other because looking at them you wouldn’t think that either would.

Cody couldn’t help but shift slightly, transfixed by the way that John didn’t once look away from Randy’s face as he fucked him, and at the way Randy writhed and thrashed against the desk, sweat shimmering on the parts of their skin that was exposed. John’s hands were braced on Randy’s hips and Randy’s hands were palming restlessly at the desk underneath him. Good job he still had his shirt on otherwise he’d be getting wood burns from the force.

And then, Cody saw something that made his heart ache in a good way as he noticed it. He and Ted had learnt to lip-read years ago to avoid getting into trouble for talking in class, and though they didn’t use it as much as they had used to Cody could tell enough then to know what words John spoke again to Randy, “I love you, baby.” Pet names, who would’ve thought?  
“John—“ Randy groaned as his lover confessed his feelings to him again, his cock throbbing and aching as John continued to abuse his prostate with each thrust, Randy’s body rocking further and further up the desk until it seemed like he might go toppling off of it, “I’m gonna cum,” Randy choked out.

“Do it,” John growled slightly as Randy’s inner-muscles started to spasmodically clench around him in the tell-tale manner that told him Randy was moments from doing just as he’d said, “Wanna see you cum with me inside of you.”

Randy’s entire body seemed to freeze as John reached to stroke him, and then seconds later his mouth was hanging open in a silent cry, cum coating John’s hand and even his torso.

John was all but on top of the desk too by this point, using the last reserves of energy he had for the moment to keep thrusting into his lover to keep his orgasm going as well as to chase his own, throwing his head back as he spilled himself deep into Randy, still thrusting.

Ted saw it, too, the declaration of love John made to Randy. They really _did_ love one another, didn’t they? And they certainly had to trust one another a lot to risk doing such a thing in such a public place. 

A gasp escaped him, getting muffled behind Cody’s hand (Cody biting on his other hand to keep himself quiet, as well), when Randy came. They could see his cock _twitching_ as he came, back arching up off the desk. And John was still thrusting into him, even as his face contorted with sheer pleasure as he came, as well. 

“We really should go,” Ted whispered once he managed to pull Cody’s hand from his mouth. Honestly, if they didn’t go soon, there was a chance that he’d be coming himself simply from _watching_ them. 

“I am so hard right now, Teddy,” Cody whispered back to him, eyes still wide and staring into the classroom. His trousers were straining, and he was pretty sure that he had a wet patch in his undergarments. He really didn’t care about that, though… but he did care about taking care of the growing problem in his pants. 

And it was made even _worse_ when he saw what John began doing to Randy inside the classroom. 

Still panting heavily, John pulled out, watching as a trail of cum dripped out of Randy’s hole and onto the floor. “Oh, fuck, Randy,” John muttered. 

“Was that as good for you as it was for me?” Randy jokingly asked, and John chuckled. “When’ll you be ready for round two?” he then asked, this time in all seriousness. He wanted in John and he wanted in John on Danielson’s desk. 

“Give me a moment at least, Randy. Surely you’re not ready yet,” John said, though, knowing Randy…

“No, not quite yet. But I will be soon enough. If you lick my arse I may be ready sooner rather than later,” he suggested, wondering if John would do it. 

It did seem like a rather appealing idea. John loved getting rimmed and he loved pleasuring Randy that way… so why not do it while his cum was still in Randy’s ass? So, he pushed Randy’s legs up towards Randy’s chest and crouched down. His hands gripped Randy’s thighs before he lapped his tongue out to quickly lick over the stretched hole.

That was just so… so… _filthy_ , Ted initially thought, but then recounted the strange fascination he had felt upon feeling his cum inside of Cody and then also when Cody had kissed him after sucking him off that time.

By that point only the top of John’s head was visible but the look of sheer bliss on Randy’s was on display for them both to see. Sure, there was a part of the blonde that felt guilty as sin for becoming aroused by watching such an intimate moment between the other two but then at the same time he really couldn’t help himself.

He froze in place though when he felt Cody slowly beginning to rock against him from behind, the sheer hardness he could feel against his clothed buttocks making the fire in his veins increase further than before.

“We—Cody—“ his voice came out in a strangled whisper, seeing that his lover hadn’t turned his head but knowing that he had to be completely aware of what he was doing. “We need to go!” Ted finally ground out and Cody seemed to blink back to awareness then, dazed almost. “I don’t think I can—“ he cut himself off quickly.

God, he wanted to keep watching but he _really_ needed to get off… and they were in greater danger of being caught than the boys they were watching as dinner’d be over soon.

As they left their spot by the classroom door, Cody gripped Ted’s wrist and said, “Teddy, I don’t care if it’s in the bathroom or back in our room, if you’re in me or you suck me, but _fuck_ , I need you.”

Ted bit his lip, then nodded. He was in the same predicament as Cody. He never thought in a million years that he would be so turned on by the sight of two people in the midst of such passion. But, good lord, he was. “I need you, too,” he said in a choked whisper, straining to even speak. 

Cody didn’t think they would ever get back to their room fast enough. Yet he didn’t think he’d ever moved so quickly to get back to his room. They breezed right through the common room, probably looking highly suspicious to anyone who actually cared to look at them, and locked the door to their room behind them. 

Their mouths came together the instant the sound of the lock clicked. Cody was pulling at buttons and fabric, wanting them off Ted’s gorgeous body. He was also pulling Ted backwards towards his bed, clothes dropping to the floor as they were moved along their brief walk. 

Once Cody’s legs hit the end of his bed, he broke off their kiss. “I need you so bad right now,” he panted, eyes bright with lust and love. 

A weak and rather inarticulate sound left Ted in response to the words, but in his defense the kiss that had just been leveled on him had been enough to wipe any coherent thought from his mind in one fell swoop.

In the back of his mind he knew he was being hypocritical since he had freaked out about someone watching he and Cody make love only to do the same thing himself and then allow it to spur him into doing something like this, but he couldn’t have stopped even if he really wanted to do so.

Cody’s mouth attached to Ted’s neck as they tumbled to the bed, Ted having enough presence of mind to understand that Cody couldn’t do with another round--- he had been hurting earlier hadn’t he? So, Ted figured that he would _practice_ the newfound talent that he had gained being with Cody, and that he suddenly found he really had the urge for.

Gently pushing Cody backwards so that he was laid out across the bed Ted pressed their lips together before then pulling back again and sending him a mildly nervous but wholly adoring and aroused look as he shimmied down his lover’s eager body, wrapping his mouth around him.

“Teddy!” Cody cried out lustfully, his hands threading into Ted’s soft blonde locks as he writhed underneath the perfectly luscious mouth around him. 

Ted sucked his cheeks in, hoping that what he was doing was at least somewhat satisfying. Though the hands in his hair tightening as he did so made him believe that he was doing a good job of things. 

“Mmm,” Cody groaned. Lord, the way Ted was going coupled with the fact that he was already so hard from watching John and Randy, he was sure that he was going to come any second. But then he thought of Ted, who must be aching himself, begging to be touched, hard and leaking… “Teddy, Teddy wait,” he said, pulling at Ted’s hair to try and get him to stop. 

“Shit, was I doing something wrong?” he asked. This was only the second time he’d taken Cody into his mouth, so it seemed possible. 

“God no,” he answered. “But… but I want you to flip around… I wanna suck you while you suck me,” he said. 

Ted’s eyes grew about ten times their normal size. “You… you can do that?” he asked, stunned. 

~~~

“J~~~o~~h~~n!” the elongated moan that emitted from low in Randy’s throat had John’s cock stirring once again, sensitive and more responsive than before.

Pulling back after a few long moments of teasing Randy’s hole John then pulled back, Randy’s eyes smoldering as he watched John licking his lips. “We taste fucking amazing,” John breathed and Randy forced himself into an upright position.

His legs were shaking worse than a newborn foal’s but that didn’t stop him from all but hauling John across to Danielson’s desk.

His trousers were left in a puddle of fabric on the floor alongside his shoes, John shoes and trousers being pointedly removed as soon as he had him against the desk.

Their mouths clashed and Randy took great delight in tasting himself and John in the action. “Cum slut,” he growled affectionately and John laughed lowly, “Only for you baby,” he pulled Randy in for another kiss shivering as their hot, half-naked bodies pressed together. He swore he heard a scuffling sound outside but he didn’t pay it much heed he’d admit.

“I wish I could watch you finger yourself,” Randy muttered, “but we don’t have time. So… suck,” he ordered as he stuck three fingers in front of John’s mouth. And John was more than eager to take those fingers into his mouth and do just as Randy wanted. By the time Randy pulled his fingers out, they were dripping with saliva. “That’s perfect, baby,” he said. 

“God, do it quick, Randy,” John said. He wanted Randy in him _now_. He wanted it hard and fast and he wanted to come all over Danielson’s desk. To let him know what he’ll never have. 

A single finger was pushed into John’s body, Randy twisting and pulling and pushing. “Just let me know when you’re ready—”

“Go ahead,” John cut him off. “I’m ready. For you,” he added, not wanting to bother with another finger. He wanted Randy. “Don’t try to protest it, either. You can never resist my tight arse.” 

Randy really couldn’t deny that. He and John had fucked with far less preparation before, and now they both just wanted a good _fuck_ right in the classroom.

“Don’t you be bitching to me tomorrow that it hurts to walk,” Randy quipped lightly before easing his finger out of John and then pushing himself into him. He took some time with the action since he didn’t want to hurt John too much--- but it was a single solid thrust that had him inside of him. John choked on his cry of pleasure-pain, eyes rolling back somewhat.

“Oh, John,” Randy groaned lowly at the tight muscle that surrounded him, grabbing at John’s hips as he took a moment to calm himself down for a mere second before then easing back out again.

The following thrusts weren’t slow or as considerate but John didn’t care in the slightest, welcomed it and wanted in, demanded it.

“R-Randy—“ John convulsed and shuddered as Randy changed his angle and began thrusting into his sweet spot, getting John to the edge in no time. At least he would have been had Randy’s hand not been tightly wrapped around him.

Smirking slightly to himself Randy pressed his face into one of John’s broad shoulders. Oh, Danielson would probably give his left bollock to be in his place. But he never would be.

“You’re such a good fuck, John,” Randy said against John’s shoulder. 

“Same can be said for you,” John replied as Randy continued to pound into him. “But what can you expect when you’re fucking someone like me?”

Randy grinned and continued to rock his hips back and forth. “You close, John?” he asked. 

“Mmmhmmm,” John drawled out, pushing his own hips back to meet Randy’s and drive him in _deeper_. 

“You wanna come all over Danielson’s desk?” Randy went on to ask, already knowing the answer. 

“Yes. I want you to make me come, Randy. I want you to _fuck me_ until I come. _Hard_ ,” he added, though Randy didn’t know if he meant he wanted to fuck him hard, or he was going to come hard. So he figured it was option c: both of the above answers.


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to - Oscar Wilde

“As my baby wishes,” Randy muttered, John groaned in pleasure again.

The hold on his hips was undoubtedly going to bruise at least a little but he didn’t give a fuck. “Randy—“ John’s hands slipped on the desk somewhat.

However, he caught himself before it got to be a problem of position, Randy chuckling lowly.

The desk was moving, much like Cole’s had, and John mentally cursed that they had so much tidying up to do.

It was going to be so worth it though, because it had been pretty fucking amazing as things stood so far.

John buried his face into his own arm to muffle a cry as he came some minutes later, his cum splattering across quite the distance of the desk, his body shuddering and bowing. Spurred on by the sight of John’s cum on the desk and the tightness around him Randy thrust until he too was cumming deep into John.

As Randy pulled out, John asked, “Are you planning on returning the favour?”

At first, Randy raised a brow, wondering what John meant by that. But he quickly figured it out. “Of course,” he answered, already sinking to his knees. His hands rested on John’s ass, pulling the cheeks apart as he began to run his tongue gently along the crack.

“Oh _fuck_ ,” John moaned, pressing his face into the desk. 

Randy then circled the slightly widened hole, lapping at the cum that began to leak out. He then wasted no time delving his tongue forward, pushing into John. 

John was fighting with himself, as he was always loud during sex. Moaning Randy’s name and curses and pleas to the gods. He moved his hand under his mouth, palm side down on the desk and he bit down hard. Anything to muffle the noise, because _fuck_ , it felt so damn good. 

“Randy—“ John whined lightly after a few minutes, tasting blood on his hand.

It was so good, too good, and everyone would undoubtedly be heading towards their dorms soon. Much as John really didn’t care who saw them together he could do without the added aggravation. Randy pulled back reluctantly, recognising the unspoken warning.

John didn’t even need to look to know that he was pouting.

“We can take a bath together,” John bartered, “But we do need to tidy up.” Nodding, Randy got back, giving John a deep, slow kiss before backing away from him.

“I don’t like this after-sex rush,” he muttered, but he was grinning lazily in that way that he always did after sex. “So I insist on a backrub later,” John snorted lightly but chuckled, retrieving his own pants, “Yeah, alright then.”

They quickly pulled their previously shed clothes back on, then surveyed the room. John walked back to Danielson’s desk, making sure to smear his cum into the surface of the desk. He then moved it back into place.

Randy was by Cole’s desk, rubbing the toe of his shoe over the floor to try and clean up the cum that had found its way there, as well. “We really made of mess of this place, didn’t we?” he asked.

John looked up as he adjusted his desk and grinned. “We sure did,” he answered. 

“Now get your arse over here and help me move this desk back,” Randy said. He didn’t want to pull it across the floor, as that would make too much noise (though the desk moving in the first place caused plenty of noise, he was sure). Plus, he needed to make sure it was lined up exactly as it was supposed to be.

Together they lifted the desk and moved it back into place. Randy didn’t think he disturbed the objects on the desk too much. 

“I think we’re done here,” John declared. 

“The room smells like us,” Randy said as they headed out. 

“I sort of feel bad for the cleaners,” John mused. Everyone knew that the cleaning ladies (and the occasional cleaning man) came in to do the classrooms when all of the boys had been sent to their dorms for the night.

“They’ll get over it,” Randy said, having the urge as always to reach for John’s hand as they walked. However, he knew that they had to wait for when they were alone before anything like that could happen.

John chuckled slightly, shaking his head at Randy and sending him a secretive smile.

As they rounded the corner towards Randy’s room though they found Bryan Danielson walking towards them. John felt a pulse from his backside almost tauntingly in that moment; Danielson had been the reason that they had also partially picked Cole’s classroom. Randy tensed slightly and John placed a hand on his arm.

Danielson’s jaw seemed to clench slightly as he saw the innocent interaction, “Good evening, Danielson,” John said as lightly as he could.

“John,” Bryan said lightly, looking at his crush.

Randy placed a hand on the back of John’s neck, smile venomous at Bryan.

Danielson looked at the hand Randy placed on John’s neck and scowled. “Still trying to prove to yourself that you’re better for him than I could be?” he spat.

“I don’t have a damn thing to prove to myself. I know for a _fact_ that I’m better for him than you are,” Randy answered. 

“Danielson,” John cut in before the other man could say anything. “I’m with Randy. I love Randy. I have always loved Randy. There’s not anyone else in this world I’d rather be with.”

“That’s jut because you don’t know any better,” he said. 

“Believe me, I know. It takes a whole lotta love to be able to deal with Randy’s usual self, but I do it, because I really do love him. And because of that, I could never love you,” John told him, tone flat. 

“I’m not going to give up on you, John,” Danielson said rather bravely –or stupidly depending on how you looked at it- and John sighed, shaking his head.

“More fool you then,” he said, “Because I’m not worth that.”

Before Danielson could say anything Randy suddenly released his touches on John and then stepped forward, Danielson tensing.

“Randy—“ John’s voice was warning but Randy merely waved a hand back to him and got into Bryan’s personal space, “You’ve got some balls, but rest assured I won’t hurt you—“ he said.

Just as Bryan seemed to relax and gain some confidence Randy then hissed, “But not because I don’t want to, or I can’t—but because John asked me not to. And he didn’t ask for _your_ sake, he asked so I wouldn’t get into trouble.”

“That’s bullshit,” Danielson growled back. He didn’t think Randy had the gall to do anything to him in the first place. 

“No, it’s not. He cares too much to me for him to get into trouble over someone like you,” John said. 

“That’s not it, John… you’re just a good person and you couldn’t stand to see me hurt,” Bryan said. 

“Bryan, I’m telling you for the last time that I’m not ever going to love you back. I’m sure that there’s someone out there for you… but just because I happened to save your life, that doesn’t make me that someone. When that whole incident happened, I was with Randy. And I’m _still_ with Randy. It’s been years, Danielson, and I plan to spend many more years with him, too.”

The other boy didn’t seem to have anything to say to that and so John and Randy merely walked around him silently.

As the pair rounded the corner Danielson ground his teeth a little; they were both just so infuriating, so confident...

He wondered how confident they would be if their parents ever found out about them being so… _close_.

“You think he’ll finally give it a rest now?” John asked as Randy unlocked the door to his room and let him pass by first. “If he knows what’s good for him he will,” Randy said with a grimace, “Otherwise he might find himself taking a midnight dip into the Thames… when it’s all icy, and this time there won’t be anyone to save him,” he allowed himself the momentary malicious daydream.

“Randy, that’s a little cruel now, don’t you think?” John asked of him. 

“No. Not in the least bit for all that shit he’s been spouting to us,” Randy replied. 

“He’s just confused. He doesn’t know what he really wants.”

“He wants you. That’s what he wants. But he should know damn well that he can’t have you, because you’re mine. It’s pretty simple really,” Randy said. “Now he just needs that to penetrate through his thick fucking skull so he can understand that little fact.”

“I don’t know if that’ll ever happen, though,” John said. “He’s… I don’t know, he’s got such a one track mind.”

“What he needs to do is go fuck his fiancée and discover that he likes pussy more than he likes you.” 

“Are you saying my arse is not as good as a pussy?” John asked him.

“Of course not. But he’s never going to find that out is he?” Randy returned back.

“Of course not, I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”

“Of course, now get those clothes off and get in my bed,” Randy’s face turned into a lighter expression then and John laughed slightly. He had been slightly concerned that his lover might end up working himself into one of his spectacular tempers, but he wasn’t it seemed.

Once undressed they got onto the covers together, lying together but facing one another, an arm draped over one another.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” Randy said suddenly and John blinked, shaking his head slightly as he smiled, “Why’d you say that?”

“Because it’s true,” Randy told him. “Some of the things that Danielson said… I agree with.”

“What?” John asked. 

“Like you being too good for me,” Randy went on. “Before you say anything… think about it. You’re always so cool and calm and collected. I can lose my temper at the drop of a hat.”

“I keep you in check. That’s all. We balance one another out. I’m not too good for you, Randy. Please, I may be cool and collected and I may be good at sports, but I can be thick as a brick when it comes to academics,” John said.

“You’ve saved a life before, though.”

“And you would have, too, if you’d seen it,” John replied back instantly. “We were made for one another, Randy. You have to agree with that.”

“I will,” he admitted, “But…” he shook his head slightly, “You can’t deny we’re different too.”

“I know; but I like your differences.”

When Randy still looked very uneasy in himself John moved so that he was leaning over the other, resting their foreheads together. “I love you, silly Randy, I love you more than anything.”

“And I love you too, John,” he placed a hand on his lover’s face and then drew him in for a kiss. It was the reassurance that he needed because although he didn’t doubt John’s words the actions always spoke to something deeper in him.

“Stop worrying now, Ok?” John prompted.

Though Randy nodded, internally he was still concerned. He knew what desperate blokes could resort to, and Danielson was a desperate bloke.

~~~

“I wouldn’t go up there if I were you,” Joe called lightly to Justin as he reached the door.

Turning slowly Justin asked, “Why?” though he already had a feeling _he_ knew why he couldn’t get in there even if his friend hadn’t susssed it out. “Have you got a key on you? The door’s locked.”

It was apparent that Justin’s questioning look queried why Joe would want to be in their room as he added, “I wanted to see if Cody had some spare matches… I couldn’t find mine.” Though if Windham had hidden them again as some unsubtle hint that he wanted him to quit that wouldn’t have surprised him in the slightest. “Oh…” Justin shook his head and said, “I need to go and see anyway. If he’s in there, sleeping or whatever, I’ll ask.”

Without waiting Justin then headed up to the room, trying the door before he then reaching into his pocket for the spare key he had. As he was putting it in the lock though, a sudden scuffling inside of the room attracted his attention. Shaking his head as he unlocked the door Justin then covered his eyes with one hand as he entered, “You better not be naked.” 

~~~

“Dunno, but god, I want to,” Cody said, clearly unable to hold out much longer because he lay down again and motioned for Ted. The blonde was clearly uncertain but the idea was speaking straight to his cock and he moved over his lover.

Almost as soon as Cody’s mouth wrapped around him Ted almost came then and there, but he managed to hold back. Moaning lowly he took the other into his mouth again, trying to focus on pleasuring Cody even as the other pleasured him. It was heady indeed, to have Cody in his mouth as Cody had him in his mouth was absolutely incredible. It was awkward at first but soon they got into it.

It didn’t take long and under other circumstances would have been incredibly embarrassing to Ted, but he felt that the other understood greatly.

And, in retrospect, it’d be good for them that they finished so quickly--- because not mere moments after they had finished and were curled together, sated and exchanging gentle kisses, someone was unlocking the door.

Ted moved quick as a wink to cover them both, and not a moment too soon, for Justin was there, eyes covered. “We’re not naked.”

“You two just had sex,” Justin stated as he uncovered his eyes and looked at them in bed together. 

“No, we didn’t” Ted told him, pulling the covers up even higher to cover his shoulders, even though his shirt was still on. Lying there in bed with Cody before Justin just brought out his shy side. 

“Ted, I’m not an idiot. And I’m not a virgin. I know what a room smells like after sex. Which you two clearly just had,” he said, still standing by the door. 

“We didn’t, though!” Cody exclaimed. “We sucked each other off, but that’s not actually sex, is it? What are you doing back here, anyway?” he then asked. 

“Well… I do live in this room while we’re at school,” Justin answered. “But I just came back to grab my books and things to go back to Wade’s.”

“You’re going back to Wade’s? Are you staying the—” Cody began, but Justin cut him off. 

“I’m staying until curfew, not the entire night. So I will be back. So do whatever it is you two need to do because, frankly, I don’t want to listen to you two fuck tonight,” Justin said. 

“We won’t!” Ted replied instantly. “Do things while you’re here, I mean.”

“Thank you.”

“Hey, so, what did Wade say, anyway?” Cody asked, remembering the real reason that Justin was out of the room in the first place. 

“Oh. He said that you two would be more than welcome to stay over,” Justin told them as he began looking for the books he needed for his homework. 

“He did? That’s fantastic!” Cody said. “I can’t wait to see your place!”

“Just don’t show me up, OK?” Justin said, “And don’t, please, have a problem with anything you might see between Wade and I.”

Ted’s brows rose skywards at that, “And _what_ exactly might we see?” Justin sent them both a look and said, “Nothing like _that_ \--“ but this time his brows were the ones to rise as Cody said, “Mores the pity.”

“Pardon?” Justin asked, wondering whether he had misheard his friend, but Ted’s hand went over Cody’s mouth and prevented him from saying anymore.

“Please tell Wade we’re really looking forward to it, and that it’s very kind of him,” Ted supplied instead with a smile, Justin eying them both warily.

“Right…” he moved, gathering up the necessary books that he wanted before then adjusting them in his arms as he moved back to the door again.

“Honestly, whatever you plan on doing that involves nakedness… get it done before I’m back.”

“Prude,” Cody teased, giving Justin a wave as he left, hearing Justin chuckling outside of the door, muttering something that neither of them could have recited back upon being asked.

Though Cody swore it was, “I’m far from a prude I can assure you two.”

And then they were alone again.

Cody burst into giggles suddenly and Ted looked at him incredulously.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, slowly lowering the quilt now that Justin was no longer there. The dark haired male shook his head.

“I don’t know really, I guess I’ve still got some pent up adrenaline inside of me or something,” he leant into Ted, still chuckling weakly to himself for no reason.

“You two just had sex, didn’t you?!” came a voice at the now open door. 

“Will you shut the hell up?” Cody asked. “And close the door!” 

Joe shut the door behind him and leaned against it as he raised a brow. “Well, I can’t say I was expecting to come in here and find you two like this… though I don’t know why I’m surprised, really.”

“Why the hell are you here?” It was Ted’s turn to do the questioning. 

“I was hoping to get some matches,” he answered, grinning at Cody sheepishly. “Can’t find where mine went.”

“Maybe that’s a sign that someone wants you two quit,” Ted suggested. 

“I’m not quitting,” Joe said. “So, you got any lights?” he asked again, tapping his foot on the floor. 

“Yeah,” Cody said a little reluctantly, Ted immediately shooting him a look.

“Cody!” he scolded and Cody made an effort to look contrite.

“Ah, let him alone Teddy,” Joe said, moving towards where Cody had indicated his bedside drawer, opening it and pulling out the box of matches. “Cheers Codes,” the other boy said, “I’ll bring them back after.”

“Don’t let Windham catch you!” Cody called lightly as Joe was leaving.

As the door closed behind their friend again Cody realised that Ted was completely silent beside him, and he slowly turned.

Ted’s arms were folded over his chest and he looked far from amused.

“I keep the matches for the emergency candles?” Cody tried, partially true but also partially a lie--- he did like a little smoke as everyone knew. 

“Emergency candles…” Ted repeated with a shake of his head. “Do you really think I was born yesterday? Hell, you were smoking just the other day!”

“It’s only every once in a while! I’m not nearly as bad as Joe is!” Cody exclaimed. “And I really only ever smoke with him, anyway.”

“So that’s supposed to make it all better? The fact that you only smoke with Joe?” Ted asked. 

Cody shrugged. “It’s not that often! I’ll try and be better about it, ok? But… sometimes I just _need_ to smoke. It helps calm me down.”

“But it also makes you stink… and then you taste like cigarette… even when you’ve done your teeth… I don’t want to kiss you, taste nothing but cigarette and not be able to taste _you_ ,” Ted told him.

Ok, that was a rather appealing reason but Cody knew logically there was no chance he would stop overnight--- he had no willpower to end his habit.

“I’ve said I’ll try and cut down,” he protested lightly, starting to get out of bed, “What more do you want me to do?” he asked him.

Ted started to respond and then paused a little warily, “Where are you going?” the question was tentative.

It took Cody a moment to realise that Ted was probably anticipating that he was probably going to storm out in temper again. He tried not to roll his eyes.

“I am going to do my teeth and wash up because then it means I can come back here and get undressed and get comfortable without worrying about falling asleep with an unclean mouth. That is Ok, right?” 

“Of course that’s ok,” Ted replied as Cody got his things together. “I was just saying I don’t like tasting cigarette on you, that’s all…” he reiterated. 

Cody sighed. “I know. I’ll work on it. I’m not promising that I’ll stop completely, but I’ll do it even less than I do now.”

All Ted could do was nod, and then Cody was out of the room and on his way to the bathroom. He knew he should go wash up himself to ready for bed. So, after sitting on the bed for a little while after Cody left, he grabbed his own things and headed off to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, both of them were back in their room (upon entrance Cody immediately asking for a kiss to make sure his mouth was clean enough) and getting undressed. Ted slipped his sleeping pants on, then asked, “Do you feel guilty at all for watching them?”

“If I walked into one of their rooms in their own home while they were making love to one another in a gentle, emotional way, then yes, I honestly think I would. But seeing them in a classroom?” Cody buttoned up his shirt as he spoke, not looking at Ted as he made sure the buttons lined up, “Not at all.”

“I… suppose that makes sense,” Ted nodded his head as he moved to place his clothing at the end of his bed, neatly folded as always, meticulous.

Cody draped his over the footboard of his bed but there was admittedly a little less care than Ted had used on his.

“Am I sleeping in your bed tonight then,” Cody started, “Or are you sleeping in mine?” not that he cared _where_ they slept per se as long as he got to be beside Ted. Hell, if he got to sleep besides the other then he would have been happy to settle down outside under the stars like a beggar.

That startled Ted slightly but then he shrugged a little and said, “Um, I don’t mind…” Cody made the decision for him by getting into Ted’s bed. “I always thought your bed was more comfortable than mine; now I have an excuse to be in it without trying to make you swap.”

Shaking his head slightly in bemused amusement Ted then got into bed alongside Cody. He reached into his side-drawer for his current bedside book and then settled to read it--- with Cody’s head making itself comfortable on his chest as he did so. Leaving the other to settle Ted fell into reading as usual. 

Soon, Ted heard the sounds of Cody’s breathing slowing and knew that he was falling asleep. “Hey,” he whispered, shaking his lover’s body slightly.

Cody groaned. “What?” he asked grumpily. 

“You were falling asleep,” Ted told him. 

“And?”

“I didn’t want you to fall into too deep a sleep, since I have to move to put my book away and turn out the light and get into bed properly,” Ted explained. 

“Does that mean you’re done reading?” Cody then asked. 

“I wanted to finish this chapter first. I just have a few more pages to go.”

“Nuh…” Cody made the inarticulate sound and tried to hide his face into Ted’s chest some more, “Read faster,” he commanded muzzily, sleepy.

“Yes Cody,” Ted smiled slightly despite himself.

Cody had always been so cute when he got tired.  
It should have been illegal.

Once he had finished his chapter and marked his place Ted the placed the book back in his bedside table before then turning the lamp off, putting them in darkness.

“Much better,” Cody immediately made himself comfortable.

Ted shook his head slightly, allowing Cody to essentially drape himself over him. 

~~~

For a second time that day, Justin began the walk to Wade’s office. He wasn’t expecting to see Wade at his desk in his robe, though, as soon as he walked in through the office door. “Oh!” he said, surprised when he saw his older lover right there. 

“Hello to you, too.” He looked at Justin’s face, then asked, “Is everything ok? It took you a little while…”

“Oh, I um… I may have walked in on Ted and Cody, but they insisted they weren’t doing anything… That’s not really important though, is it? I’m back here now.” He shut the door and walked in further, smiling all the while. He had his book bag in hand as he approached Wade’s desk, then set it down on the window ledge he enjoyed sitting at quite a bit. It wouldn’t do him any good to do work there right then as it was so dark, but it was a place to put his things. 

“Yes, that is the most important thing, isn’t it?” Wade agreed… though he couldn’t help but wonder how the successful families of Ted and Cody would take to hearing that their sons were lovers. 

“What are you thinking about?” Justin asked, seeing the look in Wade’s eyes; the thoughtful contemplation that only seemed to enhance the scholastic appeal Wade had. Sometimes many overlooked Wade’s brains because of his build and overall appearance.

“I was just wondering how Ted and Cody’s parents would take to finding out about them,” he admitted after a moment.

Justin felt panicked momentarily and Wade lightly patted his lover’s backside in warning, “I’m not going to tell anyone about them, silly boy, why would you even think that?” he sent Justin a slightly wounded look and his lover moved forward, arms going around Wade’s neck and hugging him, “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I thought that,” he admitted, ashamed. “Alright,” Wade conceded after a moment, “I forgive you,” he patted his lap, “Bring your books and you can work here with me.”

Justin chuckled slightly but took out the appropriate books and moved to Wade again before sitting on his lap, “I’ll be getting too big for you to hold like this soon,” he said with a slight sadness in his tone. 

“You’ll never get too big to sit like this… you’re probably nearly fully grown, anyway,” Wade said, his hand on Justin’s lower back. 

“You think so? I was hoping to grow at least another foot,” he teased. 

“Well, then I may just have to sit on _your_ lap, that’s all,” Wade said, his head now resting against Justin’s shoulder. “Now, let’s see what work you’ve got.” 

“I’ve got math set out right now, but you can probably already see that,” Justin told him. “And I’ve got some questions for discussion in literature. Then I’ve got something for geography I need to work on.”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Wade asked. “Let’s get started then; I’d like to see how well you’re grasping these math concepts.”

“Right now things seem to be going pretty well,” Justin told him as he flipped to the correct pages. “I understand it all, at least in class anyway. Guess we’ll find out if I retained any of that information.”

Wade was silent as Justin worked, not interrupting him nor offering guidance if Justin seemed to occasionally falter; that would be pointless as of yet.

If help was needed then he would review with Justin _once_ he’d done it all.

To give his boy credit though Wade could only see the occasional minor error in the questions, and he felt his heart swell slightly with pride at his aptitude.

“Angel, have you thought about what you want to do when you leave school?” he asked. They had broached this topic before, of course, but Justin had never given him a straight answer on the matter as of yet.

“Hm?” Justin looked up, the end of his pen resting against his bottom lip the way that he always did when he was thinking hard.

“Oh, uh, no, not really,” Justin admitted. In truth he didn’t like to consider the time when he would be expected to go into the world on his own too much; he was scared of what the change might do to their relationship.

“Not at all?” Wade asked. “Surely you’ve given it a little thought. I’m not pressuring you… you’ve still got a few years here and then another four at University to think about what you want to do with your life.”

“I know… I guess… I guess I’ve thought about it a little.” He ducked his head a bit as he went on, “You’ll probably think I sound ridiculous if I tell you what I’ve thought about doing.”

“Justin, you know me better than that. I’ll encourage you no matter what you decide you want to do,” Wade assured him. 

“Well… every now and then… I wonder if… if I should become a teacher.”

“Justin, are you serious? How on earth could I think that was ridiculous?” Wade asked, grinning.

“Because you know as well as I do that I’d want to teach _here_ just so I can be with you,” Justin told him.

“And you think I’d find that ridiculous how?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Justin flustered a little at the way Wade was grinning at him, “I wasn’t sure whether you’d maybe consider it a pathetic reasoning, or whether maybe you would want me away working elsewhere.”

“Silly Angel,” Wade chastised lightly, “That will never happen,” he told him, “I’d love if you came to teach here, and teachers are always a necessity.” Staff aged as well after all.

“Well, that was all I’ve really thought about,” he admitted, “No other career has jumped out at me,” and academia of some sort would be best for him.

“Well do give it some thought occasionally, but like I said: no rush,” he added.

Nodding his head Justin then gave his book to Wade so that the other could look over it, checking it.

Of course he was embarrassed by the little mistakes that were pointed out to him, but Wade’s praise made it worthwhile.

“I’ll do the geography now,” he decided after a moment.

By the time he was done with the rest of his homework (receiving high praise from Wade for everything, not missing a single question), it was very close to curfew, and he had to be going back to his room. “I wish I could stay with you another night,” Justin said to him, turning in his lap so his arms could wrap around the older man. 

“Believe me, I wish you could stay here, as well,” Wade told him. “Perhaps, though… perhaps next Friday…”

A smile emerged on Justin’s face just then. “Are you asking me to stay overnight _again_?” he asked. 

“If you would like to, yes,” Wade said. 

“If I would like to? Wade, are you crazy? Of course I would like to. I would love to!” He met wade’s lips in a kiss briefly before pulling back, still smiling. 

“Good. Now, let’s see you off before curfew.”

“You’re going to walk me back aren’t you?” Justin asked, slightly amused. Wade did it now and again, as though he was expecting that Justin would get assaulted on the walk back to his room. “Maybe just a little of the way,” Wade said, ears turning a little red but he wouldn’t be swayed; it was just an excuse to spend more time together.

“You’re such a gentleman,” Justin couldn’t stop the smile on his face as he watched Wade smartening his dress somewhat.

His books were gathered and then placed back into his bag, said bag then going over his shoulder as he awaited Wade.

“Ready to go Angel?” he asked after a moment.

“Yes,” Justin nodded, as enthusiastically as he could since he _did_ want to stay again. But, they had next weekend, he reminded himself, he shouldn’t be greedy.

“You look like you could be a student you know,” he mused as they walked together. 

Wade grinned, about to reply when a rather upset Bryan Danielson passed them in the halls. “Ah, Mr. Danielson. Preparing for your nightly rounds?” Wade asked of the prefect.

He paused when he saw who was talking to him and answered, “Yes, Sir.”

“Very good. And I do hope you know that Mr. Gabriel has permission from me to continue walking to his dorm undisturbed by you and other prefects?” he asked. As Justin’s guardian, he knew people knew that they saw one another every now and again, they just didn’t know the capacity in which they saw one another. 

“Yes, Sir,” Danielson said again. “Sir?” he said after a brief pause. “I’ve been keeping a particularly close eye on John Cena,” he told him. He hoped that he could tell a little of his side of the story before Randy could. 

“Mr. Cena? What exactly has he done to warrant your attention?” Wade asked. 

“A few nights ago, I don’t believe he was in his room at night.”

“Mr. Danielson, whilst I appreciate you doing your job, I believe there should be higher priorities on your list other than Mr. Cena.”

It was apparent that Bryan hadn’t been expecting it because the expression on his face was pure disbelief. “B-But sir--!” he started, “It’s against the rules to not be in your room!”

“I am aware of that, Mr. Danielson,” Wade said, brows raising slightly in response.

Justin looked between them both in puzzlement--- he could sense that there was something going on but he had no idea what it was. “If it happens again,” Wade was saying then, “Then I’ll speak to him. However, I do not see it being much of a problem as of yet. Now then, excuse us Mr. Danielson,” he chivvied Justin along.

“What was that about?” Justin whispered when they were in the hallway away from Bryan. For a moment it seemed like his lover wouldn’t acknowledge him but then Wade said, “I’m aware of night-time trips and I don’t mind it.”

“Ok,” Justin said slowly, nodding his head. Wade didn’t say anything more but he had the feeling that there was something more to it.

As they reached the stairs where Justin would part ways with Wade he turned to him.

“I’ll be seeing you during the week then,” he said softly. Their normal meetings.

“Yes, of course,” Wade replied. He nodded his head slightly and said, “Goodnight, Mr. Gabriel.”

Justin wished he could lean in and give Wade a kiss. But it was too risky, even if no one was around, but they never knew who could round a corner at any second. “Goodnight Headmaster,” he said in return.

And, with that, they parted ways. Justin missed Wade already. The only sounds made on the walk back to his room were those of his feet hitting the stone floor and his bookbag hitting his back with each step.

Once he was in his room, he found Ted and Cody were both asleep, the room in darkness. He had to maneuver around as best he could, trying not to wake them by turning on a light or making too much noise. However, when he stubbed his toe on the end of the bed and let out a, “Fuck!” he knew he wasn’t too successful in his endeavour. 

“You could have just asked me to turn on a light,” Ted mumbled from bed. “We just went to bed a couple minutes ago.” He still sounded groggy, though, so he must have been starting to fall asleep. 

“Sorry,” Justin said. 

“Just hurry up; I’m tired,” Cody told him, turning his head more into Ted’s chest to block out the light.

Justin made quick work of getting into bed after sorting himself out, “Ok, you can turn it off.”

Ted nodded weakly and then turned the lamp off, plunging them all into darkness. Goodnights were murmured to one another before they all then settled down to sleep, Justin taking a little longer than his friends.

~~~

The alarm awoke the trio not too long later it seemed and Cody was the one who reached over and slammed the alarm down so that it turned off. “Whoever invented those things needs to be imprisoned forever.”

“Such a morning person.”

“Shut up, Justin,” Cody mumbled slightly as he rubbed his eyes a few times before he forced himself to sit up.

“We have assembly this morning,” Ted reminded the other two when it seemed he had awoken, more coherent it seemed than even their typical morning-person Justin. Cody groaned again in protest.

“The assemblies aren’t that bad,” Justin said, and Cody grumbled as he got his uniform out and ready. “It’s not that…” he muttered, “It just means that I’m late getting my breakfast!” and this time Ted joined his lover in making a sound of protest. Justin laughed slightly, shaking his head, “Honestly, you two when it comes to your food…”

When the alarm went off bright and early the next morning, Randy muttered, “Fuck, it’s too fucking early.”

“Mmm,” John agreed. “Turn it off!” he then exclaimed as the noise was still blaring throughout the room. 

“That requires moving,” Randy said as he pulled the pillow tighter around his head.

Annoyed, John rolled himself on top of Randy’s body and reached for the alarm, finally managing to shut it off. “I don’t want to go to class today… oh shit, we have announcements to do today,” he said as he moved back to cuddle into Randy. 

“Fucking announcements,” Randy grumbled. “It’s the same thing every week. Do we have to?” he asked, already beginning to fall back asleep.

“I don’t want to,” John said. “But I do think we have to.”

“Unh… sometimes I wonder why I ever went in to accept the Head Boy position,” Randy muttered, slurring.

“Oh no you don’t boy,” John said, forcing himself upright, “Get up. No way can we skip out on these assemblies.”

Didn’t mean they weren’t wanting to though. They washed, dressed and then headed down.

It seemed everyone had gathered early and the only perking thought John had for having to get up so early on a Monday was that he could post up his plan for the tryouts the next day. Randy headed in with John, taking their places at the front.

They sat ahead of the students, but as per usual practice Wade invited them up after he had given his initial announcements and they’d had prayers.

“Does Wade look different this morning?” John murmured to Randy.

“You mean more relaxed than he’s looked in years?” Randy suggested. “Justin must have kept him highly occupied over the weekend.”

John smirked. “Must be it.”

“Well… looks like it’s my turn,” Randy said as he headed up to the podium to begin his own general announcements. He read off what felt to be the same announcements he made every week. Honestly, he swore he had a majority of it memorized. There were some changes here and there, but nothing major. As always, he told them to uphold the honour of the school, as they are all ambassadors to the Academy. Yadda yadda, same old bullshit. He felt like he couldn’t introduce John fast enough. 

All the students were gathered in the chapel, sitting according to grade level. Justin didn’t take his eyes off Wade even _after_ he was done with his own announcements, watching him as he took his seat.

Cody had his leg pressed to Ted’s, enjoying the little flush that now covered his cheeks. Every now and again, he would move his foot, causing his leg to rub just slightly against Ted’s. “Would you stop that?” Ted whispered. 

“Stop what?” Cody asked innocently in return, rubbing his leg against Ted’s again.

“ _That_!”

“Shh, I’m trying to listen,” Cody said, not continuing the conversation any further.

As Randy took to the podium, Ted didn’t know if he was blushing more from Cody’s leg against his or from knowing what that man up there was doing with John Cena just the night before.

“Good morning, everyone,” John greeted, feeling Randy’s presence at his side. “I would like to thank everyone who signed up for the rugby team. I’m looking forward to beginning our tryouts tomorrow, just as I hope those of you who are trying out are, as well.”

He went on, talking about where further tryout information could be found, as well as a schedule of sporting events. At least his announcements were somewhat interesting and changed weekly. 

“Alright boys,” Wade stood up after thanking John and Randy for their announcements, “Go on off for your breakfast,” he smiled and the teachers around the room began ushering people out of the hall.

Justin found himself lingering as his year was called, Cody behind him and Ted obviously behind Cody, “I want my breakfast, Justin, hurry up!” Cody whined lightly and Justin reluctantly tore his eyes away from Wade onstage.

Justin looked to Ted once they were in the hallway and paused, “Are you alright?”

“What?” Ted asked.

“You’re all red,” Justin pointed out, Ted’s hands going up to touch his warm cheeks.

“It’s nothing,” Ted said firmly, though Cody was grinning as though he was highly amused by something. “Come on!” shrugging slightly Justin headed after the other two, glancing to the hall again. 

~~~

They made it to the dining hall before the line really began to form. Meaning they got first pick at the best foods. Like usual, Joe, Windham and Heath used their friendship to their advantage and cut the rest of the fast growing line with the same old excuse that they were saving their spots. 

“So, Heath,” Cody began as they began filling their trays, “you gonna be with me in the stands tomorrow to support Teddy, Windham and Joe?”

“Of course,” he replied. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

“And you, Justin?” Cody asked.

“I would if I didn’t have tutoring. You know this already. I’ll be supporting you three, though, even if I can’t actually be there,” he told them. 

“You’ll be at the games, though, won’t you?” Joe asked. 

“You sound awfully confident that you’ll make the team,” Justin said. “But I’ll be going to the games no matter what, anyway. Wade tends to get a bit riled up about them, you know. I’ve been listening to it for years. At home over the summer, he’ll be talking about how we need to beat our rival academy once again. So, yes, I’ll be attending the games. I’m sorry I can’t go to tryouts, but I’m not letting my tutees fail because I was watching you lot instead.”

“So basically you aren’t turning up for your friends’ sake but you’re going to turn up because your boyfriend is concerned about it?” Justin kicked Joe underneath the table and the other yipped quietly before sending him a look back, “What?” he muttered, leaning down to rub his injured shin petulantly.

“Will you keep your voice down!” Justin shook his head in irritation. “Honestly, you people just don’t think at all do you?” he reached for some toast.

“You’re far too sensitive Justin, far too sensitive.”

“Maybe you lot shouldn’t play this game.”

“Why not?” Joe asked suddenly, glancing at Windham in puzzlement, wondering whether he’d missed something. “More knocks to the head would make you all even stupider.”

Cody burst into laughter, hastily smothering it with his hand.

“Someone’s certainly bitchy this morning aren’t they?” Joe pouted and Windham had to hide a smile to himself, though he was careful to hide it. “Time away from Wade get at you does it?” he shot and Justin subtly flipped him off. He was immediately distracted though when Wade and some of the teachers came in. He almost growled when he saw the French teacher talking to him. Honestly, she needed to back off or else. “Justin, mind your fork will you.” 

“Huh?” he asked, turning his attention back to his friends at the table. “Oh…” he then muttered when he saw that he had stabbed his fork to the table, missing his plate completely, but missing Joe’s hand by mere inches. “Sorry.”

“Sure you are. Now quit staring at your boyfriend.”

“And you quit calling him that!” Justin exclaimed.

“What would you rather I call him? Your elder lover?” Joe asked. 

“You can call him Headmaster Barrett,” Justin answered. 

“Do you ever call him Headmaster when he’s fucking you? Oh, yes, Headmaster, right there! Oh, yes!” Joe acted, overdramatizing everything. 

“And what if I said I did?” Justin asked in return, quirking a brow. 

“Mate—“ Joe stared at the other slightly, “I am never going to be able to look at him again the same way… if you mention the cane being involved somewhere I am not having any of it. Windham, he’s scarring me mentally,” he hid his face.

“And you call me a prude,” Ted looked amused and slightly embarrassed himself.

“It’s nothing about being a prude!” Joe peeked at him.

“Just be grateful that you’re not sitting next to me,” Justin warned.

“I could move?” Cody offered, leaning his head away to give Justin a view to Joe.

Windham, as per usual, wasn’t saying much because he was eating but for once Heath was being much quieter than they expected from him.

“No, no… I’ll just remember this the next time he’s failing a lesson.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Joe asked.

“That you’ve failed several lessons? And I’ve always helped you in the past, but now that you’re giving me such shit about Wade, maybe I’ll be a little less inclined to help. That’s all,” Justin answered. “Besides, you’re the one that brought it up!” 

“And I wasn’t expecting an answer! Much less the answer that I was given,” he said, scrunching up his nose a bit.

“Then you never should have asked the question,” Justin told him. 

“You know Joe, sometimes he just speaks faster than his brain can think,” Cody chimed in. 

“Quite frankly, I should be the one scrunching my nose up at you. I’ve only ever been with Wade. Whereas you… I don’t even know how many people you’ve been with. So, I think if I want to call Wade Headmaster while we’re in the middle of it, then it’s fine because I know he likes it, too,” Justin stated. 

“At least I’ve slept with girls our own age.”

“You say that as if I’d actually _want_ to be with someone my own age. You’ve _got_ to be joking. Don’t get me wrong, you’re all great friends… but after being with Wade? I’d never want to be with someone my age,” Justin said. 

~~~

“Not too bad, huh?” John asked as he and Randy headed out after the majority of the boys had been escorted out of the chapel.

“It’s as boring as it ever is.”

John laughed lightly and shook his head slightly to Randy’s words, “Come on we need to get something to eat… We’ve got Lawler first.” They made a point of showing up early to the man’s lessons because he had stood in their corner of numerous occasions, and also because they genuinely enjoyed his classes. “Who do we have after that?” Randy asked in a voice that John recognised as immediately being too casual for him. It took a few moments for the reason why to click with him and he stilled.

“Cole’s class,” John supplied and Randy immediately grinned. Oh, the sweet justice of what they had done would be still fresh despite whether the cleaners have been there or not. And what only made it sweeter to Randy was seeing Danielson’s sour face at breakfast.

John made a point not to look at the boy, having decided that trying to sever any possible ties between them would be best; he needed the other to back off, unsure if Randy would end up going for him or if it’d actually be him.

“You know…” Randy began, pausing as he waited for John to look at him, “I can’t believe it took us so long to do what we did.”

John smirked. “Oh, yes. I couldn’t agree more. It was high time that it happened. Don’t think it could have gone any better.”

“What couldn’t have gone any better?” Evan asked as he came up behind Randy and took a seat next to him. 

“Nothing, really,” Randy answered. 

“Why don’t I believe that?” Chris asked next as he took a seat next to John, across from Evan.

“You don’t believe me? Chris, I’m hurt,” Randy said. 

“Are you talking about last night?” Evan asked, blushing slightly as he stabbed his fork into his sausage.

Randy’s brows rose as he looked at his cousin before then looking to John and arching a brow, “John, did you traumatize the boy?”

“No!” John insisted, though his cheeks went rather pink despite the fact that his smile didn’t relent--- until he resumed eating.

“Evan, relax, nothing happened, nothing serious anyway. How did your evening go?” he asked innocently and Evan shook his head.

“You actually went through with it?”

“How much did you tell them, John?” Randy asked, amused. “You never could keep your mouth shut when you got excited.”

“Look who’s talking,” John returned, still unrepentant.

“So you did do it on Cole’s desk?” Chris murmured and Randy leant in towards him, “Not just Cole’s desk, Chris.”

“What do you mean not just on Cole’s desk?!” Evan asked, eyes growing wide. 

“Oh, Ev, there are so many more places in a classroom than just the professor’s desk,” Randy told him. 

“You mean like students’ desks?” Chris asked. 

“Just like that. And I can tell you that the desk we did it on was neither mine, nor John’s nor yours, nor yours,” Randy said, pointing to Evan and Chris respectively while he spoke. 

“Danielson’s,” Chris stated simply. 

“Maybe, maybe not,” Randy said, though that smirk of his and the mischievous glint in his eye gave him away. 

“I admire your balls my friend… though not literally, of course,” he pointed out.

“Good, otherwise we could be having problems.”

“You or Evan?” Randy joked to John.

“I give up with you lot, seriously…” Evan shook his head as he started making short work of cutting his breakfast into manageable pieces.

John chuckled lightly, “I think he’s going to completely stop hanging around with us now Randy,” he glanced at Evan though.

“If I stopped being friends with you both when you did reckless things we would never have been friends to begin with,” Evan pointed out, causing the other three to stare at him, slack-jawed.

“Are we really that bad, Evan?” John asked after a bit. 

“Well… think about it… you two have been _doing things_ since you were ten and eleven years old.”

“You didn’t know about that, though,” Randy said. 

“No… but you two always managed to get yourselves into unnecessary trouble,” Evan told them. “Yet you always managed to weasel your way out of said trouble… I was amazed the day I learned you got Head Boy, Randy.”

“My own cousin doubted me?!” Randy exclaimed, hurt. 

Evan raised a brow. “To be completely honest, I was stunned to hear you got made a prefect.”


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The one charm about marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties - Oscar Wilde

“You seem so sure about that,” Cody mused, rather impressed.

He knew he was certain about not wanting to be with someone other than Ted in all seriousness but their relationship was different to Justin’s.

“I am sure,” Justin said simply, and then added with a slight smirk, “So, Joe, if you were offering—” Joe’s face coloured immediately and he spluttered, Windham’s brow drawing in somewhat as Heath looked up, his expression oddly serious too.

“That wasn’t what I meant!” Joe shot first Windham a look and then Heath.

“I know… you lot are just so easy to wind up.”

On that note Justin finished his breakfast and then stood up, “If you’ll excuse me gentleman.”

As their friend walked off Ted looked at Joe, “Bet you’re not going to bring _that_ one up again anytime soon.” Joe huffed out a breath, shaking his head as he took a drink, “Retrospectively that might be a good idea… talk about sensitive, wow.” He leant back, glancing up at where their headmaster sat.

The man was looking at the door when he looked at him, and when Joe looked back to his still assembled friends he couldn’t help but ask lowly, “Do you think that Wade is really _that good_ in bed that Justin would swear anyone else off?”

“I thought you didn’t want to think about that anymore?” Windham asked.

“Well… sometimes I just can’t help myself. But, really, though, do you think he’s that good?”

“Not like Justin will ever know,” Cody chimed in. “But I’m willing to bet that, over the years, he’s gained a lot of experience. So, yeah, he probably is a great fuck. And I bet he buys Justin lots of nice things.”

“Oh, probably!” Joe agreed. “Considering Justin’s background, and all… coming from nothing… now he’s got anything he could want right at his fingertips.”

“I can’t believe you are actually talking about this,” Ted muttered. “I hope you don’t think that the only reason Justin’s sleeping with him is because he gets him nice things and is good in bed.”

“Of course not!” Joe said right away. He knew Justin better than that, knew he wouldn’t just hop into the man’s bed simply because he got him something nice. “But he really must be some kind of God in bed or something.”

“Well, why don’t you go fuck him and find out?” Cody asked.

“Would that be before or _after_ you got in there first?” Joe asked dryly.

Cody could have groaned; he really didn’t need that conversation after yesterday’s… difficulty.

However, to give Ted credit he merely took a bite of his breakfast before then reaching for his drink. “I can safely say Cody will _not_ be looking in our Headmaster’s direction for such _company_ ,” he said lightly.

“That sounds like you’ve considered it already,” Windham chimed in and Heath gave a curious look before nodding in agreement, “Man has a point, Teddy.”

“Well we haven’t… not completely anyway, not in the manner that you’re thinking,” Ted said lightly and Windham and John exchanged looks. Ted seemed a little pissed off, but not overly so, so…

“Are we all finished?” Cody said lightly as he set his own cutlery down, cheeks still pink but glad that Ted didn’t seem about to revisit the argument they had had the night before. “Yeah,” Ted nodded, finishing his last bit of toast.

“Wait for me!” Joe scrambled up as everyone started to get up.

“You’re not planning on skipping any classes this week, are ya?” Cody asked over his shoulder as Joe caught up with them. 

“No,” Joe answered. He then went on to add, “But it’s not as though it’s ever actually planned.”

“True,” Cody agreed. “But next time? Don’t skip your own dad’s class, because your stupid maneuver nearly got my arse in hot water. And I don’t appreciate that.”

“Well, I’m sorry,” Joe muttered. “Christ, it’s too early to learn. I just woke up, so I’m still tired… I just ate so I’m even more tired… now I have to go sit through some boring class?”

“Such is life,” Ted replied. 

“What the hell class do I even have?” he asked aloud, trying to think as they approached the classrooms. 

“You’re in my class, you dumbass,” Windham said. “We’ll see you later,” he said to the others. 

“Bye,” the others chorused as Joe turned and headed the other way with Windham, chattering to the other about something.

Cody sent Heath a sly look, “You shouldn’t be so open about your jealousy, Red.” The redhead turned immediately.

“I am not jealous!” though his red cheeks gave him away. Ted sighed and walked on ahead of the pair before their bickering started properly, “And don’t call me Red.”

Sticking his tongue out at the other Cody was quick to catch up with Ted just before he went into the classroom, but he missed the chance to pull Ted aside for a kiss before class.

Damn it… maybe next time.

“You’re one to talk about jealousy,” Heath threw back in a whisper as they moved into the classroom, taking their seats.

Their positioning was Cody behind Ted, Heath behind Justin, those two next to each other.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ted asked, turning his head around to look at Heath. 

“Just that you get a little jealous and possessive, that’s all,” Heath replied. 

“That’s all? Jealous and possessive?” Ted repeated, astounded. 

“It’s ok, Teddy,” Cody said, and Ted now had to lean himself to the side a bit to be able to look at Cody. “I like that side of you.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it, you know,” Justin chimed in. “Being jealous.” He didn’t elaborate, though, as more students began filing in, taking seats near them, and he didn’t want to risk being overheard. 

“That mean you are?” Heath asked to the man in front of him.

Justin merely shrugged. It wasn’t the time or the place to be discussing such things as jealously. Not when class was about to start.

Heath was definitely going to pull Justin up for an explanation on that later on in the day.

It wasn’t often he was vocal about his flaws, though he never called himself perfect.

As they were seated as their desks Cody’s mind began to wander…

Particularly to what he and Ted had seen in a classroom the night before. He swallowed slightly and forced his thoughts to stop firmly.

The last thing he needed to get caught aroused whilst in class.  
Ted pulled his book and pen out of his bag, and as one in practiced tandem all of the boys in the classroom stood up to await their teacher entering the room. They also chorused a good morning to the teacher.

Sitting down afterwards Cody then jotted down the date and time in his book, glancing at Ted out of the corner of his eye--- the concentrated look he had was cute.

Cody took his notes as the professor talked and copied down what was jotted down on the blackboard, but, really, Ted was far more interesting. He watched Ted taking his own notes, handwriting filling the page. 

He really liked Ted’s handwriting… and Ted’s hands. Ted’s hands were so gentle on him… one would never know it looking at him, or seeing him playing sports. But Ted really had quite the gentle touch. 

When Cody looked back up at the board, he noticed that he missed a few things that were written down, and wondered just how much he missed in the lecture… he hadn’t realized he was fantasizing that much over Ted and his hands… and those long fingers…

He needed to focus on class, not on how good Ted’s fingers felt when there were working in and out of his body… and how incredible it was to actually have Ted’s cock inside his body…

Dammit, he was losing the battle with his concentration. Maybe the next class would be better, as he didn’t have Ted in there with him. But then, maybe he’d just spend the whole time thinking about Ted and how much he would like to have him there so he’d have something more interesting to look at than a map of all England’s colonies. 

When the class finally ended Cody exaggeratedly stretched when he was safe for the teacher not looking at him. Ted gave him a light reprimanding pat on the shoulder when he noticed his showing to their friends. 

Justin clucked his tongue lightly at the both of them but there was the smallest of smiles on his face at the interaction; Ted was always telling Cody off for having a rather lackluster attitude to his classes. 

“What?” Cody pouted, “It’s your fault that I’m getting so distracted in classes.” Ted’s face fell into a mask of shock, “What did I do?” he asked, looking at their friends for help. They merely shrugged and gave him looks that said he was on his own for this one. 

In the hallway Cody let his body brush into Ted’s as he murmured, “I’ll see you later,” before he headed towards his next class where he could be meeting up with Windham and Joe. 

The blushing Ted was pushed forward by Justin to get him moving towards their math class. It was amusing how often their classes were in such different times even though they all shared the same lessons. Stumbling slightly Ted recovered himself before shouldering his bag and walking alongside the other. “He always gets you, you know that don’t you?”   
“Yes.” 

“Why do you always let him get to you like that?” Justin asked, though he knew how Ted felt. 

“I can’t help it,” Ted answered. “He just knows what buttons to push to get me… like this,” he went on. “I just… I can’t help it.”

“You get to him too, you know,” Justin then told him.

“Do I?” Ted asked. He knew that Cody loved him and wanted him, but, “He doesn’t seem to show it.”

“Believe me, he shows it. He could hardly take his eyes off you in class today. He just shows it in a different way… and doesn’t blush as easily,” Justin said, grinning.

“It’s not like I _want_ to blush all the time!” Ted exclaimed.

“It’s perfectly ok, Ted. Do you remember me last year when we came back from winter holiday?” Justin asked. 

Ted nodded, remembering that Justin had been acting really strange when they got back, but wouldn’t say why. Justin raised a brow at him, then Ted put two and two together. That was when Justin and Wade first slept together. “Ohhh.”

“So there is a brain in there,” Justin teased, Ted then gently nudging him with his shoulder. 

“I just… I don’t like when he doesn’t put effort into his classes, you know that. He gets into trouble at home as well as potentially getting caned if the teachers say anything…”   
Some might think he was being over-dramatic but he wasn’t; he could still remember the last time Cody had gotten the cane. 

He’d just wanted to hug the younger and shield him from everything. 

“He’s alright,” Justin said confidently, “There’s a brain in his head too even if it doesn’t seem like he always uses it.” 

Cody loved the theatre, sure, but even he knew he couldn’t make a career from it. At least not one his parents would approve of. 

And, well, Ted wouldn’t allow it either--- he’d heard of actors’ reputations outside their school. 

“Hey, where are you going?” Justin asked in amusement as Ted started to walk passed their classroom door, the blonde making a quick recovery before then joining Justin inside, “Don’t say anything,” he muttered, blushing again as Justin grinned. 

“My lips are sealed,” Justin said as they took their seats in their math class. 

“You know, Cody could very well be in this class with us,” he mused as he began rooting for the notebook for this class. 

“Oh, I know… Joe could be, too. But they just took the easy route,” Justin replied. “At least Windham and Heath are applying themselves in this class,” he added. They weren’t in the same class, Justin and Ted’s happening right before Windham and Heath’s. Of course, neither of them were overly excited to be in an advanced math class and often times found themselves wishing they’d taken the same route as Joe and Cody.

“So, what did you think of the homework from this weekend?” Justin asked once he had all his work in front of him. 

“Nothing horrible,” Ted answered. “I’ve no idea how I did, though. I _think_ I did it all correct.”

“Well, I’d thought so, too, until Wade pointed out mistakes here and there,” Justin told him.

“Wade?”

~~~  
“Ouch Evan,” Randy said, slightly stunned, “Very ouch.”

John reached and placed what would appear to be a companionable hand on his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze.

Though Randy never seemed it, he really did care about his family’s viewing of him, academically and otherwise.

“Don’t look so sensitive about it--- your own mother was shocked.”

“That was only because she didn’t realise I’d been entered for eligibility.”

Chris looked at Evan pointedly and Evan sighed; even his branch of the family was prone to the same stubbornness as Randy’s could display. “I’m sorry, Randy, I didn’t realise you’d be that upset. I didn’t say you were a _bad_ Head Boy.”

“That’s because I’m not. I’m easily the best Head Boy this school has seen in a long time,” Randy said. 

“Someone’s stuck on themselves,” John then said to Randy. 

“No. It’s just the truth.”

“You just scare everyone into behaving,” Evan teased. “One look from you is all it takes.”

“For the younger students, maybe… wish that worked on Danielson,” Randy muttered, still pissed off about him.

“He’ll come around,” John tried to assure Randy… and himself. 

“Really? He doesn’t seem like the type who’ll come to see reason.”

“Can we not linger on it? I thought last night was making our peace with it, getting a firm end to the situation.”

“Alright John,” Randy conceded.

Chris caught Randy’s eye though and knew he didn’t mean it.

He knew that had the situation been he and Evan then he would be the same.

“John’s right,” Evan nodded, “You just need to let him get on with it.”

Honestly--- those two were too optimistic about human nature. It was mildly annoying and yet endearing all the same.

“Everyone ready to go to class?” Evan asked, absently rubbing the back of his head lightly.

“Did you seriously just ask that?” John asked of him. 

“What? That’s where we’re all going, right?”

“Not willingly,” John said. “I think I feel my illness coming on again. I’m going to have to take another sick day.”

“You’re not taking a sick day without me. And I think it’s already been established today that we’re perfectly healthy. So no sick day for you,” Randy told him.

“I don’t wanna go to class,” he told Randy with a pout. 

“And that’s too damn bad.”

“It’s not fair. I’m shit in class; why should I have to be subjected to this each and every day?” John asked even as he was all but dragged into the classroom.

“Because you do,” Randy said as though that explained everything.

John mewed pathetically, sending Randy puppy-dog eyes.

The Head Boy refused to acknowledge them though and merely pushed John into his seat, sitting beside him.

Ordinarily the boys were organised in some sort of order, like alphabetically, but every class he and John had they sat together even though their surnames were far apart.

It was probably their position in the school hierarchy which had then being essentially left untouched about things like this, for no one else could choose if the teacher upheld that.

It had been strict to start, but Randy felt they gave in when you got older.

Evan took his place by John, Chris by him.

“Good morning,” Professor Lawler greeted as he headed into the classroom, just a bit before the bell. 

“Good morning, Professor,” the students returned in greeting, though it was a pretty mumbled and subdued greeting as many students were still waking up. 

He sat at his desk, shuffling some papers around, looking for the ones he would need for the day’s lecture and class discussion. 

“Quit looking so uninterested,” Randy muttered to John. 

John gave him a look. 

“Even you have to like this class,” Randy said. 

“Not at eight in the morning, I don’t,” he replied. 

“Oh, come off it. Lawler’s a great professor. Even you have to admit to that,” Randy tried again. 

“Bet he’d be even better at about ten in the morning.”

“Stop bitching, you’ve had a good night’s sleep right? You’re just not a morning person,” Randy whispered.

“That’s got nothing to do with me personally… anyone who’s sane would not appreciate class first thing in the morning.” Randy looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

“Are you calling me insane?” he muttered.

“Depends… I’m sure I could find grounds for it.”

“Something you’d like to share with us boys?” Lawler asked, trying to fight a smile--- as he always did. He wasn’t a disciplinarian per se.

“No sir,” Randy said, sending forth a charming smile.

Even Evan was fighting a smile at the old tried-and-tested tactics.  
Jerry was by no means easy to sway but he was often given little presents in the hope of currying his favour.

“Alright… if it comes up again though you’ll need to share it… goodness knows I haven’t had a giggle in a while.”

“Yes, Sir,” John said, glaring at Randy as the bell rang and it was time for class to begin. 

Lawler stood from his desk chair and began speaking, expecting his students to be taking notes and paying attention to what he was saying. He didn’t start writing on the chalkboard for his notes, trying to get the students to listen carefully in order to copy down what they felt was important. 

When he did turn his back to jot down one of the important themes of discussion, Randy leaned to John and asked, “You awake yet?”

“No,” John answered, having hardly anything written down. However, he was a good listener and could retain a lot of information that was merely told to him. 

Randy rolled his eyes and sat up properly in his seat, writing down what Lawler put on the board. 

“Now,” Lawler began, “Mr. Jericho, could you please tell me one aspect of this theme that you read of in our books over the weekend?”

The look on Chris’ face was there for mere moments but Randy, John and Evan saw it. 

However, as per usual, Chris could think on his feet and he immediately gave a rather impressive response about the latest article. Even Lawler looked somewhat surprised by the coherency of his reply since his hesitation gave him away more than his expression had. “Well, well done Chris, well done.” 

Chris wasn’t stupid but he sent Evan an apologetic look for reason when Lawler looked away--- that answer was partly his, they had discussed them. 

“I’m sorry love,” he mouthed and Evan flushed somewhat before sending him a warning look. Chris knew he owed him for this one; he’d panicked a little though. 

He didn’t like being caught out in class, he was very proud of his academic skills. He had had more on his mind the previous day though. 

“You cheater.” Chris hung his head somewhat in response, acknowledging the telling-off for what it was. 

Lawler went on, writing more up on the board to encourage discussion and student participation. John was none too happy when he was called upon, but answered the question anyway. There were times that he was glad Randy forced that whole studying thing upon him.

After what felt like a lifetime later, the bell rang. Once they were in the hall, Randy turned to John, “Looking forward to the next class?”

“No,” John replied. “I really don’t enjoy a majority of the classes I’m forced to attend, no matter what happened in said classroom the previous day,” he added, knowing where Randy was gonna go next.

“You’re no fun anymore,” Randy muttered. 

“I still can’t even believe you two,” Evan chimed in from behind them. “Doing what you did…”

“Oh cousin, there is so much I could teach you,” Randy grinned, leaning into Evan somewhat as John and Chris were engaged in conversation and he didn’t want this to be overhead. “Fucking on the desk was downright glorious… the way it moves underneath you when you move….” 

Cheeks blooming bright red as he suddenly got an image of himself or Chris spread out for one another on a desk, Evan then smacked Randy’s arm lightly. 

“Hush your mouth,” he scolded lightly, much to Randy’s amusement. 

“You can’t fool me, Ev,” he teased lowly, “I can see the interest in your eyes,” he winked. 

Mortified and muttering about ‘perverted cousins’ to mask his own being caught Evan headed out, Chris following him and John having to be semi-towed along by Randy when he tried to slip off in the opposite direction.

Evan looked to the desk, where Cole was already seated, then looked to his cousin, shaking his head before looking to the desk again. 

“Quit pretending to be so innocent,” Randy said. 

“Quit trying to corrupt him!” Chris chimed in from his seat in front of Randy, next to Evan. 

“I think you already took care of that,” Randy said. 

“Randy!” Evan exclaimed, finding himself turning red. 

“Could I please have some order in this classroom?” Cole asked, standing up and leaning himself onto his palms, which rested on his desk. John looked to Randy, both of them smirking. “I realize the bell hasn’t rung yet, but I will not tolerate such behaviour while in my classroom.”

“Maybe if he got a good fucking over his desk now and again he wouldn’t be such a bitch,” Randy whispered to John who smirked somewhat. 

“No joke there,” John whispered back to his lover. 

“Is someone talking still?” Cole snapped, dark eyes narrowing sharply behind his spectacles. 

Silence greeted his words, though Randy and John were fighting laughter. 

Even Evan wanted to giggle; he wasn’t exactly a fan of Cole’s either. 

“Now, Shane,” Cole grinned at one of his pet-pupils, the ever-ready to show off Shane McMahon, son of the head of the Board of Governors. “Why don’t you start the discussion?” he prompted, several boys miming gagging. It was as though Shane was God on earth as far as Cole was concerned; the boy could do no wrong, could say nothing wrong. 

“Yes, Sir,” Shane agreed right away, opening their latest book to the beginning of the chapter. “Would you like me to start at the beginning of the chapter, Sir?” he asked, ever the Cole ass kisser.

“Yes, that’d be good. What was the first major point that you found whist doing the reading?” Cole asked.

Shane babbled on and on, losing the attention of nearly everyone in the class. Except for Cole, of course, who seemed to be hanging onto his every word as though they were the last he’d ever speak. 

He then asked a question about the chapter they were required to read, but before Cole could ask someone else to answer, he answered his own question from points further on in the reading. 

It was at that point that John leaned back in his seat and stretched out his legs. Cole’s attention was all on the McMahon spawn, anyway. 

~~~

“He teaches me more than that sort of thing you know,” Justin mused softly. 

“I know that,” Ted whispered back, the technical one eye on their teacher and the other keeping his attention upon Justin.   
The one good thing about this class for the main was that they were left on their own for the majority after the initial explanation. 

“But I didn’t realise that you actually went to him for advice on your lessons…” he trailed off. 

“We do reviews together now and again.” 

“I see,” sometimes it was hard to forget that Wade was Justin’s defacto parent, and would obviously take an interest in his academics and help him and such. “You like spending time with him like that?” he paused momentarily to take notes off of the board, the teacher still speaking, before then glancing to Justin, awaiting his answer. The dark skinned male gave a soft little smile and nodded, “I really do. I mean… I get to show him, don’t I?” 

“I get to show him that I’m genuinely working hard, and repaying him back for all he’s done.” 

~~~ 

 

Ted smiled at that. “I know you talk about him, but this is the first time that I really… understood how much you actually care about him. I know you _appreciate_ him for everything he’s done,” Ted tried to explain himself better. “But, what I mean is… I guess…”

“Ted, I get it. Yes, I appreciate him and I care about him and I want him to see that everything he’s done is not for nothing.”

“He must really love the fact that you’re number one in our class,” Ted said to him.

Justin chuckled. “Oh, he does. Considering if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t even have an opportunity at an education. I don’t know if that’s why I’m doing so well, because I don’t want to squander this chance, or if I really just am that intelligent.”

“Obviously it’s all the professors just feeling sorry for you… and probably wanting to suck up to Barrett for a promotion,” Ted teased. 

Justin tried to scowl, but his grin was winning out at that point. “Bastard,” he muttered.

“I’ll have you know my parents were comfortably married when I was conceived,” Ted said with playful haughtiness in a low voice, Justin breaking into chuckles which he hastily muffled with his hand as he wrote something down in his notebook. “That’s what they told you.”

“Hey—“ Ted sent him a playfully warning look as he pointed his pen at Justin, “Hush up.” His father was way too staunch for that sort of conduct.

“I’m kidding,” Justin assured and Ted nodded, knowing he had just been teasing him.

They were quiet a moment before Justin then looked up to Ted and said, “You know, I really appreciate having you, Cody and the others as my friends.” Ted’s brows rose somewhat in surprise at the sudden sentiment, “What brought that on, Justin?”

“I just really don’t think I tell you all how much I appreciate it sometimes,” was all Justin said but Ted knew that it ran deeper than that.

Justin had confessed before how some people treated him because of the colour of his skin.

“Well, you know… when you’re stuck in a dorm room with someone…” Ted trailed off, earning him a roll of the eyes from Justin.

“Thanks. I tell you how much I appreciate you and you say that you’re _stuck_ with me.”

“You know I don’t really mean that. You’re truly one of the closest friends that I have,” Ted told him. 

Justin smiled at that. When he started schooling, he was so worried that no one would like him and that he’d be left to fend for himself once again. But he wasn’t, he made friends fairly quickly. Ted and Cody were attached at the hip even then, and they were the first to shyly come up to him and talk to him. 

“And I really am thankful for that. Now, I suppose we _should_ actually do some work,” he then said. He looked up at their professor, who was talking to another student about a question they had about the work they’d just gone over in class. 

“You’re right. We can’t just… sit here and talk without looking someone suspicious,” Ted said. He picked up his pen and then looked to Justin’s open math book. “I’d much rather just sit and talk, though.”

“Really?” Justin smiled somewhat as he looked down to his own work-book, “It’s not often that you’ll admit to not wanting to work.”

“I know, but it does happen,” Ted whispered back, voice lowering since the teacher was walking past.

Though he glanced at them he didn’t say anything to them; they _were_ working after all.

Actually, they didn’t often get into trouble in this class though they were called on often. Whereas some teachers seemed to make a habit of selecting those who clearly _weren’t_ too sure about the answer it seemed theirs was also keen to show off the intellect of some of the class… something Ted did dislike.

“Sometimes I curse the fact that I seem to be mathematically gifted,” Ted sighed as he flipped over his page, he and Justin having fallen quiet as they worked. “It means that I’ll have no choice but to go into doing the company’s accounts when I leave university.”

Justin couldn’t imagine Wade having decided a career for him almost since youth, but the situation of Wade and himself was different from Ted and his family’s business. “They’ll do great with you keeping an eye on things.” 

“Well, I never doubted _that_ ,” Ted told him. “It’s just a matter of… not actually wanting to keep the books. I mean, it’d be great to stay in the family business and all, and it will be a steady job. But I never got much of a say in things.”

“Let’s say you _did_ have a say in things, then. What would you want to do?” Justin asked. 

Ted shrugged. “That’s the thing. I never really thought about it. I knew this would be expected of me from a young age. I go to school and major in accounting and finances and business… and then I go on in the family business. I honestly wouldn’t even know _what_ I’d want to do if I had a say in the matter.”

“You had to have given it some thought, at least,” Justin said. 

“Not really, no. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be able to make my own choices when it comes to my future, but… I don’t ever see that happening. My family expects something of me,” Ted told him. 

“It’s good, though, right? I mean, that you have something you can do once you’re out of school. I can’t imagine a lot of people have that guarantee,” he mused. 

“No… and I feel guilty right now even thinking about doing something different with my life… but I can’t help it… and I know it’s where I’ll end up, anyway, even if I _do_ imagine myself elsewhere.”

“I spoke to Wade about what I’m thinking of doing once I leave school,” Justin confessed, “I was really nervous to how he might take my choice but he seemed delighted when I told him.” Ted looked to his friend with abject curiosity.

Wade had never seemed to push anything on Justin, and he’d never really mentioned jobs before.

“I said to him that I was thinking of becoming a teacher. I mean, scholastics are the only thing I’m really good at and this could be my way to give back to society, you know?” he didn’t have family-assured connections as such, and though he didn’t doubt Wade would pull strings for him if need be he didn’t want that.

He _had_ been considering it seriously on occasion even before telling Wade.

“I could see you as a teacher,” Ted mused, “Though you could always go into private tutoring as well; I’ve heard there’s lots of money to be made into that.” He didn’t realise _where_ Justin intended to teach...

And at that point Justin admittedly had little interest in telling him. “And what do we reckon?” Justin then joked lightly, “Cody plans to join a travelling theatre troupe?”

“He bloody well won’t,” Ted muttered, startling Justin from the sudden light curse from the ever-polite Ted, and then causing him great amusement as he teased the other that his jealousy was showing. 

“What?” Ted asked. “I’m not jealous…”

“Then why not let Cody join a theatre troupe if that’s what he wants to do?” Justin asked of him. “We all know how much he loves acting.”

“Justin… haven’t you heard of their reputations? They do drugs and they’re all… loose,” he answered. 

“I highly doubt that Cody would be _loose_ with anyone,” Justin replied. “Or that he’d do drugs.”

“And what makes you think that he wouldn’t adapt to that lifestyle? Should he ever go join some travelling troupe… which _isn’t_ going to happen.”

“Well, mainly because he loves you, you idiot. You’re not going to get rid of him that easily now that you have him.”

“But… what if someone hurts him, or something?” Ted then asked in a whisper, his worst concern finally coming out. “I couldn’t bear the thought of someone forcing themselves upon him, you know?”

“Teddy,” Justin fell quiet though even before finishing his sentence.

Though Cody was a man, like themselves, and could be expected to handle themselves he could only do so much if he was ganged up on.

The tales were in the paper all the time, of gangs of rogues setting upon unsuspecting woman or vulnerable young men...

Yes, Justin could see why Ted would have _that_ concern amongst the other’s concerning Cody and a travelling troupe.

“Don’t worry, that would never happen,” he tried to assure, but he could see the naked fear in Ted’s eyes despite their conversation being hypothetical.

A cold shiver as though the fingers of Death Himself ran down Ted’s thigh as he tried shaking it off. “Yes, yes, you’re right…”

At least he _prayed_ that Justin was right; he had no idea what he would do if he ever heard that Cody was violated in _any_ fashion, be it something as small as a kiss, and not even a kiss on the lips. 

“But it’s like you said, he’s not going to join a travelling troupe. Is he?” Justin then asked. 

“No,” Ted answered assuredly. 

“Acting really is all he enjoys though, isn’t it?” 

“I’m sure once we leave here and go to university he’ll figure out what he wants to do in life. That’s not acting with some travelling theatre performers.” At least, that’s what Ted hoped would happen. With Cody, no one could really be too sure of anything. 

“Would you really be _that_ opposed to him acting?”

“Well… I mean… yes… I don’t really know what I’d do if he…” he trailed off, not sure how he felt about voicing all of his worries to Justin. 

“If he… left you?” Justin supplied. Ted nodded and Justin went on, “You know he’d always come back to you, right?”

“Would he though?” Ted asked, holding up a hand before Justin could intervene, “Wait.”

He had his reasons for thinking so.

“We don’t know what will happen in the future, right? What if Cody meets someone else and wants to leave me for them? What if he ends up travelling the world and seeing things that we’ve never so much as heard of before…” he trailed off after a second.

“Ted, you… that won’t happen,” Justin said softly.

The blonde looked up at the ceiling momentarily before looking down again, “I can only hope. I don’t want to lose him like that.”

Or at all. “I’m sorry to burden you with all of this,” he added.

“Not at all I’m sure,” Justin said in all seriousness, “I’m glad that you feel you can confide in me, Ted. I’m always going to be here to listen.” 

“Thank you… though I probably sound quite pathetic, don’t I?” Ted muttered. 

“Not at all. They’re legitimate concerns,” Justin said. “I just think that you might need to have a little more faith in his love for you.”

Ted gave him a little half smile. “The thing is, though… he’s been my closest friend for nearly my entire life and I know what he’s like… he’s already told me that… that he’s attracted to and would… play around with select other people,” he told Justin in a whisper.

“Oh, really?” Justin asked. He thought that Cody had promised Ted that he wouldn’t do that anymore. “If you don’t mind my asking, who are the select people?”

With a sigh, Ted answered, “He told me that, if they wanted to, he would play around with… Cena and Orton.” He saw how _incredible_ they both looked when they were together and understood _why_ Cody would want to play around with them; they were so attractive and they certainly knew what they were doing and weren’t at all shy about it. 

“And, what, are you worried they’d be better at it then you are? Because I’m sure they are.”

“Thank you, Justin, you’re loads of help,” he replied sarcastically.

“Oh hush,” Justin said, smacking Ted on the shoulder lightly, “I’m just teasing.”

At Ted’s look Justin rolled his eyes before then saying, “I do think you’re missing the point though Teddy. You see things differently than Cody.”

“Well, I would have thought that that was a given,” Ted said, clearly not getting the meaning.

“No, I mean, you see such intimacy as in it being only with one person, who you truly care for and want to be with, whereas Cody sees that but _also_ sees the less-stringent side of it, to Cody you are _The One_ whereas those two would be momentary company.”

“I still don’t understand why I apparently don’t get it,” Ted humped lightly and Justin had to fight a smile at his pout, “I know you don’t Ted. What it means is that even _if_ Cody happened to go off to _play_ with someone else for a _little while_ he would _always, always_ come back _to you_ and you alone. Do you understand now?”

The blonde’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. From the expression on his face it was apparent he was just starting to register what had been said by his friend.

“Oh…” he finally managed a little pathetically, at a loss for words.

“Exactly,” Justin said with a nod once he realized it sank in with Ted a little. 

“But… you don’t do that, right?” Ted then asked once he was a little less shocked by the revelation. 

Justin smiled. “No, I don’t. I guess I’m more like you in that sense. But I can understand Cody’s point of view. But I’d rather only be with one person my whole life,” he confessed to Ted. 

“And that’s what I want, too,” Ted told him. “Except marriage, should that ever happen, I only want to be with one person.”

“Would you trust him enough to let him play with others?” Justin asked. 

“It’s not a matter of trust. It’s a matter of I don’t want anyone else’s hands on him. It’s not that I don’t trust him, because I do… it’s other people I wouldn’t trust with him. I don’t want anyone else to know him like I do.”

“And you say you’re not jealous.”

~~~

“Pay attention,” Randy’s voice sounded lowly in his ear and John snorted ever so quietly and turned his head to look at his lover, “Why? It’s not like Cole can pay attention to anything but his McMahon boner anyway.”

“There’s an image I could have done without,” Randy whispered back, one eye on Cole and the other on John.

“It’s true though… I should have just ditched this class; when McMahon gets on the reins then Cole doesn’t really think to do much else. I’d rather be _reading_ the damn book then listening to McMahon prattling on.”

When his lover’s hand suddenly went to his thigh John tensed slightly; though he was pretty brazen these seats were more in the middle of the room and there was every chance someone could see them.

Glancing at Randy though the other merely sent him an innocent smile before returning his attention to his book, jotting random images in the margin.

Randy moved his hand upwards just a bit, fingers rubbing lightly. John was still quite tense. “Randy,” he whispered. 

“Yes?” he asked as though he was doing nothing out of the ordinary. 

“Would you stop that?” John asked.

“No,” Randy answered. 

“Very good point, Shane!” Cole exclaimed excitedly as Shane hit on one of the points he had wanted to bring up today for discussion. 

“Why should I?” Randy then asked. “It’s dangerous to let your mind wander, so I’m just giving you something to pay attention to,” he said, moving his hand higher still.

“If you don’t stop, I’m going to have a bigger problem to deal with than not paying attention in class…” 

“And you think that that would put me off _why_?” Randy whispered back at his lover, highly amused by that statement.

“Will you stop?!” John slipped his hand underneath the table to grab Randy’s.

In retaliation Randy suddenly grabbed John’s groin.

One of the teen’s legs jumped up, smashing against the underside of the desk.

Shane shut up at the noise and Cole’s head whipped towards the sound, smile slipping somewhat and his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

“Mr. Cena?” he said suddenly, John’s jaw set to the point where it was trembling. He didn’t know whether or not he was glad that Cole couldn’t see what Randy’s hand was doing.

“I--- I was just going to comment on the emotional retrospective sir,” John ground out and Cole looked genuinely shocked: John had just made an excellent, valid point. And _before_ Shane.

“And can you elaborate on the emotional retrospective?” Cole asked of John, now curious to hear what he had to say. 

John had to fight a sigh and the urge to roll his eyes as he sat up properly in his seat… Randy’s hand still on his leg even after all that. “Yes, Sir,” John answered and flipped to a different page in the book in order to prove his point. 

“Very good, Cena,” Cody said to him once he had explained. “Does anyone else have a different take on it?” he then asked of the class.

Shane was more than happy to answer that. Once again, they were back where they started. 

“Look at what you did!” John whispered harshly to Randy. 

“What I did? I’m pretty sure that was _you_ making all the noise over there,” Randy countered.

“Because of you! Christ,” John muttered.

“Would you just stop doing whatever it is you’re doing?” Chris asked, turning in his seat just a bit, using the excuse that it was to get a better look at Shane while he spoke so he could pay attention better. 

“For once it’s _not_ me and _all_ him!” John protested, clearly flustered and, dare Chris think it, embarrassed. Definitely so.

“I don’t hear you complaining normally,” Randy returned back lowly, though in all honesty now that Cole was focused back on Shane again they would have to make another serious disruption to garner the man’s attention if they’d wanted it.

“Hm,” Chris arched a brow, clearly unsure whether to be amused or not.

“That wasn’t funny,” John muttered, but made no move to remove Randy’s hand again. He had no idea what his lover would do in a _playful_ mood.

“Behave, Randal,” Evan chided quietly, causing Randy to pout.

“Et tu, Evan? You’re my cousin, you’re supposed to be on my side!” he whispered back to him.

“Yes, but when you’re disrupting my education you know that that is unlikely to happen,” Evan pointed out.

Randy huffed quietly, but then as something of an apology to John he moved the hand on his thigh to rub the knee that the other had banged instead. He forgot even John could get moody in the mornings.

As Randy rubbed a soothing hand over his knee, John looked to him and smiled slightly. Everything was instantly forgiven. 

The rest of the class went by and only one other person spoke to counter some point that Shane made. Which Shane instantly countered back and a debate all but broke out between them. Cole was eating it up.

A few minutes before the bell rang, Randy leaned to John and asked, “Can you believe you had your cock up my arse just last night on that desk?”

“Mmm… we’ll have to do it again sometime,” John replied.

“Oh yeah? You liked it that much, then?”

“Sometimes I can be a bit of a thrill seeker,” he answered. “If you catch me at the right moment.”

“I’ll bear that in mind,” Randy quipped gently, the bell interrupting anything that John might have said to him in return initially.

“You two reconciled now?” Evan commented as he packed his things away, Chris also glancing at the pair. Had they been able he would have bet money on the fact that they would have kissed or held hands or something.

“Of course,” Randy winked lightly as he shouldered his own bag, “He can’t stay mad at me for anything—“ he leant in, “I’m too good in bed, you see.”

Chris snorted lightly and Evan nudged him, “Don’t encourage him!”

“Seriously, are you two on a dry spell?” Randy retorted, “You’re so moody today, Ev!”

John collared Randy and hauled him out of the room before the little spitfire could lash out at Randy.

“Sometimes I wish he didn’t know,” Evan said to Chris as they waited in the bottleneck that had formed to leave the classroom. People really couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

“You definitely wouldn’t be teased as much by him,” Chris said. “But overall, isn’t it better that he does?”

“Well… yeah, I suppose. Not hiding this anymore is a wonderful feeling,” Evan admitted. He remembered how downright shitty he felt when he was hiding, especially when he was hiding his feelings from himself.

“Exactly. So, it’s good that he knows, right?”

“Right… even if he is an asshole about it,” Evan said. 

“Right,” Chris agreed with a chuckle. He looked to his side at Evan, then further along the hall he spotted Randy. Walking a bit faster, confusing Evan as he was left behind, Chris caught up with Randy and John and muttered, “Evan just called you an asshole.”

“Him and everyone else,” Randy replied, grinning. 

“Chris, what did you say to him?” Evan asked when he caught up with them.

“Nothing,” Chris said, brows rising and sending Evan his best innocent expression. The smaller teen obviously didn’t believe him at first but then he just seemed to let the moment pass.

“Yeah, it was just about the upcoming dance with our sister school,” Randy said with just a little hint of slyness.

The look on Evan’s face immediately spoke volumes; he didn’t like dances very much.

And, expected protocol was that as many boys of the year attended, asking as many girls of their sister school as possible. Of course the event would be chaperoned, often by teachers of both schools as well.

“Do you know who you’ll have to take?” John addressed his friends.

Though he and Randy would probably sneak off together for a bit at some point they would attend, and he knew that he would have to take Elizabeth and Randy would have to take Sam. Chris shrugged slightly, shaking his head, “I don’t know really.”

He’d not really formed too many attachments with girls in his time in England.

“I’m sure Mum’ll have picked someone for you, Ev,” Randy said wanly.

“Oh, I’m sure,” Evan replied, trying to refrain from groaning out loud. He really didn’t like the crowds or the actual dancing aspect of dances. And now that he had Chris in his life, he was sure he was going to like the dance even less.

“Any ideas who?” John asked Evan. 

“No. It’s been a different girl every year,” he answered. “I just wish that Auntie would stop because I don’t even want to _go_ to the damn thing.”

“You know she’s not going to,” Randy said to him. “Besides, if I’m going to the dance, you’re going.”

“But you _have_ to go. You’re Head Boy. What would you have done had Samantha not gotten Head Girl?”

“That never would have happened,” Randy said. “Our parents are far too connected for that to not happen. Plus, Samantha is the perfect young lady, cordial and sweet when she needs to be, but she won’t tolerate rule breaking. It was rather clear that she’d be getting the Head Girl position.”

“Well, gee, you just painted her in a rather good light,” John mused. 

“It’s true, though… and it’s not as though I dislike her, or anything. She’d be the perfect bride… if I were actually attracted to her.”

“I still don’t see how you’re going to cope as a married man in all honesty with regards to her,” Evan murmured, pleased to direct the attention off of himself and his Aunt’s impending attempts to fix him up yet again with some _suitable lady_.

“Oh yea of little faith,” Randy sighed.

Even Chris looked mildly puzzled by this and Randy glanced at John who shrugged, still smiling, before then looking back to his cousin and _his_ lover.

“John and I intend to become monogamous when we leave school,” Randy said simply to the pair after a moment.

That seemed to surprise them both, but as always Evan saw the proverbial spanner in the works, “But you’ll be married to others…”

“Yes, and we’ll be with each other more than them. Chances are they won’t seek us out too often.” At least he was hoping it wasn’t too often. Though he and John never really admitted to it he knew that the idea of them being around their prospective brides-to-be in that fashion wound them both up something chronic.

“Whatever you say…” Evan shook his head, glad he hadn’t formulated such an attention with any woman his Aunt had foisted off on him before.

“I don’t see why it couldn’t work if they’re careful,” Chris shrugged lightly.

“See, there’s someone who understands,” Randy said to Chris. 

“But… When would… How?” Evan sputtered, not seeing how Chris could be so understanding of the situation. 

“Look, we’re both going to be staying in the area. Everyone knows our families are close, so it would be nothing for us to have one another over in the evenings, or even during the day, without wives present,” Randy told Evan. “She can take on other lovers, I really don’t care.”

“But didn’t you say she was saving herself for marriage?” Evan asked. “If she’s gone all this time saving herself for you, what makes you think she would willingly take on other lovers?”

“Unless she’s lying about saving herself in the first place,” John chimed in.

Randy chuckled. “She’s not one to lie about anything. But once she’s slept with me, she won’t have to worry about keeping her purity anymore and she can be with anyone she chooses.”


	39. Chapter 39

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Romance should never begin with sentiment. It should begin with science and end with a settlement - Oscar Wilde

“I still don’t see her taking such a suggestion well,” Evan sighed.

Chris had fallen silent however, and for a while no one noticed. Something Randy had said had resonated with him.

Though he was living in the area with family for his studies, Chris’ _own_ family was still in Canada… and one day they would be expecting him to return. And to return meant that it was more than likely that he would never see Evan again. His stomach plummeted thinking it.

As Evan and Randy argued a little ahead of them, John noticed that Chris suddenly seemed peaky, “Are you alright?” he enquired, receiving a stiff nod in return. John tilted his head.

“You got some secret fiancée you forgot to mention?” he quipped jokingly.

“Not quite…” Chris murmured. He had been so consumed by everything he had forgotten that when graduation came to pass he was expected to return home. God… he couldn’t do that.

“Not quite? So, what? Some other lover somewhere?” John asked, but then noticed that his teasing wasn’t working. “Hey, what is it?” 

“It’s nothing,” Chris answered. 

“Doesn’t look like nothing,” John said to him. “I’m a very good listener, I’ll have you know.”

Chris shook his head. “No I… it’s ok, really. Nothing there to talk about.”

“I’ll also have you know that I’m very good at reading people and knowing when they’re lying. So if you’re ever ready to talk about what’s going on up there,” he said, pointing at Chris’ head, “I’ll be here.”

“Thank you, but really, I’m fine.” Maybe he could convince his family that he wanted to go to some university out here. He was already looking into some. Tell them that, since he was already here, he may as well finish out his education here. Plus, how many people in Canada could say that they studied at Oxford or Cambridge? 

John quirked a brow. “If you say so.”

“Something up?” Randy paused, a hand tucked with nonchalant roguishness into the pocket of his blazer, noticing they had fallen behind.

“Nope,” John said, smiling at him.

The Head Boy’s brow arched but then he shrugged and nodded, “Come on then, get a move on.”

“I resent that,” John said, though he moved to get level with Randy again.

Chris still had a thoughtful expression as Evan moved to his side, placing a hand on Chris’ arm in an innocent gesture but the gentle squeeze that accompanied the motion could only be construed as affectionate.

“Are you alright, Chris? Really?” he asked.

Knowing that then was neither the time nor the place to be discussing what was on his mind (not that he had any idea how he was going to break it to Evan when it was) Chris merely smiled, wanting to reassure Evan, “It’s nothing Ev, don’t worry about it.” He placed a hand on the small of Evan’s back and steered him ahead of him into the next classroom.

“You sure?” Evan asked, just like John had. 

Chris smiled again, hoping it came off as natural. “Yes, I’m sure. It’s nothing, I swear.” He took his seat and Evan sat next to him. 

“You’re sure you’re sure? Because it really—”

“Evan,” Chris said, cutting him off, “I’m sure.”

“We can always talk after class,” Evan suggested. 

Sighing, Chris didn’t know if there was any way that he could get out of this. “If you’d like to talk, then we can talk,” he agreed. He didn’t want to weigh Evan down with his worries, though. But they’d only just begun together and he didn’t want to have to leave him so soon. 

“Ok…” Evan bit his lip slightly before looking away.

Though it was obvious to even he that Chris had something weighing on his mind he couldn’t help feel pushy when he wanted to help.

Recognising the expression Chris pressed his thigh against Evan’s under the table.

The ravenette looked up and flashed a quick smile.

Across the room from them John and Randy were engaging in a game of some description until the teacher walked in wherein everyone stood as usual until they were told to be seated. Even as they sat back down Chris didn’t move his thigh away from the other’s, keeping it there.

He knew he owed it to Evan to tell him, he just didn’t know how to.

As the bell rang and class began, Chris made sure to _not_ move his leg away at all. He suddenly needed all the contact with Evan that he could get, and this was the most he could get away with in public. 

It wasn’t that Chris wasn’t affectionate, because he certainly was, but Evan knew _something_ was up when Chris wouldn’t move his thigh away from his own.

When the teacher had his back turned, Chris whispered, “How’s your head this morning?”

“Lots better than it was yesterday,” Evan answered. Maybe that was the reason why Chris was so touchy all of a sudden, he was worried about the hit to the head he suffered yesterday. 

“That’s good… I am sorry about that.”

Evan was about to tell him that he had made a stupid move when the teacher, still talking, turned back around to face the class. 

A quick movement meant that Evan was appropriately placed away from Chris (that which of his body could be seen anyway) and focused on the front. Eventually he forced Chris’ behaviour out of mind to focus.

It was difficult to care much about academics when he knew that there was something wrong with his lover. He didn’t know how John and Randy could be so causal when needed.

Tapping his pen against his book Chris meanwhile had no such reservations on concentration.

He was watching the expressions that flittered across Evan’s face when the teacher eventually placed them on some work that they had to complete; it was entertaining indeed to see.

And he didn’t even realise he did it.

In that single instance the ache in his chest came out of nowhere so suddenly that Chris almost doubled over the table to combat it.

Chris knew that he had to wait until the end of class to fulfill the ache for Evan that now filled him. And he also knew that Evan wouldn’t be satisfied until he came clean with everything on his mind. 

The other man always seemed to know when he was holding back something from him. And this _was_ a rather serious matter. 

Really, Chris hadn’t intended to fall for anyone during his time in England. He knew from the start that he wouldn’t be here long and that any sort of relationship would only end with him leaving. Fooling around with someone was no big deal as there were no emotions. But he wasn’t fooling around with Evan… he had come to fall in love with Evan.

As he did his work, he thought of the best way to tell him. Was there any other way to tell him aside from being completely blunt and upfront about it? Chris scratched at his head a bit, just behind his ear, something he always did when he was thinking hard about something or another. 

The habit was one that Evan was familiar with and it further fanned his fire of belief that there was _something_ on Chris’ mind. He knew he shouldn’t have been getting as wound up over it as he was but he couldn’t stop it.

Once or twice he had to correct Chris from making rather simple mistakes in his work--- proof his mind was elsewhere. Chris was grateful for the pointing-out.

When the bell went he packed his things away with quick, uneasy hands, standing behind his chair and waiting for Evan to finish packing. Before the other could query him as to his state of being again Chris murmured lowly, “Can we go back to our room?” this wasn’t a situation where he wanted _any_ chance of someone potentially interrupting them.

“Alright…” Evan said, swearing that Chris reached for his hand momentarily before he forced himself to halt in the action as they were in public. Giving his cousin and John a small wave Evan pushed into the crowd pouring out of the door to catch up with his agitated Canadian. He really, _really_ hoped that it was nothing serious.

~~~

“Maybe a little,” Ted finally conceded, seeming embarrassed as he did though.

“There’s nothing wrong with being jealous,” Justin assured, “As long as you don’t let the jealousy rule your mind.”

Ted was uncomfortably aware all of a sudden that a good deal of his and Cody’s arguments were stemmed from when the green-eyed monster took over. He made a mental note in future to try to ease off on his emotions.

“Do you ever get jealous over…?” he trailed off.

Nodding without shame Justin responded, “Of course I do. Not so much over who he _has_ been with before me, but more so over those who still want him now. I know he’s not interested, but…”

There wasn’t anything he could do to defend his relationship with Wade; it wasn’t as though they could ever become open with it.

“That’s why I know I need to just trust in him, and in myself,” he added.

“Trust that… he won’t be with anyone else?” Ted asked.

“Yes. And trust that his feelings for me are as they say they are. Which I don’t doubt in the least,” Justin answered. 

“I want to trust that he won’t fall for anyone else because I know that would just kill me. I’ve loved him for so long now…”

“And I already told you that he feels the exact same way. He’s not going to fall for anyone else.”

Ted gave a little sigh and set his pen down, cracking a knuckle and drawing looks from the people that were sitting somewhat close to them. “Sorry,” he then muttered before picking his pen back up. “I know. Do you think I give into him too easily?” he asked.

“Ted, you’re such a softie when it comes to him,” Justin answered. “Why?”

“Well… I mean the whole sleeping with him thing…”

“Wait, do you regret…?” he trailed off, raising a brow at Ted.

“No. I mean, I wanted to… but I guess I still didn’t want it to be this soon. You know how emotional Cody is… this just seemed to have intensified it, or something of the sort,” Ted explained, worrying his lower lip.

“I don’t quite understand,” Justin admitted, brow furrowing.

Exhaling a soft breath Ted shook his head, running a hand through his neat blonde locks and giving them a fetching appearance of dishevelment.

“It seems that since Cody and I have become intimate,” Ted enunciated, causing Justin to roll his eyes a little bit, “He seems to have become more and more emotionally inclined.” And Ted didn’t think that that just counted when it was a situation involving him.

“I hate to point out an obvious point to you, Teddy,” Justin said absently, “But sex creates emotional attachments between two people who mean something to one another.”

And yet again Ted found himself questioning just why he _still_ struggled to see sex as an event two people could share casually.

“I know, but it just… if I had held firm, would he be better than he is now?”

“I’m afraid that only one person knows the answer to that.”

And they both knew that Cody wasn’t about to answer such a question.

“You must admit you don’t have to deal with as much stress as our situation can give me,” Ted said lightly, not intending to sound critical of his relationship with Cody or that he believed that Justin took his for granted.

“Yes, I’ll admit to that,” Justin said with a grin. There was yet another thing he truly enjoyed about being with a grown man; he didn’t have to deal with all the teenaged emotions. And Cody was certainly the drama queen.

The bell suddenly rang and interrupted their conversation. “Oh, well… that went by rather quickly,” Ted mused as he began packing up his things. 

“It did, didn’t it?” Justin agreed. Although they were spending their class time talking, which was far more enjoyable than simply doing math, which they imagined helped to speed up the clock a little. 

They stood up and filed out the door. “I’ll see you later,” Ted said as he turned down the hall to head to his economics class with Mr. Rotunda. 

“Meet up with you for lunch?” Justin asked as he paused briefly, but he had already started heading towards his own next class. 

“Sounds good!” Ted replied and with that they had all gone their separate ways.

Ted’s mind was well and truly away with the clouds as he wandered to his next class, unable to get his conversation with Justin about Cody out of his mind. Not that it was unusual for him to have Cody on his brain daily.

“You keep going like that and someone’s likely to bump into you,” spoke a voice by his side and Ted turned his head, arching a brow at the brunette.

“Mizanin,” he said dryly, not overly fond of Mike but more treating him with a colder shoulder because the other was always so close to Cody in his acting, and also out of loyalty to Cody who didn’t like him much.

The other smiled at him, but it wasn’t a genial, greeting smile. It was slyer, knowing.

“I heard Cody’s ruined some of his costume,” Mike said as they reached the class they shared together, Ted spotting Cody in his seat already inside.

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?” before the shocked Ted could collar him for an explanation Mike ducked inside.

_Fucking hell!_

Once he sat next to Cody, he whispered, “Mike just said the strangest thing to me.”

Cody turned his head and raised a brow. “Oh?”

“He said he heard you ruined some of your costume and asked if I knew anything about it,” Ted told him. 

“Oh?” Cody repeated, eyes going wide. He turned to look at Mike, who smirked at him. 

“Yeah… Cody… what if he was the one that…?” he trailed off, unable to even say it out loud.

“What if?” Cody said, knowing full well that there was no _if_. He had no idea what Mike was planning on doing with the information, and he had no idea how Ted would react to learning this bit of information. 

“Then I’ll fucking kill him,” the words were whispered but the look on Ted’s face and in his eyes (not to mention his choice of words) both put Cody on alert, and, well, they turned him on a bit as well. He wouldn’t lie.

“Teddy!” he whispered back, keeping an eye on the teacher, “You couldn’t do that!”

The athlete narrowed his eyes dangerously, “Watch me.”

He had already established that he was a jealous creature, but he was a private one, and if Mike had intruded on that…

Mike’s smirk slipped somewhat and he was quick to look away when Ted looked at him.

Cody hesitated; Ted seemed genuinely mad. Maybe keeping mum would be the best idea here. 

“Hey, we don’t know that, ok?” Cody muttered to try and calm Ted down a bit. Though he couldn’t help but wish they could duck out of the room so Ted could take out that pent up frustration on him. 

“I swear to God, if I find out who it was… especially if it was him… Joe’s going to be the least of his problems.”

“And what if a certain two people find out another certain two people happened to stumble upon them?” Cody then asked, quirking his head slightly. 

“That was different,” Ted said to him. 

“Was it really that different?” Cody asked. 

Ted didn’t really give him an answer. He just glared and was thankful when the bell rang to signal the start of class. Not that listening to their professor’s lecture was really helping him to calm down any, but it was a _slight_ distraction.

To say Cody was mildly nervous and wholly aroused (for reasons he didn’t entirely understand) was not an understatement, and as such it took him a bit to get his mind on the lecture that was happening.

Despite Ted’s gentle nature he didn’t doubt that he would hurt Mike if he did find out that he was the one to see them.

… which begged the question of just _what_ would happen to _him_ if his lover found out that Cody had essentially _allowed_ the other to watch, had kept it secret. Something told him that Ted would _not_ handle that information well at all.

When they had to begin answering questions Ted was pressing down with his pen a little harder than usual, only relenting when Cody placed a hand on his arm.

He huffed when he realised he’d bent his nib out of shape.

Much like he’d do to Mike’s head if he was the culprit.

“Hey, calm down,” Cody whispered, his eyes pleading with him. “We don’t know who it was or how much they even saw, ok?” Cody prayed that his acting skills were still up to par, because he was lying right to his lover’s face. He knew exactly who it was and exactly how much he saw…

Ted couldn’t say anything to that. He was still worked up. “Damn pen,” he finally muttered when he knew that it was no good, and he probably needed to toss it so he didn’t risk the ink spilling onto everything if it broke even further. 

Cody worked his lip nervously. He hated Mike as much as the next person, but he didn’t want to see him… without limbs. Besides, he was his male lead and knew the lines far better than anyone. 

Still, he felt like maybe he should talk to _someone_ about it. Like Justin. He was always pretty neutral and could be counted on to not spill all his secrets, since he already knew that someone had seen them. But then, it would probably be best to just keep it all to himself, even if he did feel guilty about keeping it from Ted.

Getting up Ted placed his pen into the bin at the front of the room, the teacher seeming about to ask why he was out of his seat before he realised and relented… or maybe it was the expression on his face that had the man recoiling; Ted looked a long distance away from his usual cheer.

Eventually Cody knew he would have to fess up to Justin. He didn’t like loading the other down with his secrets but he was trustworthy and if Cody wanted any hope of not slipping to Ted then he would need to tell someone beforehand.

Ted returned and delved into his bag for a new pen, loading it up with the ink-cartridges that he had rescued from his ruined pen. He’d need to buy a replacement with his pocket-money lest his father find he’d ruined one in temper--- they weren’t cheap, and though he could afford dozens Ted didn’t like to appear wasteful with his possessions.

When the bell rang Ted was obviously still wound up and Cody wondered whether he should chivvy the other to their final class before lunch or whether he should take him back to their room for a bit.

“Are you… doing ok?” Cody asked hesitantly, not wanting Ted’s wrath taken out on him.

“I’m fine,” he answered rather harshly. 

“Cuz we could go and blow off some steam,” Cody then told him. 

“Isn’t that what got us into trouble last time?” Ted asked before he began walking faster, leaving Cody behind in his wake on his way to their next class. 

Cody’s shoulders slumped as he watched Ted walk away, knowing that trying to catch up was hopeless. “Lover’s spat?” came a voice behind him. 

“Do you ever give it a rest Mizanin?” Cody asked. 

“Do you ever get off Ted’s dick, Runnels?” Mike asked in return.

“I’d be grateful Ted wasn’t here to hear you say that,” Cody said, shaking his head at him.

“Oh? And why’s that?” Mike asked, smirking.

He clearly had no idea of the potential danger he could be in if Ted misunderstood--- or in this case guessed the truth. Cody arched a brow at him.

“Because if Ted finds out that it _was_ you who saw us fucking then he’s going to take you to pieces, and he’ll make sure he takes his time and that it hurts.”

The words were so matter-of-face that Mike was momentarily startled.

“Ha, whatever you say Runnels,” he tried to laugh it off.

“Mike, I don’t like you but I’d rather not have your death on Ted’s conscience.” 

~~~

Once they were in the room, Evan glad for their free period today to allow them the chance to talk, he asked, “So, what is it?” He placed his hand on Chris’ face and looked into his eyes. 

“Evan… I…” he hesitated, still unsure of just what to say.

“Just tell me! What’s wrong? Are you sick? Is your family all ok? Are you ok?” Evan asked.

“Evan, I’m fine. My family’s ok, I promise… I just… it’s more… us.”

“Us? Wait, what are you trying to tell me? Are… are we done?” 

“No! God, no, let me finish!” Chris said as soon as Evan asked him that. “I don’t want us to be done, not even once we graduate.”

“Why would we…” Evan started, but trailed off when he realized… Chris had to go back to Canada. He was staying in England. Once they graduated here, would they ever even see one another again?

“Oh God…” how could he have been so blind? Chris had professed that it was most likely he’d be heading back to his family in Canada once he’d graduated from the academy. How could he forget that?

Despite himself Evan felt his vision blurring and turned away.

“Oh what a fool I’ve been… of course, what other option is there?” he covered his face with his hands, shaking his head from side to side.

Immediately he felt Chris’ strong chest at his back, those comforting arms tight around his shoulders. Chris’ face pressed into the crook of Evan’s neck, “I don’t want to leave you,” he said, voice shaking with emotion.

“B-But you’ll have to,” he wouldn’t cry, Evan told himself firmly, men did not cry like girls.

“No,” Chris’ voice was firm, holding Evan tighter, “Evan, I love you too much to let go.”

He’d defy his whole family if he had to, to keep Evan at his side.

“Chris… I… while I admire the sentiment… I can’t let you do that… you can’t just… give up your family, your future, to be with me,” Evan said, though he was still trying to hold back his sobs. He really didn’t want Chris to leave him. He never wanted to give him his heart, but now he finally accepted that he had and he didn’t want to lose it. 

“You’re worth it,” Chris told him. “Look, I can convince my family that I want to stay here for Uni, and we can go to the same school together. And then once we graduate, I’ll tell them that I just love it here.”

“What if they find out that you’re only here because of me?” Evan asked. 

“You’ve become my best friend here! They’ll think that we’ve become attached as friends, not as anything more.”

“So… you’re really going to try and attend University over here?” 

“I’m certainly going to try. I don’t really see what my family would have against it. There are far more prestigious schools here than there are in Canada, and I can’t imagine anyone would have a problem with that.”

“Mhm,” Evan couldn’t manage more than the non-verbal utterance, his back still to Chris and the other still holding onto him. Chris prayed that Evan believed him; whatever he had to do to make it work he would do, but he knew that he would never be able to leave Evan behind. He could see his family anytime, if he left Evan… he couldn’t do that.

“Evan—“ the ravenette turned his head enough to acknowledge that Chris was speaking to him and he felt the sensation of one of Chris’ hands sliding into his hair before he found smooth, firm lips pressed against his own.

The action was the catalyst to release his tears, but Evan didn’t pull away.

This time he needed the kiss as badly as Chris did, twisting his position round so that they were facing properly.

Chris could taste the saltiness of Evan’s tears on his lips and vowed that never again would Evan shed a tear of unhappiness over him. Chris wouldn’t allow that to happen as much as his power would allow for prevention.

“Evan, my sweet, sweet, angel…” Chris murmured, lowering Evan to the bed and covering the smaller body with his own, still kissing.

Chris’ hands were on Evan’s face, cupping his cheeks; he could feel the streaks of Evan’s tears on his palms and brushed them away with his thumbs. 

“Are you going to make love to me?” Evan whispered, his own hands cupping Chris’ face. 

“Is that what you want?” Chris asked, thumbs still rubbing over Evan’s cheeks lightly. 

Evan leaned up, closing the space between them once more as their lips met in another kiss. Then his hands moved lower, down Chris’ neck and then to his tie, which he began to loosen. 

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Chris breathed out as Evan worked on his tie. 

This time Evan nodded. “Please,” he added. 

“As long as we’re done in time for lunch,” Chris said. 

Evan tried to scowl, but ended up grinning instead, and he gently hit Chris’ shoulder. 

Smiling softly himself Chris allowed Evan to remove his tie and shrugged out of his shirt once the buttons had been undone, then divesting Evan of his own.

All the while they were kissing and caressing, neither rushing despite their pointed time limits.

Once they were both naked Evan suddenly moved, resting himself on the bed on all fours.

To say that surprised Chris wouldn’t be an understatement, “Ev—“ he wasn’t protesting the position even though they’d never done it before, but circumstantially… “Please?” he whispered.

And how could Chris refuse? Reaching into the side drawer he moved behind his lover.

Slicking three of his fingers he gently pressed one inside of Evan’s entrance.

 _Still so tight,_ Chris thought, kissing Evan’s neck.

Shivering with sensation Evan parted his legs some more as he felt a second finger.

Evan let out a little whimper once both fingers were inside him completely. Things all felt so different in this change in position from what they were used to. It still felt good, though. 

With his free hand, Chris ran his fingers over Evan’s tight ass, seeing the appeal to doing it like this. While he couldn’t see Evan’s face, he could explore so much of Evan’s body that he really hadn’t had the chance to explore before. 

Sucking in a breath as Chris hit his prostate, Evan crossed his arms over a pillow and let his head fall forward onto his arms, ass going up even further in the air. “Can you… now?” he asked, voice muffled. 

“Now? Are you sure?” Chris asked in return, drawing his fingers out, twisting them as he did so, before pushing in once again. 

“I need you,” Evan said. “Please, Chris.” 

Nodding, then remembering that Evan couldn’t see him, he said, “Ok.” He reached back for the lubricant, which he slicked onto himself quickly before positioning himself behind Evan. He pushed his hips forward, entering his lover’s tight body. Once he was fully seated, both he and Evan swore that he was even deeper inside of him than ever before. 

“Ohh~~” Evan shivered as the soft moan left him, feeling Chris’ hands alighting his hips even as his chest pressed into Evan’s back. He reveled in the slightly larger body caging his own.

“ _Evan_ ,” Chris rumbled lowly, kissing the back and sides of Evan’s neck, even nibbling at his ear as he gave him a moment or two to adjust. And then, slowly, he pulled out before pushing himself back in, head tipping at the sensation.

When Evan realised one of Chris’ hands had planted down onto the bed Evan reached and twined his fingers through the Canadian’s, causing Chris to lift his head from the nape of Evan’s neck to look.

“I love you,” the murmured words felt slightly awkward since Evan couldn’t see Chris’ face but he knew that the other heard him.

“And I love you, Evan, more than anything.”

Turning his head awkwardly Evan managed to catch Chris’ eyes and the blonde immediately knew what he wanted. Leaning down he pressed their lips together, tongues and saliva making the kisses messy and slow, all the while Chris’ hips continued to move, the soft slapping sound of his hips against Evan’s backside beginning to echo in their room.

Evan’s neck didn’t particularly enjoy being bent around backwards as such, but the rest of him didn’t care. He had Chris’ tongue in his mouth and Chris’ dick up his ass and he felt _so good_.

Chris continued his thrusts, the sound of skin on skin remaining at a steady pace. “I love you so much,” he said once more. God, he couldn’t get enough of saying those words. He’d fallen in love with telling Evan he loved him. 

Smiling, Evan returned with, “I love you, too.” His mouth then fell open as a low moan made its way out when Chris brushed that spot inside him. “Oh, god.” 

Chris kissed Evan’s cheek, then kissed his way up until his lips were pressed to the back of Evan’s neck. He peppered small kisses all along his neck and shoulders, thrusting all the while. He knew he was getting closer. Evan’s tight ass always drove him to the edge.

“Touch me?” Evan asked. His own cock was still hard and leaking and just begging for contact, and his own hand couldn’t compare to Chris’.

Nodding, Chris let one of his hands run down Evan’s side and over his hip slowly before going back around to his groin, Evan making a soft sound at the firm, ever-so-slightly calloused touch of Chris’.

Their rhythm was still slow, thorough, and Evan could feel each rigid inch of Chris as he pressed into him. Each contact of the swollen head of Chris’ cock against his prostate had him shuddering lightly in pleasure, groaning.

The way Evan tightened around him as he stroked him had Chris becoming a little more vocal in himself, feeling his balls beginning to tighten before too long.

It was in a rather fitting tandem that they came, Evan coating Chris’ hand and Chris coating Evan’s insides, some of his seed seeping from his lover’s entrance even before he’d fully left him. The Canadian immediately drew Evan into his arms as he lay himself down.

Pressing gentle kisses over Evan’s flushed cheeks and his nose before alighting his lips Chris murmured, “Say you’ll stay mine Evan, please,” he murmured.

“Yes, Chris,” Evan replied. “I’m yours.”

“Even if I have to go back to Canada?” Chris asked, hoping that wouldn’t be the case.

“Forever,” Evan said. “I love you so much, too much to give up.”

“I’m _going_ to stay over here for University,” Chris said authoritatively. He needed to stay out here. If he didn’t, he risked losing Evan. They were still both so young, if they separated after this, there was every chance that, despite what was just said, Evan would get another lover. He couldn’t stand that happening. He wanted to be Evan’s one and only, just as Evan was his. 

“Are you sure you want to do that? What about your family?” Evan asked. 

“I’m sure that I want to be with you. I can visit my family, and they can visit me. But I want to _stay_ with you.”

“Chris…” Evan pressed his face into the crook of Chris’ neck, hiding that he had been struck by the urge to well up again.

Chris gently carded his fingers through Evan’s hair.

“I really mean it Evan,” he said softly, not wanting to frighten the other with his commitment.

When Evan pulled back to look him in the eye again Chris elaborated.

“For me… you’re it. Even if one day I have to marry, _you_ are the only true one for me.” He lifted one of Evan’s hands and placed it over his naked torso where his heart was still beating a little erratically, “My heart belongs only to you.” The ravenette’s eyes closed momentarily and Chris wondered whether he’d said too much, come on too strong. A moment and Evan’s eyes then opened again.

“And mine only belongs to you, Chris,” he assured softly, nodding his head.

“Good. Because I don’t think I could stand it belonging to anyone else,” Chris told him.

“I don’t think I ever _could_ give it to anyone else. Not after being with you like this,” Evan said. “I never thought that I’d be giving my heart to someone while I was so young. Especially since losing my parents.”

Chris tilted his head a little. That was one thing that Evan didn’t talk about a whole lot. He knew a little about their deaths, and how he was raised by his aunt and uncle, but that was about all he knew. “How do you mean?” he asked, not wanting to sound rude, just curious.

“I mean… I was really young when I lost them, and though they were strict about things and very religious, they were my parents and I loved them. Then they were taken from me. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Auntie and Uncle and Randy and his siblings, but they’re not my parents… Anyway, what I’m trying to say is… I was young when I had two people I loved more than anything taken away from me and I didn’t know if I’d ever love anyone as unconditionally again.” Evan paused, taking a deep breath before saying, “Then I found you.”

“Oh, Evan,” Chris whispered, pulling Evan’s smaller frame into his own embrace.

Evan held the blonde back, pleased that his words had been understood in the context.

“I’ll always be here, Evan,” Chris murmured gently into his ear, “Nothing’s _ever_ going to take me away from you.” And he was going to everything humanly possible to keep that promise. “And even if we are separated physically at one time I’ll always be here,” he touched his heart.

It had taken a lot for Evan to make his confession and Chris appreciated it probably more than Evan would ever know. Gently tilting his lover’s chin up he kissed him, slowly and sweetly, conveying what he couldn’t say in words.

When they pulled apart they smiled at one another, Evan giving a silent nod of acknowledgement.

He didn’t doubt that Chris believed his words were true, but he had learnt from a young age that Death and Circumstances were two things that no one could combat against no matter how hard they tried… one day something might happen to separate them and when that happened he knew he’d be devastated for the rest of his days. “Did you say that you wanted to go for lunch?” Evan sat up enough to look at the clock that they had on the mantle of the little ornate fireplace in their room, “We should be getting a move on then.”

~~~

“Why doesn’t anyone seem to like me?” Mike asked. 

“Because you’re an arrogant know it all prick?” Cody suggested.

Mike shrugged slightly. He really couldn’t argue with that. “Really, though, DiBiase doesn’t have it in him to hurt a fly.”

“He owns four rifles and three pistols and his family has five hunting dogs. He’s been getting a new gun for his birthday since he turned ten. They have a room in their house dedicated to their kills and the biggest buck on the wall belongs to Ted from when he was on a hunt when he was thirteen,” Cody told him, raising a brow challengingly. “Don’t be so sure he wouldn’t rip you limb from limb.”

“Is that a threat, Runnels?” Mike asked. 

“Is it, Mizanin?” Cody returned.

For a moment the pair stood facing one another, gazes challenging.

The only thing that broke their staring match was a third party’s voice.

“Save your romantic eyes for the stage, hm?”

“Romantic? Spare me Morrison.”

John Morrison was probably Mike’s only real friend in school and the pair was close. He slung an arm around Mike’s shoulder, “Are we going then?”

Still looking at Cody, Mike nodded, glancing away only when John started to pull him. Cody stuck his tongue out childishly after both men and then exhaled a breath before turning. He supposed he’d best go and find Ted and make sure he wasn’t doing anything he’d feel bad about later… like breaking something. The ravenette made the quick trip to the common room, asking a few boys there if Ted had been that way.

When none of them said that they had seen him, Cody didn’t know whether or not to be relieved. So, he turned out of the room and was about half way to his next class when the bell rang. He smiled sheepishly at the professor when he walked in late, but sighed to himself when he saw Ted sitting at his desk. He looked pissed off, but at least he hadn’t broken anything.

The entire class, Cody tried to find some way to talk to Ted, but their professor didn’t shut up. Plus, he hounded on Cody for showing up late, calling on him to answer almost every question.

Ted just sat there, stoned face the whole time. He was hearing what the professor was saying, but he really wasn’t paying attention. He might as well have not shown up at all for all he took out of that class. 

Once the bell rang, Cody was questioned out and Ted was just ready to get out of there. “Ted, wait up!” Cody said once he reached the door and saw Ted’s back up ahead of him. He wasn’t letting Ted get away this time. 

“What?” Ted snapped. “I’m hungry and I’m not in the mood.”

“I was just trying to calm you down, Teddy. It’s not good for you to carry your anger around, you know.”

“I’m fine,” Ted all but growled at him and Cody puffed his cheeks up in annoyance before then forcing himself to calm down; letting Ted’s temper get to him would only result in a fight and he really didn’t want that to happen, not when things had finally calmed down between them again. Besides… his guilt was also forcing him to keep himself reined in for once, unusual indeed.

Lengthening his stride as best he could Cody managed to keep pace with his fuming lover, noting absently that people seemed to be ducking aside to let Ted pass, as though sensing a dark aura.

After they had eaten Cody was damn well going to _drag_ Ted back to their room and make him calm down somehow. Sure he had a few ideas, but with the mood that Ted was in he was sure he’d be rebuffed.

Grabbing a tray Cody picked a couple of sandwiches from the selection, noting that in Ted’s preoccupied state he had bypassed dessert--- something even the dinner-lady noticed. And, as such, when Cody took a second cake she allowed it.

Taking a seat besides his lover Cody put the second cake onto Ted’s tray before waiting until he noticed it.

“Theodore, you’re being an arse, stop it,” he enunciated firmly. 

“Oh, please, you get to be a damn drama queen all the time, but I can’t be in a bad mood once?” Ted snapped back. 

“Excuse me?” Cody asked. “I am not a drama queen, and you have no reason to be in a bad mood right now.”

“I don’t? Mike might have seen us, Cody, and you’re telling me that I don’t have a reason to be in a bad mood?”

“What sort of battleground have I walked in on?” Justin asked as he set his tray down across the table from the two of them. 

“Ted’s being an arse,” Cody told him, “just because of something Mizanin said to him.”

“It’s a little bit more than that, Cody.”

“Hey. Why do you guys keep constantly fighting one another?” Justin asked. He knew that no matter what they still loved one another and that these were just minor spats, but he didn’t want to see them fight this much at all. 

“Because Cody’s not even taking any of this seriously and doesn’t care that I do!” Ted exclaimed. 

“I _do_ care!” Cody told him. “But there’s nothing we can do to stop it, so we just need to let it go. Oh, and here… I got you dessert,” he added, sliding the cake over to the blonde.

It was apparent that Ted had been caught off-guard by the change in subject because even as he geared up to snap back once more he seemed to pause, staring at the cake as though he had never seen one before and was assessing it.

Justin grinned slightly as he began to eat his own food; no matter what mood Ted was in the sweet-tooth always prevailed.

Though the following thanks he was given was still rather grudging and brusque Cody decided to just let that go.

“Really Ted,” Justin then input as Cody finished his own food and began in on his cake. He always ate it rather eccentrically:

He’d start with whatever topping there was and then cut the cake into two, devouring one half and then the other, even occasionally taking the cake apart further. Ted and Justin ate their cakes normally.

“Really what?” Ted asked as Justin had been distracted by Cody’s finicky cake eating habits momentarily. Justin recalled himself swiftly.

“Oh, I was just going to say don’t let Mizanin bother you. He knows it’ll cost him too much to run his mouth… if he even has anything to run it about.”

Ted tried not to sigh; he really got irritated when they cut his moods off like they did.

“One day saying that’ll come back to bite us in the ass.”

“Come on now, you know that Mizanin is full of shit,” Justin said across the table to him. “He’s nothing but a load of hot air.”

Cody nodded, agreeing with Justin, though he knew full well that this time Mizanin wasn’t _completely_ full of shit. “Don’t let him get to you like that. You know he feeds of that sort of thing, getting a rise out of someone.”

“I know,” Ted huffed. He was usually a calm and collected guy, but when he got pissed off, he _really_ got pissed off. And Mizanin was pissing him off. “But let’s say he wasn’t the one that saw us… did someone tell him? Could whoever saw us go and tell their friends, or even Barrett?”

“Well, I would say considering almost every boy in this school over the age of fourteen has played around with another boy, there’s not going to be much of a reaction,” Cody replied.

“And Wade’s not going to care… he does hear rumours, you know,” Justin told him.

“What rumours?” Ted asked.

“That you two are sleeping together. That’s been going around for about two years now,” Justin said. 

“Two years?!” Ted was shocked. He had no idea that there were rumours about he and Cody together, especially going around for so long. 

“You didn’t know then?” Justin nodded, “Everyone had you two paired up before any of us ever really considered what sex was.”

Ted sputtered but Cody seemed strangely unsurprised by this tidbit of information.

He had obviously heard more than Ted.

“Wait, so… _Wade knows_?” Ted said, feeling his cheeks beginning to flame up. Oh Lord--- how could he possibly go to Justin’s house with Cody if their host knew what they got up to? Surely they wouldn’t be allowed to stay in the same room…

“Ted, it would be hypocritical of him to care,” Justin pointed out, “I guess as long as he doesn’t catch you up to anything in our house he won’t need to even mention it. You can act freely together at our home…” the staff were not as numerous as one would expect in a sizable house and very discreet.

Ted’s head shook rapidly at that; he couldn’t act freely with Cody! Even behind the closed doors of Justin’s home; if someone were ever to catch them then they’d be in big trouble.

Cody sighed slightly and shook his head, wiping his mouth on his napkin as he finished eating his dessert.

Ted’s reaction wasn’t unexpected but with any luck some time spent around Justin and Wade in their private environment might calm him down.

“Really, Ted, he doesn’t care that you two are together,” Justin said once more to try and assure him.

“But we’re not supposed to be sleeping with one another. Any of us. And not just because we’re all males, either… as students here in general, we’re not supposed to be sleeping with anyone,” Ted told him.

“I know the rules here just as well as you do. As does Wade. And as he has told me before, he was a teenager once, too. There’s nothing to be worried about, especially when you’re staying with us.”

Ted poked at his cake and ate a few more bites. “So… people have really thought that about us for that long?” he asked, still looking a bit confused, but seemingly less upset, which was certainly a plus.

Cody nodded. “I’m shocked you never knew that about us, Teddy,” he said to him. 

“Well, it’s not like people talk about rumours about me to my face,” Ted replied.

“That’s true enough… but it’s pretty common knowledge that you’re highly possessive and protective of me.”

“Just like any good friend should be!”

“I didn’t say I dislike it,” Cody pointed out, “And it’s equally common knowledge that you’re the first person I always go to for anything, and that you’re just as much my main concern,” he added after a moment.

“Basically it’s just a given that you’re slightly further than the realm of ‘just friends’,” Justin said easily.

Ted huffed a small breath and shook his head; it was a good job that neither of his brothers went to the Academy (well, Mike had already graduated and Brett had chosen a different school) otherwise that would be it.

He had no idea what his brothers might do, or say, if they were to find out about he and Cody… though Brett had made cheeky comments about their closeness before if he recalled it correctly. He was only young though so often overlooked.

“Well… you learn something new every day don’t you?” he finally lamented lightly.

Cody chuckled and shook his head slightly, Justin also gaining an expression of amusement.

“I’m looking forward to you both coming over actually,” Justin said, “And I think Wade’s quite looking forward to it too.”

“Really?” Cody asked, surprised, and Justin nodded, “He was worried I’d never asked for company before now.” 

“How come you never did?” Cody asked. Justin had been over to his house a number of times, Ted’s as well. 

“I don’t know. Maybe because I live with the headmaster and I guess… I always felt strange about asking people into his home,” Justin explained with a shrug. 

“That makes sense,” Ted agreed with him. 

“Yeah… he would sometimes ask, though, if I ever wanted to have anyone over. You know, over the holidays and whatnot. I would always say no, obviously… plus I always thought that people would have already made plans. You two would stay together, Joe and Windham would stay together…”

“Justin, if you had ever asked me over, I would have said yes in a heart beat and dragged Teddy along with me. Which shouldn’t actually surprise you considering how I had to practically beg you to invite us over,” Cody said. 

“Well, I didn’t know that before,” Justin told him, cheeks slightly pink.

“Well, now you do!” Cody exclaimed. 

“Now I do.”


	40. Chapter 40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But... it is better to be good than to be ugly - Oscar Wilde

Finishing lunch moments later Justin and Ted then fell into step with Cody to take their trays back to the front of the dining-hall.

“What’s your house like?” Ted asked interestedly. Of course he knew the general layout of a fine house as he and Cody both had one but he was curious all the same.

“Um…” Justin seemed perplexed momentarily.

He’d never been asked that before really.

“It’s big,” he finally settled on.

Cody then smirked slightly and lowered his voice, “The house? Or Wade?”

Justin gasped lightly and flushed, looking down at the ground as he tried to fight a smile despite himself; occasionally Cody’s brassy comments could be highly amusing indeed. “It’s really nice but compared to what I saw as a child Wade isn’t frivolous with his spending. Lots of pictures… Wade likes art.”

That was mildly surprising. “Oh!” Justin said, “And he has a trophy room—“ Ted was about to comment on what it was like differently than his own when Justin finished, “It’s got all of the trophies he won from bare-knuckle boxing as a youth.” 

“Wait, _what_?” Cody asked, turning his head towards Justin, eyes wide. 

“You didn’t know that about him?” Justin cocked his head slightly. 

“No. No I didn’t know that about him,” Cody answered. “He did bare knuckle fighting?”

“How do you think his nose got so crooked?” Justin asked with a little smile. 

“I guess I never thought about it before,” Cody said. “I never would have thought… Wow.”

“I know. He was really good at it, too. I mean, obviously some people got some shots in on him, but you should see all the trophies he has. He wasn’t much older than us when he started. He actually used his prize money to put himself through school. His parents were working class so they couldn’t afford for him to go to school, so he found his own way,” Justin told them.

“That’s incredible. There’s so much about our dear Headmaster that I don’t know,” Cody muttered. 

“It’s a very inspiring story,” Ted agreed. “Does he ever still box?”

“He’s got a punching bag that he uses every now and again, yes, but it’s nothing serious. It’s not like he’s stepping into a ring again, or anything.”

“Would you be scared if he did?” Ted asked curiously and Justin nodded.

“Have you seen the state some of those men can get into?” he asked.

“I’ve heard rumors… never actually seen a proper fight though,” Cody nodded in agreement.

Both his and Ted’s mothers were staunchly against it, but Cody knew that their fathers were planning to take them along one time when they could get away with it.

“He’s definitely not interested in returning to competing, though I’m sure he must miss it.”

“I can’t imagine that… Wade seems so,” Cody’s brow furrowed a little, “Mild-mannered.”

Justin chuckled slightly at that one, shaking his head but not speaking.

“Oh!” he then remembered, “You’ll be able to see some pictures of Wade as a teenager,” he grinned.

They were fight photos published in the newspaper, and when Justin had asked Wade had managed to locate photos of him in his childhood. The curly hair had plagued him all of his life, Justin had learned, and from being an adorable baby Wade had been a devastatingly handsome young man even with the broken nose. “Ooh, I can’t wait to see those!” Cody beamed enthusiastically. 

“Of course you can’t,” Justin said, grinning and shaking his head. 

“What? Who wouldn’t want to see a little bit more into the life of their headmaster?” Cody asked.

“I can’t say that I’m anywhere near as curious as you are,” Ted told him. 

“That’s because you’re a party pooper,” Cody said. 

“I just think you’ve got an over active imagination and that you’re far too curious for your own good.”

“One can never be too curious,” Cody replied.

“Didn’t Oscar Wilde say something like that before he got arrested?” Ted asked, raising a brow. 

“How the hell should I know?” Cody rolled his eyes. 

Ted rolled his eyes back at his lover, shaking his head somewhat.

Sticking his tongue out in response Cody then said, “There’s nothing wrong with curiosity, Theodore.”

“Whatever you say,” Ted said as they headed towards their next class.

Heath, Windham and Joe were already waiting there.

“Hm,” Cody pretended to inspect them, lowering his voice, “Nope, I don’t think that they snuck off for a three-man quickie.”

“Cody!” Ted slapped a hand over his eyes and groaned.

Justin fought laughter as Cody ignored Ted’s exclamation.

The other three boys’ faces went interesting shades of red, it impossible to tell who was the most embarrassed.

Cody smirked at them. “One day it’ll happen. I’m calling it now,” he said. “They’re all just gonna be in class looking utterly shagged out.”

“Cody!” Ted exclaimed once again. 

“I’m simply stating a fact, Teddy.”

“Well, must you state it in so public a place?” he asked. 

“Of course,” Cody answered, thoroughly enjoying the blushes on the other boys’ faces. “Joe, I didn’t even know you could _turn_ that colour.”

“Yeah, well…” he trailed off, ducking his head down into his arms, which were crossed across his desk. 

“You’re tactless,” Heath muttered. Of course, he couldn’t deny that he was pretty much the same. 

Cody was about to make his retort when their professor walked into the class, requiring them to all stand and greet him. Once they sat, the bell rang and he had no chance to reply, so he had to hope that he could remember his comeback by the time class was out, though it probably wouldn’t even be relevant anymore.

The secondary trio that comprised their usual six-some was still bright red in the face and at one point this prompted their professor to ask them if they were alright. It was only Ted’s foot pressing firmly down on his own in warning which stopped Cody from laughing out loud at the naïve question that had been posed to them.

Joe sent Cody a look (once the professor was focused back on class) that said quiet plainly that he was going to regret his little stunt soon.

The actor raised a brow in haughty challenge.

When class ended they moved to their next, and then to their final one before the gap until dinner. As a group they headed to the dorm to wait.

“You’re such a fucker, Cody,” Heath was saying to the other.

“You people are all just so uptight--- that shag I mentioned would really help with that retained tension you know.”

“Is sex all you think about?” Windham asked.

“When you’ve had sex the way I’ve had sex you can ask me that question,” Cody said in all seriousness.

“You’ve had sex, what, once?” Joe asked. “Because I’ve done it _way_ more than just once.”

“A few more times than that,” he answered. “But I can promise you, Joey, the sex I’ve had? Was far better than anything you ever had with any girl.”

“It helps, that whole thinking about sex all the time, though, when your lover is sitting right next to you,” Heath said, waggling his brows at Ted and Cody. 

“Do you all _really_ need to talk about this now?” Ted asked. 

“We’re the only ones here right now, so… yes,” Heath answered. He then turned back to Joe and Windham and said, “He’s got a point, though.”

“About?”

“Sex with men being better than with a girl.”

“Please, none of you have slept with a _man_ ,” Justin added, looking around at his group of friends. 

“Terribly sorry Ted’s not ancient,” Cody replied, smirking.

Justin gave a gasp of affront before lowering his voice, “Wade _is not_ ancient,” he said, huffing at Cody.

Cody waved a hand, grinning at Justin’s irritation only because it was a triumph to be able to goad the other enough to make the emotion appear at all.

“Alright, but he’s significantly older than any of us here,” he said.

Though he was less than impressed he could hardly deny a fact.

“Still, my point remains valid,” Justin mumbled, turning away.

Their conversation was momentarily stilted when a few more boys came in but they merely headed over to the other side of the room so they continued.

Albeit with lower voices.

“You’ve never slept with a girl Cody,” Windham said suddenly, Heath and Joe nodding to back him up, “How would you know it’s better?” he asked.

Cody’s mouth opened, and then closed. A genuinely bemused expression settled on his face, “Because it just is.” 

Heath continued to nod at Cody’s response, he being the only one in the room to have experience with both genders. Cody then went on to ask, “And it’s not like any of you have slept with a guy before, so how do you know it’s not better?”

“Well, I have, and I would agree with Cody,” Heath said. 

“You have?” Cody asked. 

“I can tell you about it later,” he said, to which Cody’s eyebrows rose. No one ever willingly gave him juicy details. So he nodded his agreement. 

“So, you really liked having something shoved up your bum more than you liked a nice, wet cunt?” Joe asked.

“Don’t knock it ‘til you try it,” he told Joe. “I’m sure you’ll be tryin’ it pretty soon, though, right?”

Heath managed to get Joe to blush yet again, Windham, as well. “I don’t know,” he muttered. 

Heath looked to Cody and they shared a customary eye-roll; Ted had been just as reticent as those two and given that they were knocking what they should technically be doing those two felt justified in carrying some frustration towards them momentarily.

“You can both stop acting like the authorities on sexual acts now.”

“Yeah… you want to do that you should start charging,” Joe sniped a little in his embarrassment.

“You certainly wouldn’t be able to afford me,” Cody sniffed and lifted his head haughtily.

“Good job Ted’s rich then aye?” Justin joked lightly.

Heath, Justin and Cody laughed, Joe still pouting somewhat as Windham merely seemed to be attempting to pretend not to listen to what was being said.

Ted’s head was in his hands and his posture essentially said _How did I end up with you people as my friends?_

“Oh, come on, Teddy,” Cody said, grinning as he wiped away a tear of laughter, “lighten up a bit.”

“Lighten up? But you… he…!” he began, pointing at Cody, then Justin. 

“He was only joking. I’ve never charged you a dime.” Ted blushed a nice, deep red before ducking his head into his hands again, so Cody placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to bite back a laugh. Out of kindness to Ted, he then changed the subject, “So Heath, you promised me details.”

“That I did. Those two have already heard it, though,” he said, pointing to Windham and Joe. 

“So?” Cody asked, raising a brow. 

“Well, I for one don’t really need to hear about other people’s sex lives,” Ted muttered into his hands.

“You’re just no fun, Teddy,” Cody said, to which Ted huffed. 

“If you don’t want to listen cover your ears,” Cody said simply, causing Ted to give his lover a look.

Justin quirked a slight smirk, “The rate you’re going Cody you won’t be getting anything from Ted for a while.”

“He wouldn’t do that to me,” was Cody’s offhand comment.

And, sadly, he was right--- if only because of the hysteria that had occurred last time around.

Cody didn’t handle indications of abstinence well, he knew that well now.

“So, Heath?” Cody prompted, leaning forward a little to hear.

He was fascinated about Heath’s story to do with the servant David, curious as to how they had ended up sleeping together and also how they had managed to get through the situation unscathed. “It’s so worth the pain though, huh?” Heath asked and Cody nodded, Justin finding himself nodding as well.

“Teddy, you’re not agreeing with us?” Heath asked, quirking a brow. 

“I… uh… that is…” he stuttered, wishing that the blush on his face would go away, because as of right then, he was sure it would simply become a permanent fixture.

“He hasn’t been on the receiving end yet,” Cody then supplied them.

“Teddy, you really don’t know what you’re missing,” Heath told him.

“After you all talking about the pain that goes along with it, I don’t know, I might have to agree with Teddy here,” Joe said. 

“I did say _yet_ ,” Cody repeated. “He’s not getting out of it that easily.”

“Cody, do we really need to be talking about this right now?” Ted asked.

“What? You’re not going to try and tell me again that you don’t—”

“No! I didn’t say that I never would… I just don’t like talking about that in front of everyone!”

“So you will let me fuck you?” Cody asked, grinning.

Ted clearly looked uncomfortable as he settled on, “We’ll see, Ok?”

It wasn’t quite the complete agreement that he was hoping for but it would do, and Cody shrugged before saying to Heath and Justin, “Really, he’s so panicked about it…”

“You can’t pretend that you weren’t a little nervous,” Heath said and Cody nodded his head, “But I knew I wanted it, so it was Ok.”

The others nodded and then Heath turned to Justin, seemingly forgetting the other three.

“Surely you must have been the most concerned, I mean, Wade’s…”

“A full-grown man?” Justin supplied and the other two nodded fervently.

“Of course I was,” Justin blushed, “Wade’s definitely not got anything to scoff at.”

“Really?” Heath asked and Cody grinned impishly, nodding his head.

“Yeah, Justin gave us a demonstration of how big Wade is before.”

Heath immediately requested another demonstration.

“Good Lord, why do you people even care?” Justin asked. 

“Because we’re curious little shits. Come on, then,” Heath encouraged. 

“Oh… fine,” he said, holding up his hands to give his other three friends a quick demonstration as to how big Wade was. 

“ _No_!” Heath exclaimed. “Is he thick, too?”

“Wasn’t that enough information for one day?” Justin asked. He couldn’t believe he had indulged his friends’ curiosity at all.

“No,” Cody and Heath answered at the same time. Windham and Joe were still attempting to not listen in on the conversation, though both of them couldn’t help but look impressed when Justin showed them just what Wade had to offer. 

“Ok, ok,” Justin muttered, this time showing them how thick around his lover is. 

“Well, shit,” Heath said. “I mean, David was pretty big, but… damn, Justin, you must have been limping for days.”

A blush warmed Justin’s exotically coloured skin, “Maybe I was a little bit.”

But he also knew Wade couldn’t have taken better care of him then he did that time.

“Man… I’m impressed,” Heath said, leaning back in his chair.

Joe, Windham and Ted however were trying to hide their wide-eyed looks of disbelief; Justin had managed to take something of that size?

“Well, Wade is a big man,” Cody mused to himself.

“Big all over in fact,” Heath smirked and Justin rolled his eyes slightly but didn’t deny it, “Though, I don’t know why we were surprised.”

Ted couldn’t help but pout slightly at the contemplative look that had crossed Cody’s face. _Stop thinking about it!_

“Aww, Teddy, you feeling jealous?” he needled, “Come on Cody, Justin told us how big Wade is, I’ll tell you both how big David is if you tell us how big Ted is.” Before Cody could even open his mouth Ted hissed, “Don’t you dare, Cody!”

~~~

The pair dressed quickly and attempted to pat down their hair before they headed to the dining hall. John and Randy were about halfway through their own meal when the two of them sat down with them at the table.

“Nice of you to show up,” John said, nodding his head to them. 

“Yeah, what kept you?” Randy asked just before taking a bite of his lunch. 

The blush that covered Evan’s entire face gave them away, as if they hadn’t already known. However, Chris said, “We were just having a little talk.”

“A little talk, huh?” Randy turned his head towards John and asked, “Is that what they’re calling it these days?”

“Seems like,” he replied. 

“We did talk, though,” Evan said. “Really. It wasn’t just… really,” he said once more. 

“Ok, I believe you. You talked. John and I talk a lot before we fuck, as well,” Randy then added, getting Evan to blush even deeper.

“It was _important_!” Evan told them. “Then things just… went from there.”

“Really?” Randy seemed to turn a little more serious then, looking between the both of them. “There’s only three occasions that lead to sex through talking,” he leant forward and lowered his voice a little more before continuing.

“You were fighting, talking dirty, or one of you was upset about something.”

Evan immediately glanced away and Randy’s brow furrowed when he noticed.

“What happened?” John asked them, Chris shaking his head slightly and giving a more genuine smile than he would have managed earlier on.

“It doesn’t matter now, Evan and I have sorted the issue out,” he said, Evan nodding alongside him to support his words.

“If you say so,” John conceded.

Randy pouted; sometimes John gave in to easily and he could have done with the support to badger the couple in getting them to fess up.

“Yes,” Evan responded, beginning to eat, Chris having already started his own meal.

“That must have been a vigorous shag to make you both that hungry,” Randy teased.

Evan coughed as he swallowed too big a piece of food in shock. “Randy!” he exclaimed. 

“What? It’s true. Isn’t it, John?” he asked his own lover. 

John nodded.

“It’s not fair to ask him!” Evan said. “He’s always hungry no matter if he’s had a… vigorous shag or not.”

“Well, to be fair, we do fuck a lot,” John added.

“You two are disgustingly crude,” Evan muttered, but then he heard a chuckle coming from Chris. “You, too?”

“What? It’s funny. And they’ve got a point.”

“That doesn’t mean it has to be brought up at the lunch table!” 

“Besides,” Evan said suddenly, his voice growing quiet all of a sudden, “That wasn’t _a shag_.”

Chris’ laughter immediately stopped and his expression softened.

“No, no it wasn’t.”

He seemed to be reaching to hold Evan’s hand before he remembered himself and corrected the action, drink being picked up instead.

Randy looked at John, his lover equally confused.

“Seriously you two,” John said, “Is everything alright?” Randy eyed his cousin, the smaller male still seeming distant.

“Yes, we’re both fine,” Chris repeated as before.

“We’re definitely missing something,” Randy said and John nodded.

“Really, we’re fine… we’ve talked things out,” Evan said to them.

“But what was it that you had to talk about in the first place? It seems as though it was a pretty… heavy topic,” Randy said. 

Evan shrugged. “It’s ok now.”

“I don’t think it is,” Randy told him. “I can say from experience that topics like that, ones that you talk about that lead to sex? They don’t go away as quickly as you’d like to think.”

“God! I’m worried about him going back to Canada, ok!” Evan exclaimed. 

“Oh,” Randy and John both mumbled at the same time. 

“Are you happy now?” Evan asked. “Will you stop bothering me about it now?”

“Evan, calm down,” Chris chided gently, a hand going to his shoulder.

Knowing he’d snapped a little, tiny bit unnecessarily Evan sighed, “I apologise.” Randy and John immediately waved him off.

“No, we’re sorry… we wouldn’t have pushed if we’d known.”

Randy was glad he knew about what his cousin was thinking about though...

Evan didn’t rely on him as much as he used to.

“You’re going back?” John asked and Chris shook his head in response to the question.

“I’ve decided that I am going to tell my family that I intend to stay here for university. And then, when I graduate, they won’t find the situation so odd if I decide to set up residence.”

“Really? You want to stay out here?” John asked. “Just for…?” he flicked his eyes towards Evan. 

“Mostly for that reason, yes,” he answered. “I do like it over here, though, quite a bit.”

“But if you hadn’t met Evan…?” John trailed off, then raised a brow.

“If I hadn’t met Evan, then I would probably have gone back home to complete my education,” he said. 

“So, then, you two are planning on attending University together?” Randy asked.

“I hope to,” Chris replied. “I haven’t exactly begun applying, since even though I’ve been thinking about this for a little while, it’s still a bit of a last minute decision.”

“Have you at least talked about where you want to go?” He and John had discussed it before, and they just had to hope that they both got accepted into at least one of the schools they agreed upon.

“I haven’t exactly thought about it much,” Chris pointed out again whereas Evan looked a little uncertain.

“You still haven’t decided?” Randy asked his cousin and the ravenette sighed slightly.

“No,” he admitted. He’d really been struggling with deciding on one.

“Where have you looked at?” John asked; Evan was clever enough to get in anywhere he would bet.

“Anywhere locally… I’m really not too fussed about moving away somewhere new.”

“I’d be happy to go anywhere Evan would,” Chris said, “Because I know he’ll pick somewhere that’s academically sound,” they’d not disadvantage one another that way at least.

“You could always just come to the same one as John and myself,” Randy pointed out with a shrug, “It’s very solid academically and it’s got great sports programs… I think that’s the only reason John settled on it really.”

“Why else would I settle on a school? No sports program, no John Cena,” he said. 

“It sounds like it could be a good place to go,” Chris said. He liked being challenged academically and it could give him a chance to get back into sports (though he would greatly miss his ice hockey). 

“Yes, and my father went there, as well,” Randy said. “Both our fathers, actually, that’s how they met,” he told Chris, pointing to John. 

“So your families have known one another for a while, then.”

“Sure have,” John chimed in. “So, would you both consider going there?” he asked. 

“I would, yes,” Chris answered. 

“Yes, of course,” Evan said. It was already on his list of schools to consider… he just hadn’t really thought about it all that much.

“I know mother’ll be pleased if you attend there too,” Randy mused lightly, “Keep the tradition going and all that, plus you’ll still be close by.” Traditionally it wasn’t expected that you would leave the household until after university.

For women, of course, the rule was that you stayed with your family until you married.

However, the prospect of returning home on occasion didn’t dampen John or Randy’s intention to be together; they’d board at university and all.

“Yes, she will be pleased about that,” Evan acknowledged absently.

“Will you be able to move so far away from your family though Chris? I mean afterwards,” John clarified when he realised his question was a bit ambiguous.

“I’m sort of used to it thanks to schooling here, and it’s not like I’ll be alone,” he said.

He would have Evan by his side.

“I don’t think I’d be able to do that,” Randy said. “Leave my family for some other country…” He looked to Evan, then to John, and thought about his parents and knew that he couldn’t leave like Chris was considering doing. 

“I have got relatives out here, so it’s not like I’m also completely without family.”

“Christian?” Randy asked. 

“Oh, no, he’s in Canada, but he was here for a time visiting. My grandmother was from here and her family immigrated to Canada, but her older brother, my great uncle, stayed here to raise his family, as he and his wife had small children and didn’t want to bring them across the Atlantic at the time. And he ended up staying, so we still have family here,” he explained. 

“Well, that’s fair, I guess. All my family is still here,” Randy said. “I don’t think I could ever see me or anyone in my family just up and leaving the country. Actually, no, I think Nathan would do something like that. He’s got that kind of spirit in him.” His little brother, who was at the academy with him, though several years younger, had a restless way about him and Randy could see him picking up and moving across the globe in his older years.

“I can’t imagine you as the responsible elder sibling,” Chris teased lightly to try and distinguish some of the seriousness of their conversation. John laughed slightly at that, shaking his head a little bit, clearly amused.

“Believe it or not Randy actually cares about his siblings greatly,” John told Chris.

“Does he?” Chris looked at him.

“Oh yes,” John ducked the hand that was trying to clamp over his mouth, Randy’s face having coloured just slightly in embarrassment, “He’s very protective of his sister, who’s in the sister girls’ school to our own. Any boy goes near her Randy will quite literally castrate him where he stands. And he and Nathan fight a lot but he has his eye on him too—“ the hand landed.

As John mumbled underneath his lover’s palm, sending a look to him of protest and then pleading as Randy muttered something about, “Bloody gobshites…” Evan then looked to Chris, chuckling, “You’ll meet them both when you come over,” Evan said shyly, “Nathan’s probably going to try and drag you into one of his epic games of soldiers.” The boy had received a brand-new set of toy soldiers for his last birthday and when they were home they got broke out.

“Soldiers, eh? Sounds like it could be fun,” Chris said. 

“Oh, you should see him. I’m pretty certain that he’s recreating the Hundred Years War with his soldier set,” Evan told him. “For being rather young, he’s quite good with his historical facts.”

Randy nodded, a smile working its way onto his face as they talked about his brother. “It’s true. You know, he’s attempted to figure out a whole new battle plan for our war against America in which we would win.”

“Did he?” Chris asked, and all three other teens at the table nodded their heads.

“He’s a bright boy. Could even give me a run for my money in academics,” Randy said.

“How old are they?” 

“Becky is two years younger than me, Nathan is seven years younger,” Randy answered.

“He’s ten and he’s that into history?” Chris asked, impressed. 

“Yup. I’m pretty certain that he knows more about our history than most of the history professors here,” Randy said.

“He’s a smart lad,” John nodded, “Family got high hopes for him.”

And obviously in Becky’s case those high hopes stemmed to who she would marry.

“Any more people petitioned your parents over their sons courting Becky yet?” John asked.

Randy pulled a face, “If there have been no one has mentioned them to me,” he said.

“That’s because you scare them,” Evan said simply to him.

“They both seem interesting characters.”

“They are,” Evan agreed, “And Aunty will spoil you rotten just like she does John.” John grinned like a fiend at those words; Mrs. Orton did love him to bits. “Uncle may take a bit longer but he’ll warm up to you too.”

“I’m really looking forward to visiting now,” Chris said honestly, smiling at his lover and feeling pleased that Evan had cheered up.

Their talk could have gone much worse, but regardless of the consequences they would have had to have it out. Chris just thanked whatever fate was guiding him that things between he and Evan remained solid.

“I’m glad,” Evan said. 

“Mum will be quite pleased that Evan’s actually made a friend at school after spending more than half his life here,” Randy teased. 

“I have friends,” Evan muttered. 

“John and I don’t count.”

“Who do you have for other friends?” Evan then asked. “I mean, you’ve never had anyone but John over, really.”

“That’s true… but we do have other friends.”

“And just because you’ve slept with someone, it doesn’t make them your friend, either,” Evan added. 

“Well, that narrows down the list considerably,” John joked, nudging Randy in the arm. 

Randy snickered slightly.

Evan rolled his eyes but Chris was genuinely curious, “Just _how many_ boys have you both slept with?” he asked, looking between them.

Evan blushed at the boldness of the question but John and Randy seemed completely comfortable.

“It’s probably not as many as you may think, Chris,” Randy settled for initially, tilting his head in sudden thought.

“We don’t have full sex with just _anyone_ ,” John said.

“Generally we just fool around doing the smaller things,” Randy added on afterwards.

“Jezebels,” Evan clucked without too much heat.

“Cheers Ev,” they grinned.

Randy, still grinning, then turned to Chris and said, “One. I’ve had sex with one person. Ever. But I have lost track of the number of people who I’ve done other things with,” he admitted. 

Figuring he should come clean as well, John said, “Two. One of them was a girl, and that was only one time. But, also like Randy, I’ve no idea how many people I’ve done other, lesser things with.”

“You’ve really only slept with one person?” Chris asked, looking to Randy. 

“Yes. When I was younger, I thought I could sleep with other people, since we agreed on it, you know? But… at the last second I had a change of heart. Damn, John, I loved him before I even knew I loved him,” Randy told him. 

“And what about you?” John asked of Chris.

“Well… back home I’d fooled around with people, but I’ve also only been with one person.” 

“Really?” Evan couldn’t help the shocked hopefulness that came out in his voice. He had known that he was a complete virgin but he wouldn’t have been shocked if Chris hadn’t been.

At least, not entirely virginal anyway, he amended.

“Yes,” Chris nodded, face softening, “Really.” Randy chuckled softly and shook his head, leaning back slightly in his chair, “I guess this proves none of us deserve our reputations… they are funny though,” he mused to them.

“That’s true,” John said, “For instance there’re several boys who reckon they’ve slept with me and I don’t recall any such occasions. Others have had Randy as well according to rumor, isn’t that right?”

“Last time I bothered listening, yes. It’s only Evan who they’ve got right.”

“Me?” Evan asked, startled by his sudden inclusion in the conversation, “What about me?”

~~~

“But, Teddy, Heath said—” Cody began to protest. 

“No, Cody. I can’t believe you were even _contemplating_ it!” Ted said to him.

“But—”

“No,” he said once again. 

“Guess you won’t find out how big David is, then,” Heath told them.

“Teddy, please?” Cody asked. 

“No!”

“Why not? You embarrassed by how small you’ll be in comparison?” Heath goaded.

Ted raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about, I assure you, but, unlike the rest of you, I’d like to keep what I do in private just that: private.”

“But you’re fucking Cody. Nothing’s private with him,” Heath said.

“If I wasn’t sitting here right now,” Ted began, looking over to Cody, “would you have told them, just to find out about David?”

Cody shiftily looked down at the table before looking up to them all once again.

“Yes,” he said, refusing to be cowed, “I probably would.”

“CODY!”

“Well, you said it yourself that you have nothing to be ashamed of!” Cody protested, scowling at his lover a little, “It’s not like you’d actually have to show them it for real!”

“You little—“ Ted coloured significantly.

“Teddy, really, you’re not bad looking and all but I’d rather _not_ see that much.”

Justin decided not to comment that technically he had seen thanks to the fact that they always changed and bathed in close quarters...

Though technically he’d never seen Ted hard for that would be different.

“Calm down Teddy, it’s complimentary that Cody would want to admit it.”

“How?” Ted demanded of Heath.

“It just is.”

“That’s not much of an answer,” Ted muttered.

“Sure it is,” Heath said. 

“It just is? I still don’t understand how it’s a compliment that he’d want to tell everyone about… that.”

“Because he wants everyone to know what he gets and we’re all missing out on,” Heath replied. 

“Well, that’s just weird,” Ted told them. 

“It’s not weird,” Cody said. “I’m just proud to show off what my boyfriend is working with.”

“So, what, you wouldn’t care if I told everyone how big _you_ are?” Ted asked, raising a brow. 

“I’d tell them myself should they ever ask,” Cody answered. 

“Cody,” Heath was grinning like a fiend, “How big are you?”

And, to Ted’s shock, Cody demonstrated for them.

“I’m bigger,” Heath bragged.

“No you are not,” Justin snorted in amusement.

Before Ted or Joe could ask Windham was saying, “And just _how_ do _you_ know that?” Justin shrugged.

“Not for a reason you’re probably thinking,” he said simply, not elaborating any further on the point then.

Joe privately agreed with Justin; Heath wasn’t _as_ big but he wasn’t very far off overall.

Ted was looking at Cody in abject disbelief, “I can’t believe that you _actually_ told them how big you are.”

“What? We’re all males here, Teddy; we all know what a cock looks like,” Cody reasoned. “And none of us here are virgins, either, so we all know how a cock works,” he added. 

“That still doesn’t mean they need to know the size of it, though!” he protested. 

“Well, it’s not like I’m about to just whip it out and show everyone, and you’re the only one here that’s seen it,” Cody said.

“That may be… but others have seen it, too.”

“And I’ve already told you, they meant absolutely nothing! I was with them for the fun of it, not because I was head over heels in love with them. Plus, it’s not like I have slept with any of them, you know that,” Cody told him.

“I know. But that doesn’t change the fact that others got to see all of you before I ever did.”

“No one else will, Teddy, ok?” he asked. Although he still really wouldn’t mind if Cena or Orton did… 

“Your jealousy needs to be worked on mate,” Heath said, slapping Ted heartily on the shoulder before standing. “I’ll catch up with you lot later,” he then announced jovially.

“Where are you going?” Joe found himself asking Windham trying not to huff over the fact that he would be the one to ask first… the way things were he now sometimes he wondered whether his own jealousy needed working on.

“Just meeting someone,” Heath said evasively and all of his friends’ brows rose.

“Just meeting someone?” Cody repeated with a look that said quite frankly that Heath wasn’t going anywhere until he spilled.

“I do have other friends you know,” Heath drawled.

Their assumptions might not be far wrong though; this was one of the friends he visited when suffering as he was currently.

Sexual tension from his not-quite-boyfriend situation was really not doing him any favours. 

“Other friends, huh? Like David?” Cody asked.

“It’s just a friend,” Heath said once more. “I’ll see you all later,” he told them all before quickly heading out the common room door. 

“Well, Joey, seems like someone isn’t being properly seen to,” Cody said once the door was shut behind Heath.

Joe blushed and Windham’s scowl seemed to get even scowlier. “He’s being seen to a little too well, you ask me,” Windham huffed. 

“Oh, yeah? How well?” Cody then asked.

“Too well,” Windham repeated. 

“Someone’s mighty jealous.”

“Yeah, well, it’s bullshit that I have to share Joe, anyway!” he finally exclaimed. “Especially if Heath’s going off fucking around with someone else anyway!”

“Ah, the true feelings come out,” Cody said, watching on with interest.

Joe was staring at Windham in clear surprise.

“You look like you weren’t expecting that,” Justin said, thinking that it was a good job they were all seated as Joe looked almost shaken.

“W-Well, I wasn’t,” Joe admitted, “I mean, it wasn’t me who came up with the sharing thing anyway…” he pointed out and Windham huffed.

“What if I said right now that I don’t want you to be seeing anyone but me?” he asked, straight-forward even for him, and that was saying something.

“Well I, um, that is…” Joe floundered and it was apparent to all that whatever situation he thought they were in that was different.

“I guess I’d say um, Ok then…” Joe said.

In truth he felt Windham was right about Heath messing around with others.

If he was serious about him why mess around?

Then again, monogamy had never been super-important to him.

“Wait, what happened to you having feelings for Heath, too?” Cody asked at this sudden new turn of things. 

“Well… I mean… if Windham really doesn’t want to… I mean, there’s still some feeling for Heath, I guess…”

“But you still like Windham more,” Cody supplied. When Joe blushed, he knew that to be the truth. 

“He’s the only one I’ve really considered being with, just him,” Joe said. “Not just some fling or to pass the time…” He’d never had a girlfriend, all the girls he’d been with had just been little flings. A little fun here and there. 

“How do you think Heath will take that, though?” Ted asked. 

“He’s off visiting a _friend_ right now,” Windham said, “so I would say he wouldn’t mind too much.”

“I thought things were working out well between the three of you,” Cody said. 

“There hasn’t really _been_ anything between the three of us to work out,” Windham said without hesitation.

“Don’t you think that maybe that’s why Heath might be going elsewhere?” Cody asked and then paused slightly.

His brow furrowed as he reasoned, “But if that was the case I don’t see why he didn’t come to you.”

Joe coughed something into his fist, face very red once again.

“What?” this time Justin was the one to speak as opposed to Cody, the brunette scowling at them both before looking embarrassedly at the ground again. Windham had coloured as well but as always seemed more composed.

“Joe established that he would much rather his first time with me,” Windham eventually told them all.

“Oh I see…” Cody nodded, he and Justin exchanging a look with each other. 

“That’s got to be a pretty bothersome thought,” Ted then chimed in with his own opinion. 

“Are you on Heath’s side right now?” Joe asked, raising a brow. 

“Well… I don’t know,” Ted shrugged. “He doesn’t really seem like the type that wants to be in any sort of a relationship. But at the same time, maybe he does and he just doesn’t want to say anything.”

“If he wanted a relationship with Joe, he’d still be here, not running off to some fuck buddy,” Windham said to him. 

“But he also knows that you want Joe and don’t actually _want_ to share him,” Cody said. 

“I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to have to share you, knowing that you’d be in bed with someone else the night after you were in bed with me,” Ted told them, though that was a secret to none of them. 

“Why’s Joe being made out to be the bad guy here?” Cody demanded, feeling a kinship with him since he knew well and truly how Ted had acted at the thought of sharing him, and if Windham was even half as bad...

“I’m not saying that,” Windham said, frowning, Ted chiming in with a similar affirmative almost immediately.

“Look, whatever happens I don’t want Heath to fall out with us Ok?” Joe said in a firm tone.

Windham sighed; he didn’t want them to lose their friendships either.

“Maybe you should try talking to him before jumping to any conclusions,” Justin, the ever-present voice of reason chimed in, “If that’s one thing I’ve learned you lot need to do more it’s talk to each other.”

Joe groaned, head slumping forward onto the little table they were seated around. Why did it all have to be so complicated? 

“Talking’s what got us into this damn mess in the first place,” Windham said, seeming to read Joe’s mind. 

“I don’t think any of you have really given this whole thing a fair shake,” Cody said to them. “And that’s just made everyone miserable, when instead you should all be rather happy in the arrangement.”

“How the hell am I supposed to be happy knowing that Joe not only _was_ with Heath, but will be going back to him when he’s with me?” Windham asked. 

“Don’t think about that. Just think about what it’s like when it’s just the two of you and how much you enjoy it,” Cody said. 

“Then why can’t I be able to have Joe for myself? Because, like you said, our time together is enjoyable.”

“Because Joe also wants to spend time with Heath. And, you know what? Maybe you and Heath need to spend time alone together, too,” Cody suggested. “No Joe at all, just you and Heath.”

Windham paused and eyed Cody a little, “Do you mean in the matey sense or the…?” he trailed off.

“Well, that depends… what are you interested in?” Cody returned immediately and Windham didn’t hesitate, “No, I don’t.” He didn’t have any romantic desire towards Heath. Cody shrugged, “So, there you go.”

Windham wasn’t the only one who looked confused--- Ted seemed to be trying to understand as well. Cody looked at Justin and they both sighed somewhat in exasperation. Really, these people were so dense.

“Re-affirm your friendship with each other, get to know each other better. That way you may not be so… dominant-male towards each other and Joe,” he waved a hand.

“Hey, wait---“ Joe suddenly cut in with something of a frown, “Are you trying to say that I am not a dominant male?” he asked.

“Not right now you’re not,” Cody shrugged, saying it as though it was completely simple. “But that’s OK.”

“How’s that ok?” Joe asked. 

“Are you saying that I’m not?” Windham asked, turning his head to Joe and raising a brow. 

“That’s not what I’m saying at all!” Joe exclaimed. “Cody, what the fuck are you even talking about?”

“I mean… sometimes you just need to let it all go. You’re really _not_ in control here. You’re more like… the damsel in distress.”

“The fuck?” Joe asked, offended. “I’m not a—”

“You’ve got two men fighting for possession of you. You’re kind of like Cleopatra vying for the attention of Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony. But like I said, it’s ok for that to happen.”

“Why you—“ Joe started for Cody.

It was almost a reflex where Ted inserted himself between the pair, giving Joe a steely look of warning.

“You’re one to preach when you’re exactly the same!” Joe shot back to Cody then. To his consternation however Cody merely shrugged before leveling him with an amicable look.

“Joe, I know I am. And, what makes you think I have a problem with it?” the question was so simple that it almost surprised everyone.

“I--- but that is--- you—“ Joe stammered, off-guard.

“Justin’s one too. It’s just the natural way that these things work,” Justin nodded his head.

Joe couldn’t think of a thing to say. He’d never in a million years think he’d be in a situation where he _wasn’t_ the dominant male. 

“Look, I know it’s odd for you to think of,” Justin began, “but really, it’s ok to relinquish that control from time to time.”

“When you think about sleeping with Windham, who do you picture being on top?” Cody asked.

“Excuse me?” Joe asked in return, eyes wide. 

“Who’s on top?” Cody asked again. 

“You’re seriously asking me that?” 

“I already know your answer,” Cody told him. “You picture Win on top.”

“Fine, ok, yes. I picture him on top,” Joe said, face in his hands.

~~~

“That you’re a prude,” Randy answered. “I told you they got it right.”

“I’m not a prude!” Evan replied instantly. 

The other three with them raised their brows at him. “Evan… if it weren’t for Chris, you would still be a virgin, right? Had you ever kissed anyone before Chris?” Randy asked him.

Evan shrugged and shook his head. “No.”

“Had you ever touched yourself before?” was Randy’s next question. 

“Do I have to answer that?”

“Does that mean you had?” Randy asked, actually surprised by that. 

“Well… it’s not like… I mean, when I woke up it…” Evan blushed furiously, unable to finish his sentence.

“Such a sheltered child…” John playfully cooed and then shouldered Randy jokingly, “How did you turn into the raging whore that you are?” Randy flipped him off, John laughing.

“It’s all your fault; you’re such a deviant influence on me John Cena.”

“So,” Chris addressed his lover, mildly surprised, ignoring John and Randy’s playful bickering, “You never…?”

“No,” Evan blushed; it just seemed unnecessary to him to be truthful.

He’d never been genuinely sexually attracted to someone before Chris.

“Oh…” Chris looked almost awed at him.

“See, if you’d left him a virgin Chris we could have made him a saint.”

“Fuck off you two!” Evan huffed.

“Ooo, language, Evan!” Randy teased. 

“I’d still have been a virgin, though, had I not slept with Evan,” Chris said. 

“But you were no saint before that, were you?” John asked. 

“No, I suppose not,” Chris replied. 

“Not like our Evan here. Pure as snow, that one… until the blonde Canadian boy came along and tainted his innocence,” Randy said. 

“He could have been a monk had it not been for you,” John said, nodding his head. 

Chris grinned and shrugged, “Whoops.”

“I think you should make him take responsibility, Randy,” John grinned playfully as Evan groaned, “He tainted your precious cousin.”

“There’s an idea,” Randy looked mock-serious, “You best intend to look after him, Chris.”

Even though Evan was muttering under his breath they knew he wasn’t angry.

At least they all seemed to assume so as Chris played along.

“Of course I intend that! Shall we discuss dowry?”

“Who said I’d be the bride?” Evan cut in. 

“Chris doesn’t have the hips for a dress,” Randy deadpanned.

“Excuse me?” Evan protested. 

“It’s true. You’ve got a much smaller figure, almost hourglass, even,” Chris said. “Plus, it’d look much more fitting me carrying you over the threshold.”

“Hmph!” was Evan’s response. 

“Ooo, that’s a fair point,” Randy said, looking to John and pointing at Chris. “He’s clearly been thinking about this.”

“Have you?” Evan then asked, sour mood instantly dissipating. 

“Have I?” Chris asked in return. He’d certainly thought about them living together in the future, somehow, some way.

“I hate it when you do that.”

Chris merely smiled back to him.

It always drove Evan crazy when people gave him cryptic responses and sly digs, and Chris refusing to go into detail about this would really niggle.

“I think you’ve got the legs for a dress between the two of us babe,” John said in all seriousness to Randy, eyes glinting.

“Eh, no,” Randy said immediately, “The only dress-wearer would be you.”

And before John could reply he explained, “Because an ass like yours would look amazing in tight material, end of.”

“I’m flattered, but I think your figure is much more suited towards a dress,” John said. “You’re far slimmer, all lean, you know? I’m a tad bulky.”

“But your backside would look incredible.”

“My backside always looks incredible,” John returned, and Randy had to nod his agreement.

“I’m too tall, though,” Randy went on. “A dress wouldn’t fall right on me.”

“Why are you guys even still talking about this like it’s actually going to happen?” Evan asked, quirking his head. 

“Who says it won’t?” John asked.

“You two are weird.”

“Are you saying you wouldn’t marry me?” Chris asked, pretending to look wounded and causing Evan to blush anew all over again, sighing.

“You’re just as bad as those two.”

“I love the way he says it like it’s a bad thing,” John mused, grinning at him.

“It is,” Evan responded.

“See if I share my sweets with you again,” John play pouted and Evan fought a smile then.

They had one night a week where they’d get together in one of their rooms and pool their sweets together, playing cards and stuff.

“Don’t be like that—you know you get the good ones.”

“And that’s why you’re not getting any of mine,” John replied. “I’ll just keep them all to myself.”

“Oh, you’re not _that_ selfish, John,” Randy said. “You’d at least share with me, right?”

“Nope,” John answered. 

“Well, you are a dickhead, then” Randy muttered. “See if I ever share any of my sweets with you.”

“Not even those almond ones?” John asked.

“Especially not the almond ones,” Randy said. 

“You don’t even like them.”

“I bet Evan or Chris does.” When Chris nodded in the affirmative, Randy went on, “There, problem solved. Chris can take the almond ones.”

“Fine, I’d share with you,” John amended. 

“Too late.”

“Bitch,” John pushed Randy, who then pushed him back, the pair trying not to grin at their actions.

“That’s not what you called me last night,” Randy threw back to him and John snorted lightly, “I didn’t call you anything last night, remember?”

“Details, details,” Randy dismissed.

“Do you fancy a sweet night then?” Evan asked, the talk of sweets making him want some.

“I think so…” Randy then grinned, “And maybe now John and I can teach you a few sweet-themed games.”

Evan blushed and glanced sideways at Chris.

“Why do I get the feelings they won’t be innocent?”

“You don’t trust us?” John feigned hurt.

“Déjà vu,” Chris commented.

“So it is. Fair point.”

“But I’m right, though, aren’t I? The games aren’t exactly innocent, are they?” Evan asked. 

“Not in the least bit,” Randy answered, grinning. 

“You know I love you, Randy, but after seeing you and John together in bed that day you were… sick… was enough for me. I really don’t need to know what else you do behind closed doors,” Evan told him. 

“No different than what you and Chris get up to, I’m sure,” Randy said. 

“Well, it probably is. I mean, we’ve been together since we were quite young, so we’ve had a lot of time to figure out new things,” John then said to Randy. 

“True enough. True enough… We’ve probably done things they’ve never even dreamed about.”

“Most likely,” John agreed. 

“Besides, none of the games involve getting naked,” Randy said as an apparent afterthought.

“No, those are the private games,” John snickered.

Evan rolled his eyes a little.

“The removal of a shirt is probably the worst it gets, but if you’re really that against it…” Randy shrugged, “More treats for us.” Evan growled slightly and the stubbornness the Orton/Bourne’s possessed was apparent.

“Oh, fine! But as soon as it becomes more about the sex than the sweets I’m leaving,” he said. John exchanged a look with both Randy and Chris, grinning.

“There’s something I bet you never thought you’d say before,” he teased.

Evan blushed and Chris said, “I think I have some sweets left from our trip to town a few days back.”

“Good, tonight in my room, then?” Randy asked the group. “You can ask Phil along if you’d like,” he said to John. 

“Phil? All he’ll do is bitch about how much we’re groping each other,” John said. 

“Exactly. I guess I should give him a fair shake, I mean, we were roommates for years and I know hardly nothing about the guy asides from the fact that he doesn’t drink or smoke and is now engaged,” Randy said. Obviously he did know more about the man, but those were the things he remembered the most about him. 

“It wouldn’t hurt to ask him. Especially as he’s been so nice about covering up for my absence.”

“No one should be concerned about you being in your own room, or not. You’re sports captain and you’re in your final year here. Please… it won’t make one lick of difference whose room you’re in, so long as you continue to do well.”

“You’re still bothered about _him_ aren’t you?” John asked, though he seemed more amused than wound up this time.

“I won’t stop being bothered by him until we’ve graduated from here,” he said flatly.

“Alright…” he didn’t want to get into it again, but then stood and clapped both Evan and Chris respectively over the shoulders, “We’ll see you both soon then. I’ll go and see if I can find Phil.” Chances were his friend was most likely in their room writing a letter to Beth or reading one of his many, many complicated books.

As John headed off Randy looked after him and then looked back again before tilting his head and smiling.

“Don’t skimp out on the sweets, boys, and don’t think you can chicken out of play Ok?” he winked and headed off back to his own room to gather his sweets together and ready for the evening of fun. He found he was looking forward to it.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Evan said as he and Chris stood and headed back to their own room.

“Oh, it’ll be fun.”

“A rip-roaring good time, I’m sure,” Evan replied sarcastically. 

“Ev, you know you always enjoy yourself when you’re with them, so stop trying to act like you won’t this time.”

“What do they even mean, though? Play… I don’t like the sound of it.”

“Why not?” Chris asked. 

“I just mean… with them… who knows what kind of weird things they do,” Evan muttered, blushing. 

 

“Do you think they’re going to do anything _that_ bad?” Chris asked, “I mean, you and Randy _are_ related to each other.”

Evan supposed he had a point; even Randy wouldn’t be that indiscriminate about his sexual partners as to pursue a relative.

“Besides,” Chris smiled, “I’ll be too jealous to let even those two near you.”

Evan blushed a little more.

It was still so odd to be considered a figure of sexual admiration.

“So, we’ll go and have fun Ok?”

“Alright,” Evan conceded, heading with Chris back to their room to get the necessary things together.

“Good,” Chris said, smiling. “You know, it’s been really nice getting to know your cousin and John better.”

“I like that you’re getting to know them, too,” Evan replied, keeping in step with Chris. “I’m sorry that I didn’t introduce you to them properly sooner… enough that it got to the point where they thought you were hurting me.”

“I know, but they know the truth now, and that’s what matters. They know now that I could never hurt you,” Chris told him. 

“I’m glad they know the truth. Even if they did have to spy on us to get it,” Evan said with a blush. 

“And now _you_ know that you had no reason to be so stubborn and reluctant to tell them in the first place,” Chris said as he opened the door to their room.


	41. Chapter 41

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it... I can resist everything but temptation ~ Oscar Wilde

That had Windham’s head turning rather sharply in Joe’s direction. He wasn’t about to deny he’d imagined the same, but he didn’t think Joe would have too.

“I don’t see Windham being opposed to the idea,” Cody said, and then shrugged, “And one day you may be able to swap.”

“That day’s not here for you and Ted yet though, is it?” Windham said but Cody merely shrugged.

“Not yet but it will be,” he responded lightly.

Joe then realised something, “Wait… are you saying that Justin’s topped Wade?”

Even Windham’s jaw dropped at that.

Justin merely had an innocent smile.

“See?” Cody said brightly, “It’s a natural order of things overall.” 

“But… Justin, you really…?” Windham asked, slightly dumbfounded. 

“I’m not saying it’s happened often, but yes, it’s happened before. It’s a plus that Wade likes relinquishing that control once in a while… and that he does enjoy it. Like I said, not often, but enough to keep us both happy,” Justin answered. 

“There, if Justin can fuck Wade, then I think anything’s possible,” Cody said. “I just think you need to get over your reservations and just… do it already. Teddy’s slept with another man before you two did, think about that one.”

“I can’t just… sleep with him,” Joe muttered. 

“Why not? You’re not shy about talking about how many girls you’ve just slept with,” Cody reminded him. 

“It’s different, though. Fuck,” Joe grumbled, wondering just how he managed to get himself stuck in this situation. He wanted Windham; he cared for Windham… but he did still care for Heath. On the same note, though, he didn’t know just how Heath truly felt in return. And he didn’t know if he was ready to take that final step with either of them just then. 

“I don’t know what there is to think about,” Cody said, raising a brow. 

“You wouldn’t,” Joe snapped, still uncomfortable with the way that his friends could still see through him so easily on occasion even though he knew it was only logical that they would be able to given how long they had all known one another.

“I’m not even going to ask you what you mean by that,” Cody replied.

Joe had the wherewithal to look a little sheepish.

“These things don’t need to be rushed,” Justin agreed, “But at the same time you shouldn’t let your fear hold you back. One day you’ll look back on all the time you spent afraid and you’ll curse each wasted moment,” he finished.

At times like this it was very easy to see just how being around an older, wiser man had rubbed off on Justin.

Joe gave a non-committal sound and shrugged, looking down at his shoes.

Cody sighed, standing up, “I’m going upstairs for a bit,” he said, “I want to read over my script.” He gave Ted a significant look that he was welcome to join him whenever he wanted, but for once he didn’t make a demand that Ted go with him. As it was the blonde seemed to dither, clearly unsure whether he would offend either whether he stayed or went.

In the end, Ted said, “I’ll be up soon.” Cody smiled at him before heading off, leaving Ted with their other friends. He then spoke to Joe, “Justin’s right, you know. I kept saying that I wanted to wait, until I finally wondered myself just what I was waiting for. I love Cody and that’s really all the reason needed.”

“Dammit, Teddy,” Joe mumbled. Two of his friends could always be counted on to be the voice of reason, those two being Justin and Ted. And there were both of them telling him that he and Windham should just go for it. 

“What? You don’t agree?” he asked. “I don’t know if there was anyone more reluctant than me, but… I realized that it was worth letting go of all my reservations, because I just want to be with Cody.”

“I can’t just go and sleep with him, though. It’s not like the girls I’ve been with, since I only see them every now and then. I see Windham and Heath all the time.”

“So what? I know it’s nothing like the girls you’ve been with, since those were all one offs… you don’t want a one night stand with Windham, right?” Ted asked, and Joe shook his head. “Then… really, what are you waiting for?”

“I don’t know…” Joe finally said, uncomfortably aware of the fact that Windham was sitting right next to him. However, aside from his comments about not wanting to share him with Heath he really hadn’t said that much. He latched on with that idea and decided to run on it, “I’m not the only one with reluctance here.”

He indicated Windham with a nod of his head, “Windham’s not overly enthused about the idea either!” and of course he was drawing on that from how much bloody effort he had had to put in to get him to even let him give a blow-job before.

“Hey—“ Windham paused momentarily, realising that he couldn’t completely deny the allegation. Rubbing a hand over his cheek he huffed softly and then shrugged, “I guess I just don’t see…” he trailed off.

“Don’t see what?” Justin asked and Windham glanced at Joe before looking back to them, “I guess I just don’t see how it could feel _good_ as opposed to just hurt.”

“It takes a bit of patience but it really is worth it,” Justin said immediately and Ted nodded, “Windham, Joe, I was as concerned about that as you two but really, Justin’s right… as long as you take your time with it you’ll be fine.” 

“So now _you’re_ telling me to take my time with it? Christ, what’s this world coming to; you’re actually agreeing with Cody,” Joe muttered. 

“What? I’m just saying go slow and steady… Cody seemed to enjoy it,” Ted told them, watching as they scrunched up their noses. 

“Please, you eat it up. Now, will you two please quit your worrying and just go fuck each other already? I mean, honestly, you’re knocking it before you even try it,” Justin said, rolling his eyes.

“Justin makes a valid point,” Ted agreed. “You’re just speculating about how it’ll be.”

“Look, I took a girl’s virginity once and it wasn’t pretty,” Joe said. 

“Yeah, and you said that was your first time, too,” Justin reminded him. “Of course it’s not going to be pretty. I don’t think anyone here’s been with both guys and girls, have they?” he asked of the people around him, who all shook their heads. 

“Heath has, though,” Joe told them. “Why?”

“Then he’s really the only one that can compare things. I mean, he said himself that the pain is absolutely worth it. And I have to agree with him,” Justin said. “Look, all of us are telling you to go fuck,” he added. “Even Ted and myself, and we’re the logical ones! What should that tell you?”

“It tells me that you all have far too much time on your hands,” Joe grumbled, cheeks still red. His hands went towards his pockets, undoubtedly seeking out his matches and cigarettes--- but as soon as they touched them they dropped again. Windham had taken everything off of him earlier.

 _”An incentive to help you quit,”_ he had called it. Joe hadn’t believed him at all.

A quick look to his lover also meant that he wouldn’t be getting them back.

“I’m going back to our room for a bit,” Joe stood up.

As he headed off Justin sent Windham a significant look and said, “Now would be the perfect time you know? Heath’s not here and you’d have the room to yourself.” Yes, he was nothing if not opportunistic, and he was damn well proud of it too.

“Shut up will you?” Windham said, though without much heat as opposed to the way Joe had been flaring up at most of their comments. Justin merely sighed.

“Some people you just can’t reason with!” he said with clear annoyance to Ted, the latter merely shrugging and giving him a look in turn. 

He looked to Windham and added, “I’m just saying… ok? I’m not telling you that you _need to_ , but… think about it. And think about just who it is that’s telling you that maybe you should really consider it.”

Windham nodded. They were both right, Cody, too, he had to admit with some reluctance. They weren’t exactly giving things a fair shake. Giving head wasn’t all that bad, so maybe sex wouldn’t be so bad, either. “I am, all right?” 

“Well, I better go join Cody; he’s probably getting antsy,” Ted said, excusing himself.

Once Ted was upstairs, Justin and Windham were alone in the common room. Justin raised a brow at his friend and asked, “So, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. This was all just sprung on me days ago, you know.”

“And how long did it take you to decide you wanted to be with… what’s her name?”

“That was just a little fling. This is different, so would you all _please_ stop comparing the two situations?” he snapped.

“You care for him, though. And that shouldn’t change if you two sleep together,” Justin reasoned.

It shouldn’t yes, but Windham noticed that no one said explicitly that things _wouldn’t_ change between them after the fact. Running a hand over the back of his neck Windham sighed, “I’ll think about it,” he said again.

Justin shrugged and nodded before sighing, “Well, I guess I should find some way to occupy myself for a bit… I mean, Cody and Ted won’t be done for a bit.” And he had little doubt in mind that something would be started some point.

“Can’t you go and see Wade?” Windham found himself asking the smaller male absently.

“I wish,” Justin lamented, “But I’ve been around him so much the past few days I’ll need to hold back for a bit.” So that it wouldn’t look suspicious to anyone.

Windham had to admire the tenacity Justin showed; it had to be difficult not to even really _see_ his lover most of the time.

And that had him actually feeling a little sheepish reflecting on their conversation.

He and Joe had lots of time alone together, Justin didn’t get that.

“I’m going to go get my schoolbag before they get started… see you in a minute,” Justin quickly headed off. 

When Justin reached the room, he saw that, as of now, Ted was actually helping Cody with his lines. “Seems like it’s coming along well,” Justin said as he began grabbing his books and shoving them into his bag. 

“It is,” Cody answered. “It always helps when I have someone to run lines with,” he added. 

“I’m sure. Look, I’m going back downstairs to do the rest of my work, so if you two are going to do… anything other than run lines, do keep that in mind you’ve got a somewhat limited time frame,” Justin told them.

Ted flushed bright red at the mere suggestion. Cody just grinned. “We’ll keep that in mind, thank you.”

With that, Justin turned and headed out the door, back downstairs where Windham was still sitting. “So, have you given any more thought to what we talked about?”

“I can’t stop thinking about it,” he admitted. “It’s not that I don’t want to, honestly, I just don’t want things to change between us… and Heath just completely throws a wrench into the situation. I like him, he’s my friend, but that doesn’t mean I want him sucking Joe off, or fucking Joe or getting fucked by Joe, as well…”

Perching himself with a subconscious precision that Windham was sure was inherent to Justin wanting to make sure that he _never, ever_ showed Wade up, Justin placed his book-bag on the floor before responding.

“Well, why didn’t you say so to start with?” he had been curious about that he’d admit it.

The other boy gave a sigh before scrubbing his hand over the scruff he had growing on his chin and cheeks. It was one of the things that made Windham-Windham that he could never decide if he wanted a beard or not.

“Because…” he blushed, “Because I didn’t realise how much it’d bother me, and because I didn’t realise just how much I want Joe… and how much I want him to myself.”

Nodding pensively Justin said, “Well, if you talk to Heath I’m sure that something could be arranged, Win.”

Seeing the other’s expression he immediately chastised him, “No, Windham, you will need to talk to him about it. You said it yourself that you are friends and as his friend you owe him that much.” He laughed then, causing Windham to arch a brow inquiringly. Shaking his head slightly, Justin mused, “I was just thinking what if Heath challenged you to a duel for Joe?”

~~~

“Are you ever going to let that go?” Evan asked sheepishly, Chris laughing softly as he shook his head, “Evan, I’m not angry at you over it. I’m just glad that we managed to resolve the issue before too much time wound up lost.”

“You’re really not angry about it?” Evan asked, kneeling down and pulling his small box of sweets from underneath the bed, then standing up again once more.

“Of course not…” if anything he had been more hurt about the whole scenario, but he wasn’t about to tell him that.

The Canadian retrieved his own sweets then, seeing how much he wanted to keep and how much he would take along so as to not seem stingy.

“I’m really looking forward to Christmas now you know,” Chris admitted suddenly, glancing at the calendars on their desks.

“You are?” Evan asked. 

“Yes, I am. Is that hard to believe?”

“I mean… no, I guess not. I’m rather looking forward to Christmas myself. It’ll be nice having you over. Won’t you miss not going home to your own family, though?”

“Well, travel from here back to Canada is rather expensive and, you know… takes a while by ship and all… so I would have been staying with my family that lives here, anyway. Not that I don’t want to see them,” Chris quickly added, “but I’d much rather spend time with you and meet your family.”

“I’m glad you’re going to come over. Auntie’s going to love you, I’m sure. I’d like to think my mum would like you, too,” he told Chris. 

“I like to think that everyone likes me,” Chris replied, grinning, trying to keep the mood up since he knew it was hard for Evan to talk about his parents.

“Someone thinks rather highly of themselves,” Evan said. “C’mon, let’s go, they’re probably waiting for us.”

Chris heaved an exaggerated sigh, “Ok.”

They locked their room up behind them.

The walk towards John and Randy’s room didn’t take long, though by the time they got there it seemed as though the other two had started without them. Of course.

“Usually it’s custom to wait for your guests before beginning the evening,” Evan chastised his cousin lightly and Randy merely grinned before popping what appeared to be a mint humbug into his mouth and waving them in. Chris closed the door after them both, moving to take a seat beside Evan.

“No Phil?” he asked and John held up a hand, indicating for them to wait a moment since he was chewing on something himself. When he swallowed he answered.

“He’s coming along in a little bit,” John said, “He was just writing a letter to Beth when I went to see him… It’s so sweet it’s sickening.”

He was clearly only teasing though, he didn’t think there was out wrong with it. “He didn’t say he’d stay for long though.”

“Well, he’ll probably want to head back to his room and have a nice quickie with his right hand before going to bed,” Randy said. 

“Probably,” John agreed, the smirk on his face matching Randy’s. 

“You two are terrible,” Evan muttered. 

“You love us,” Randy said to him, and Evan just rolled his eyes. “Anyway, you two have your sweets? Let’s see ‘em.”

Evan and Chris emptied out their little baggies for the other two to see as they browsed the piles before John and Randy respectively. As Evan reached out for something, the door opened and Phil announced, “I have arrived.”

“Thank you for that. Now close and lock the door behind you,” Randy said.

“Lock it, huh? Are you planning on holding me hostage for some weird big homosexual orgy?” he asked, eyeing Randy suspiciously. 

“You’re not my type,” Randy responded almost immediately and Evan couldn’t resist the jibe of, “You actually have a type, Randal?”

Phil and Chris burst into laughter, John trying to smother chuckles after a few moments when he got over his shock.

“I forgot this one has a bit of a sharp tongue,” Phil clapped Evan’s shoulder, almost causing Evan to drop the sweet that he had been in the process of eating. Sending Phil a small nod he then glanced back to his cousin innocently.

“Well,” Randy said as he recovered, “I guess that proves with a wit like that that he is indeed from the same gene-pool as me.”

“That was brilliant,” Chris couldn’t help but commend, Evan blushing somewhat.

He didn’t make a habit of being nasty but sometimes it was a reflex.

“Let’s get the games started shall we?” John asked.

“I thought you said this _wasn’t_ some freaky homo orgy?” Phil asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously. 

“Shut the fuck up, Brooks,” John said. “’N where are your sweets?” he asked, seeing that Phil hadn’t contributed. 

“I’ve got them. But, really, what sort of games are you intending to play? No one’s going to end up naked, are they?”

“For someone who seems to want to avoid a big homo orgy, you sure do seem to be talking about one quite a bit. Is someone a bit _curious_?” Randy teased. 

“No. I just need to know what I’ve gotten myself into,” Phil said. 

Randy rolled his eyes. “No, ok, no one’s getting naked. He _is_ my cousin after all and as gorgeous as John and I are together, I wouldn’t necessarily want him to see that.”

“Thank you,” Evan muttered. 

“Same goes for you, ya know. I may know about you and Chris, but I don’t actually need to see it.”

“You won’t be, I can assure you that much,” Evan said without a moment’s hesitation, much to John’s amusement.

“Someone’s a little territorial today aren’t they?” he teased, Evan throwing a piece of fudge at him in response.

“I would be too… I think you’d lose interest in Randy if you saw Evan,” Chris said, both teasing and playful all at once.

“Tch, please,” Randy scoffed, “I know we of the Orton branch are fantastic in genetics but Evan doesn’t surpass me. No offence Ev.” Evan arched a brow at him.

“None taken,” he said, popping a sweet into his mouth, chewing.

“So, no getting naked and no groping or snogging, right?” Phil asked suspiciously and John and Randy exchanged a look before Randy shifted, head resting on John’s stomach.

“Well, I can’t promise none of that will not occur,” Randy said as John’s free fingers began carding through his hair.

“For fuck sake…” Phil sighed.

“Maybe we shouldn’t, though. Philly might get jealous,” John mused, though he was still running his fingers through Randy’s hair. 

Phil rolled his eyes. “Why did I even agree to come to this?” he asked. 

“Because we all know that you actually love us despite you telling us otherwise,” John replied. “Plus, you wanted our sweets.”

“I think that was more likely,” Phil agreed, grabbing a chocolate and popping it into his mouth. “I don’t have any other vices; I may as well eat some sweets every now and again.”

“That’s your problem, you know,” Randy said. “You’re hardly even living.”

“What?”

“Well, you don’t smoke, you don’t drink, you don’t have sex and you have to rely on chocolate as your vice… That’s not much of a life now is it?” Randy asked, finding a piece of chocolate for himself. 

“I cope just fine,” Phil said with great dignity, “Just because you’re contented to be a drunkard and a whore,” he then smirked.

“Hey, I resent that,” Randy said, jutting out his bottom lip in a deep pout.

“Which part did he get wrong, dear cousin?” Evan asked somewhat teasingly.

“Not much that’s what I’m annoyed about,” Randy joked, grabbing a chocolate that John liked and held it up for his lover to eat.

John took the chocolate, giving Randy’s fingertips a playful lick in the process, causing Phil to make a strangled sound low in his throat. “You two are so bloody demonstrative.”

“Point being?”

The banter continued as they gorged on sweets, John and Randy’s relaxed states slowly but surely rubbing off on the others in the room even though it was apparent that they weren’t quite as free about it.

It was after a little while that Randy noticed that Chris and Evan were hardly even touching one another. He was practically lying atop John, and there was no contact whatsoever between his cousin and his lover. “You do know that you can touch each other, right?” Randy asked. 

“Hmm?”

“Maybe feed each other some sweets,” he suggested. 

“Stop encouraging them. If they don’t want to, then they don’t want to,” Phil said. He really didn’t care about his friends and their relations amongst themselves, but he did enjoy giving them a hard time about it. 

“Oh, they want to. At least I know Chris would admit to that,” Randy said. “Evan I’m sure does, too, but he’s too shy to admit it aloud.”

“Randy…” Evan muttered, the look on his face all Randy needed to let him know that he was right. 

“It’s not like I’m saying you should fuck each other. But at least do _something_.”

“You really don’t have to,” Phil added. 

Grinning, Chris picked up a piece of chocolate and held it up to Evan’s lips, who took a small bite, face bright red as he did so.

~~~

Windham paused a moment, quirked his head to the side, then let out a deep laugh, the kind that started right in his gut. “A duel?! That’s quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve heard in ages!”

“Well… do you think he’ll just… let you and Joe be together, even though you know he and Joe at least had something together?” Justin asked. 

“I don’t know… It’s terribly naive of me to think that he will just give up being with Joe at all, so… no I don’t think that.”

“You’ve at least got to talk to him, though. You will, won’t you?”

“Yes. I’ll talk to Heath.” Windham shook his head slightly. “I don’t really want to, though. What if… Goddammit, I’ve never been more conflicted and confused about _anything_. This whole thing is nothing but one big mess, and it’s too late to go back and pretend none of this ever actually happened.”

“Are you saying that you’d much rather suppress your feelings for Joe?” Justin asked of him. 

“I don’t know! Before this… I didn’t even realize I _had_ feelings for him! I knew we were the best of friends, but I didn’t know that I felt for him exactly what I’m feeling now. If that makes sense,” he trailed off rather weakly. 

“That makes sense,” Justin soothed, not wanting Windham to do himself some sort of injury panicking about the whole situation. “It wasn’t as though I knew I felt for Wade as I did right away.”

“You didn’t?” Windham asked curiously, forgetting his own panic for a moment. The way Justin was about Wade you’d thought he’d loved him since forever.

“Of course not, Windham,” Justin nodded, “I knew I cared deeply for him, and I knew I’d do anything for him, but, well, no one had ever really spoken to me about _those_ kind of emotions before…” he trailed off slightly, smiling wanly at the way he had been so frustrated and upset back then in his confusion.

And then that kiss had happened and everything just seemed to… make sense. Suddenly he wasn’t confused anymore.

“So… It was that simple, huh?” Windham asked him pensively.

Again, Justin nodded, “It really was… and I think when you’re ready it will be for you two too.”

Well, that remained to be seen didn’t it? But, indeed, their friends had given him much to think about that day. It was still a terrifying prospect but was it really as big of a deal as they thought? He really didn’t know anymore.

“You think so?”

“Yes,” Justin answered. “I really do think so.”

“I’ve never seen Joe so… unsure of himself before,” Windham said. 

“It’s all new for him, too. But are you this confused when you’ve been with one another? Not after you’re together, but _when_ you’re together,” he asked, clarifying slightly, because he knew that confusion and frustration always seemed to come afterwards. 

“When we’re together? I… I guess not,” he said. “I’m not really thinking about much else, honestly.”

“Well, _that’s_ the moment that should clarify it for you. Those times when you’re together and forget about all your worries and just… go for it. Like I said, when Wade and I kissed for the first time, I knew what all those weird feelings I was feeling truly were. Was I nervous? Absolutely. But I was so happy and contented because now I knew,” Justin recalled. 

“So… if it’s right you just know?” Windham said.

“Even Ted said so,” and that was saying something alright, even he could admit that much about it all.

“Right…” Windham said.

“Don’t overthink it,” Justin suggested, “Just… let the moment happen.”

Windham didn’t voice it but he knew full-well that they could do that… hadn’t the incident in the sports-kit store-room during the rain prove it? Only, he wasn’t sure that one of them wouldn’t clam up as soon as the situation seemed to progress any further.

“Justin…” Windham glanced around to make sure that indeed no one was looking at them, listening in. “About when you… _you know_ ,” he said, brows raising significantly. “What do you… _do_?” Obviously he got where he was supposed to stick his cock inside of Joe, but he just didn’t understand how to rectify the fact that you didn’t just stick it in, as it were.

“What do you… I thought you said you’d had sex before?!” Justin asked. 

“Well, _yeah_ ,” Windham said, flushing red. “With a _girl_. It’s different, you know… it wasn’t like she was a virgin herself, or anything, so…”

“So you want to know what to do. I swear I’ve had this conversation quite a bit recently,” he muttered. “What would any of you do if I weren’t here?”

“Couldn’t tell ya,” Windham answered. 

Justin rolled his eyes. “I’m sure you could figure things out for yourselves if you just… tried.”

“Well, why figure things out for ourselves when we can go straight to you and ask you what we can do to make it all the more enjoyable?” Windham asked.

“It’s part of the fun, you know. To just explore one another and find out what your partner likes,” Justin told him. 

“I really don’t need to think about you and Barrett exploring one another,” Windham muttered. 

“It’s not like I wanna think about you and Joe together, either, but to be fair, you _were_ the one that came to me asking for advice.”

“If you don’t want to help me just say so,” Windham said, “I wasn’t asking for a step-by-step guide, just--!” he stopped, looking embarrassed once more.

“Just…?” Justin prompted and Windham sighed.

“I just want to know, specifically, what to do so it won’t hurt him as bad.”

“Oh!” the smaller nodded his head and said, “You should have just said so in the first place. Well, that part of the process requires some form of lubrication.”

At Windham’s look Justin rolled his eyes slightly in amusement, “Surely it’s not that shocking?”

“I guess it’s just hearing it… what sort of things can you use?” it would be pretty silly to assume that any liquid could be used he was sure.

“Well, saliva is a good one,” Justin said, and then reconsidered, “Though since it’s a first time I’d suggest you use something more substantial, just for that bit more.”

Windham shook his head slightly as he wondered wherein one would actually buy something like that without it looking suspicious.

“I have an unused container if you want some,” Justin said. Wade always had some for their needs so it’d been untouched since the day he’d dared buy it. 

“Umm… I… really?” he asked. 

“Yes, really,” he answered. “It’s yours if you want it.”

Windham could feel his face burning as he muttered, “At least with girls they create their own lubrication.”

“Yeah, well, guess what? He’s not a girl. So… do you want it, or not? Because you’re more than welcome to go get your own,” Justin told him.

“I’ll take it… yeah, ok, I’ll take it. Did you want me to pay you back for it?” he asked rather awkwardly. 

“No, it’s fine. Consider it an early Christmas gift,” he joked. 

“Oh, thank you… you are such a great friend. Giving out lubrication as Christmas gifts… I’m sure Cody would like that.”

“He probably would, in all honesty,” Justin agreed. “So… I can go grab it now if you’d like. Assuming Ted and Cody are still clothed, that is.”

“No, you don’t have to go now.”

Justin waited a moment, and then--- “Now’s fine actually.”

“I thought it would be,” Justin chuckled, clapping Windham on the shoulder as he passed him by, “One moment.”

When he reached the room and tried the door it was open, but he placed a hand over his eyes just in case, “Are you both still dressed?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Cody’s voice sounded and Justin lowered the hand, being met with Cody’s pout from where he was...

Straddled atop a rather startled, blushing, but apparently not protesting blonde. Justin waved a hand, moving to his bedside.

“I’ll only be a moment, don’t worry, just need to get something.”

Finding the container Justin then glanced at Cody when he asked, “What’s that?” and shrugged before answering, “Some lubricant for Windham.”

Cody blinked a couple times before he began laughing and actually fell forward onto Ted, hand over his mouth to try and stop himself from laughing _too_ loudly (and doing a very poor job of it).

Ted wasn’t in a much better state. He had raised his head up just as Cody fell forward and their heads bounced off one another, but they really didn’t care at that point. He didn’t know if it was the words themselves or _how_ Justin said it, but it had them both in hysterics. 

“Tell him we send him our love and best wishes,” Cody choked out through his laughter, and Justin just barely made out the words.

“I will. Anyway, I’ll let you two… I’ll see you later.” Justin closed the door behind him, still able to hear the two of them laughing. Once he was back downstairs, he sat down right next to Windham again. “Ted and Cody send their love and best wishes,” he repeated with a grin. 

Windham huffed. “Jesus… maybe I should just forget this whole thing, then,” he muttered.

“Win, please… you’re just too uptight about it.” He reached into his bag and passed the jar to his friend. “So go to your room and make good use of this,” he then said, patting Windham on the shoulder. 

For a moment a look that could only be described as ‘abject terror’ appeared on Windham’s face as he looked first at Justin and then down at the pot in his hand. “Now?!” his voice came out squeaky.

“Why not?” Justin prompted, “You have the room to yourself and chances are Joe has been thinking about numerous scenarios that you two could be involved in together, and he could be aroused and needing…” he wheedled, though really he was speculating most determinedly.

Windham went quiet for a moment, some lingering terror in his eyes, prompting Justin to reiterate an earlier pointer he had given.

“Just go with the moment and see what happens,” he said, “There’s no pressure right away.”

Windham muttered a goodbye moments later and headed up the stairs towards his, Joe and Heath’s room and Justin settled back with his books. If only those two wouldn’t be so afraid they would see what the rest of them were raving about. Ah, naïveté… he grinned to himself.

The only issue they’d have, if Windham and Joe got anywhere, would be Heath turning up again. Well, Justin supposed that it would be down to him to run the necessary intervention to keep the peace. 

Windham was in the room for a few minutes, sitting there in silence, continually looking over to Joe. “Is there something you want to say?” Joe asked after he couldn’t take the deafening silence anymore.

“Uh… well… Justin and I were talking.”

“Oh? About?”

“I’ll give you three guesses as to what we were talking about,” he said, rolling his eyes slightly. 

“So… what about it?” he asked. 

“He gave me something,” Windham told him. 

“Like what? Jeez, you’re not telling me anything here.”

Standing up, Windham walked over to Joe’s bed and grabbed his hand. Once he flipped Joe’s hand so his palm was upwards, he placed the jar Justin gave to him right in the center of his hand. “That…”

Initially Joe was clearly non-plussed, “Yeah…?” but then when he realised what substance was in there, and recalled the content of the conversation he managed to put two and two together visibly.

He’d never claimed to be the fastest gun on the draw.

“Oh—Oh!” he blushed scarlet at the implication.

“Yeah,” Windham mumbled in return.

For a moment Joe found himself wondering –probably stupidly- why Justin kept such an item in his room since Wade never came to visit him--- and it wasn’t as though Justin ever ‘played away’ elsewhere.

As per usual when he got embarrassed he tried to mask it with some sort of crude-ish joke.

For once though Windham didn’t laugh…

But that could have been because he was too busy kissing Joe to pay much attention.

~~~

“You’re such a corrupting influence Orton,” Phil shook his head slightly, but supposed that Chris feeding Evan and Randy merely laying on John were better than _some_ of the things he had no doubt that they could get up to… well, in John and Randy’s case anyway, he amended.

“You wouldn’t be so miserable if Beth was here,” John said.

“I am not miserable.”

John wasn’t wrong though; had Beth been there then he would have probably been a little more at ease. “I think she knows about you two you know,” he commented, and then paused, “And no, before you start I didn’t tell her.”

“How would she know then?” Randy asked, clearly unsure whether he should be overly concerned by this news or not. Phil merely shrugged.

“Apparently she could just tell, even though when she met you both you were meeting with Elizabeth and Samantha.”

“Always said she was too smart for you.”

“Aren’t you concerned?” Evan asked, recovering slightly from his bout of shyness.

“Nope,” John said simply, massaging the back of Randy’s neck, “Because we can trust that Beth won’t go being a gossip. She hates that.”

“That she does,” Phil agreed. “Although her engagement to me, I’ve heard, has been the cause of several rumours. Mainly ones about her being pregnant.”

“So we all know those are false,” Randy said. 

“Yes, completely false,” Phil said with a nod. “She never liked gossip to begin with, and now she’s the subject of it, so she hates it even more. I’m sure if she was ever, for some reason or another, asked about you two, she would tell them that’s it’s none of her business, therefore, it’s none of their business.”

“She sound like a good person,” Evan said. 

“She is.”

“I still can’t figure out _why_ she said yes to him. Or how they even got hooked up in the first place,” Randy chimed in. 

“Oh, piss off,” Phil laughed. “Really, though, I lucked out with her.”

“She sounds lovely,” Evan assured and Phil nodded, pride evident in his face that brought a smile to John’s; he was pleased that Phil was so happy, really.

They may tease him but they truly held nothing against his lifestyle and the fact he was remaining faithful to Beth before marriage.

“You’ll get to meet her soon, I’m sure,” Phil said.

And, if not outside of his wedding he would undoubtedly meet her first time at the ceremony. He would of course invite Evan since even though they weren’t considered firm friends they were close enough acquaintances… not that he and Beth would get much say on the matter, it would be all their parents’ decisions.

“You definitely could have done worse,” Randy said.

“Remember Katie-Lea?”

“Oh don’t… I’m still terrified she’s hiding under the bed when I go back to our room.”

“That name sounds familiar,” Evan chimed in. 

“Burchill’s the surname,” John said, pulling Randy closer to him out of reflex.

“That name still sounds familiar, but I can’t place it,” Evan told them. 

“Her brother Paul graduated last year,” Phil said. 

“Ohhhh, ok.” Evan was finally able to put a face with the name. “His sister was that bad, then?” he asked. 

“Yes,” John, Phil and Randy said at once. 

“How bad could one girl be?” Chris asked, looking to the three who answered in the affirmative, then quirked a brow at Evan, who seemed to have missed out on all the drama.

“Pretty bad,” Phil told them. “She doesn’t really know about personal space and boundaries. At all.” 

“Really?” Chris looked amused and they nodded.

“Why don’t I remember anything like this?” Evan asked, brow furrowing a little.

“You were doing all those extra-assignments and stuff and had no life.”

Evan stuck his tongue out as Chris once again prompted what she was supposed to have done to them all.

“Let’s just say some of those girls are a bit… obsessive.”

“That’s putting it nicely, John,” Randy muttered.

“When they latch onto a boy they do all they can to keep him,” Phil said. “I don’t know if you’ll remember… but a lad here was duped into marrying one because she claimed she was pregnant.”

Evan looked shocked, “And she wasn’t?” Phil shook his head, expression somber, “Last I heard they were still childless.” Chris whistled.

“Why was she so desperate to get married?” Evan asked.

“I have no idea,” Phil told him. “She’s not the first, though. To do something like that, I mean.”

“Isn’t that strange? Why should you have to fool someone into marrying you if you two love one another?”

“I guess the love was only one sided,” Randy said. “May as well just marry the person your parents hoped to arrange you with if that’s the case. Girls act like that over in Canada?” he asked.

“Not that I know of. But then again, I’ve never paid them much mind, truth be told,” Chris answered. 

“It’s so much easier just fucking another man, I swear,” Randy said. “No one needs to worry about anyone getting pregnant or not fucking for a week because she’s menstruating or some such… Plus I like having the option of being on top or bottom,” he added. 

“Charming,” Phil said wanly, referring to the menstrual comments more so than anything. The prospect of one day becoming a father didn’t bother him at all. It was something he knew would happen eventually, so why act like a dick about it? So he thought.

“You really don’t know what you’re missing out on,” Randy said.

“You all act as though you’re not going to have to get married yourselves one day,” he returned.

“We will,” John nodded, “But we’ll be honest; it’s hardly going to stop us being together.” He wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to the sanctity of marriage or anything, but his love for Randy outweighed it all.

Phil clucked his tongue a little but didn’t say anymore; he could hardly judge them for loving each other still.

Chris popped another sweet into his mouth, chancing resting his head on Evan’s shoulder, making him blush, but he didn’t tell him to move.

“Ooo, someone’s getting a little daring, aren’t they?” Randy asked when he saw what Chris was doing. 

“You said yourself that there wasn’t enough touching going on between us,” Chris said in return. 

“That I did.”

“Can I ask you something?” Evan then asked to Randy and John.

“Sure.”

“When you two do marry… are you going to tell your wives about one another? And that you, well… won’t be faithful to them? Because they’re bright girls and would probably figure it out eventually,” Evan reasoned. 

“Honestly, I’ll probably tell Liz that she can be with whomever she wants. If that’s just me, fine, but if there are others, I’ll be ok with that,” he answered honestly. 

“I’ll probably do the same thing,” Randy agreed. “It would be fair to not let them have their fun, right?”

Phil toasted them with a wrapped toffee, “You’re more open-minded than I ever would be,” he complimented.

“Thanks,” they responded.

Evan shook his head slightly, genuinely surprised; they really had given the event a lot of thought.

Seeing his cousin’s look Randy chuckled slightly and cocked his head, “Ev, we’ve all known we’re going to be getting married by the time we’re 20, if not sooner, since we were about fourteen… it’s not news to us.”

“I know, I didn’t mean to—“ they stopped him with reassuring looks.

“Besides, you’ve both gone through what we’ve gone through over the matter, right? So you understand.”

“I guess so.”

Personally though he didn’t know how he would handle the idea of sharing Chris even with one woman that he was completely aware of. He’d become so selfish.

“You’ll most likely have to do the same, Ev,” Randy then reminded him.

“Doesn’t mean I want to,” he muttered. 

“You were far less resistant to the idea of marriage before Chrissie came along,” Randy teased. 

“Well… that’s because… I guess… I didn’t know any better.”

“Hey, you hear that Phil? Evan didn’t know any better. But now he does, and you know why that is? Because he’s getting cock up his arse,” Randy said. “Unlike _someone_ in this room.”

“I’m quite content _not_ having another man’s cock in my arse.”

“ _Because you don’t know any better_!” John told him. 

“No, no, I like breasts far too much to consider giving those up.”

“Well, there are some boys who have—“ John started, smirking, but Phil cut him off almost immediately.

“That is disgusting on so many levels John.”

“It takes all sorts,” John mock sniffed, grinning when Randy pushed another sweet into his mouth, John licking his fingers again teasingly, causing Phil to groan somewhat, shaking his head.

“Honestly, how do you put up with them?” he asked Evan.

The smaller man shrugged, “You just learn to block it out,” he lamented.

“Oh please, you love me,” Randy said, “And you love John.”

“Not as much as he loves me though,” Chris couldn’t help inputting.

“Fair point,” John acknowledged once he’d finished his mouthful.

“Yeah, see, you just learn to block it out,” Evan repeated… and Randy chucked a piece of taffy at his head. “Ow, you bastard, my head’s not totally recovered from yesterday, you know.”

“Oh… sorry,” Randy said genuinely. He let yesterday’s events slip his mind because he simply didn’t want to think about what could have happened. 

“Bastard,” Evan repeated before bending down and picking up the offending piece of taffy, deciding if he should eat it or throw it back at his cousin. In the end, he decided he’d much rather eat it, so he unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth. 

“You’re feeling better, though, right?” Chris asked, gently running a hand through Evan’s hair. 

“I am, yes.”

“You know I am sorry about that, right?”

“Of course,” Evan said, turning his smiling face to Chris, pressing a quick kiss to his lips, despite his embarrassment. 

“Look at that! Those two began kissing before we did!” Randy exclaimed.

“John!” Randy pouted upside down at his lover from where he was settled against him, “Why did they get to kiss before we did?” John stroked his thumb over Randy’s cheek, shrugging, “We can rectify that situation right now if you like,” he smiled.

Immediately their lips pressed together, Chris and Evan both exchanging mildly amused (and shy in Evan’s case) looks before Evan then took stock of the fact that Phil had covered his eyes.

“Um, Phil?” he questioned lightly, the man lowering his hands in response to the query. When he cocked his head Evan asked, “Um… your hands?”

“The way you two kissed I can deal with,” he said bluntly, “But I’ve seen the way they kiss and… it’s more like they’re trying to eat each other.”

“That’s not the part of him that I like to eat best,” John said slyly, causing Phil to groan.

“Did you _have_ to bring _that_ incident up? I thought I’d blocked the damn thing out for good.”

“You loved it really.”

“Yeah, consider yourself privileged,” Randy smirked.


	42. Chapter 42

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it ~ Oscar Wilde

“What do you mean?” Evan asked. “Eating him? What?”

“Umm, Ev,” Chris began, “that’s a term usually meant to, uh…” he trailed off, scratching his head. 

“I walked in on John once sticking his tongue up Randy’s arse,” Phil said bluntly, despite the fact that he wanted to completely forget that memory. That was the closest he’d ever come to actually seeing them have sex… and in all honesty, he would probably rather have seen them having sex. 

“You… you… your… _what_?!” Evan stuttered sounding and looking shocked and horrified all at once.

“I take it you’ve never done that, then?” John asked, actually looking somewhat sheepish at Evan’s reaction. 

“No! I didn’t even know you… why would you _want_ to?” 

“Well, being on the giving end isn’t the best thing in the world,” John admitted, “but being on the _receiving_ end? There’s nothing like it.”

Evan was sat there dumbstruck, mouth hanging open somewhat.

John looked away, unable to handle Evan’s look for once. Randy immediately squeezed his middle.

John didn’t need to feel embarrassed about what he did to make Randy feel good, and Randy was going to ensure that his cousin understood _just how good_ such an event could make you feel once you got over your reservations and embarrassment. “John’s tongue turns me to jelly,” he said.

He noted that Chris looked startled too, but he looked more interested than anything; clearly the blonde hadn’t thought of such a thing before then.

“Chris, you know how good it feels to have your partner’s fingers and cock inside of you right?” he asked.

Phil groaned out a pleading, “Don’t answer their questions, Chris!”

Chris hesitated mere moments before then nodding, Randy continuing on, “Then think of how it feels when a tongue’s on your cock, and apply that to your arse.”

“Oh… well… I guess that might feel pretty good then,” Chris mused.

“Beth loves it when I lick her pussy,” Phil chimed in.

“That’s disgusting,” Randy muttered. 

“But shoving your tongue up another man’s arse _isn’t_?” Phil asked, utterly astounded. 

“Maybe you should get her to stick her tongue up your arse so you can find out for yourself,” John suggested. “Same goes for you two,” he added, looking to Chris and Evan.

“I’m pretty happy not having anything shoved up my arse,” Phil said. “Really… yes, really quite happy with that,” he went on, nodding. 

“You’re just not adventurous enough,” Randy said lightly.

“I’m adventurous where it counts,” Phil said in return with no heat.

Shrugging with a nod Randy ate another sweet and sighed softly to himself.

Evan meanwhile seemed to just be returning to the present moment, his shock now abating.

“You back with me now?” Chris mused.

“Yes… Yes,” Evan nodded, swallowing thickly before clearing his throat. He hadn’t meant to be so judgmental in his reaction, he was just… still so new to everything that was going on.

“Sadly though I shall have to leave you all soon,” Phil said as he checked his watch, “I end up falling asleep here and the rumor mills will go crazy,” he joked.

“Oh, yes, think about it,” Randy began. “The rumors would be crazy, I’m sure. How the Head Boy had some five man orgy sex party with his own cousin.”

“What?!” Evan squeaked. Obviously he hadn’t completely come back from the thoughts running through his head. 

“It was a _joke_! Or are you still not paying attention because you’re thinking about sticking your tongue in Chris’ arse?” Randy asked. When Evan blushed a nice, deep red, he chuckled and said, “Yeah, I thought so.”

“No! I wasn’t!” he tried, but knew it was useless.

“Well, it was fun, boys, but I really should be headed out,” Phil told them. 

“Ah, yes, go have sweet wet dreams of your fiancée,” Randy said. 

“I’m sure I will,” Phil replied as he headed out and towards his own room, waving as he shut the door behind him. 

~~~

Joe was kissing Windham back, lying back on his bed as Windham lay atop him, straddling his hips. “Did you want to do this now?” Joe asked.

“Did _you_?” Windham asked him right back. “There’s no rush. We’ve got time, we don’t have to… right now.”

“But what if I _do_ want to?” 

“You do? You want to? Right here? Right now?”

“What’s the use in putting off the inevitable?” Joe asked. He was nervous, but he would forever be nervous about the act until he actually went through with it. That was how he was with his first time, too. He was practically pissing himself with nervousness, but then once they actually did it, it wasn’t so completely nerve wracking anymore. “Unless you don’t want—”

Windham cut him off with another kiss, hoping that made his answer clear.

It helped to know that Windham was nervous too; the way his hands shook just a little alerting Joe to the other’s nerves and adrenaline.

Their mouths remained permanently fused together as they undressed each other, shirts, pants and undergarments soon ending up on the floor.

“Are you sure?” Windham asked again, lips brushing against Joe’s as he did.

Once again he nodded, eyes on the other’s face.

Eye-contact should have been embarrassing, Joe thought to himself as he watched Windham reaching for the container of lubricant that Justin had gifted them with before, but in reality it made him feel more at ease. He didn’t need to worry that Windham was thinking about someone else. Not that he truly believed that his friend would embarrass him like that.

He gasped as the first finger entered him. 

When Joe gasped, Windham asked, “Are you ok?” hoping that he didn’t hurt him, or anything.

“Yeah. I’m ok. I just… It feels strange… having something going in me…” Joe told him.

“But it doesn’t hurt?”

“No. It’ll just take some getting used to, I think,” he said. “God, I can’t believe we’re talking so casually while you’ve got your finger up my arse,” he then added with a chuckle.

Windham grinned and said, “That’s better than not talking, right? I mean, you’re more relaxed…”

“I suppose… oh, hey there,” he went on as Windham began moving his hand, even twisting the finger around inside him.

“Just let me know if anything’s really uncomfortable and you want to stop,” he said. Like he said earlier, there was no rush.

“It’s not--- uncomfortable,” it was just still too odd for him to fully wrap his head around.

Windham nodded, understanding that it probably _was_ infinitely weird, and that they just had to give it time. Joe wasn’t being hurt by it so there was no need to stop as yet.

After he figured enough time had passed, a nervous Windham eased a second finger into Joe.

This time he groaned low in his throat, immediately causing the boy over him to freeze in place, “Joe…?” he questioned.

“Doesn’t hurt,” he managed.

“Just don’t… don’t move it yet?” he requested and Windham nodded. Joe meanwhile was taking deep breaths to keep calm.

If two of Windham’s fingers felt this surreal he couldn’t even imagine how his cock would feel inside of him.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Windham asked. He’d never seen Joe like… this. 

“Yeah… yeah, I’m sure. I… I just… I don’t know how to describe this… or the fact that we’re actually _doing this_ …” he muttered, shaking his head. 

“But… it is all right? And you’re sure you wanna do this?” he asked, whispering.

“Yes, I want to,” Joe answered. “I do. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I really wanted to do this with you. But I’m just… not used to all this… I mean, the one that’s actually… your dick’s gonna be inside of me.”

“I know,” he replied. It was a rather surreal thought for himself, as well. He and Joe were friends their whole lives and they were actually about to have sex. And he was actually looking forward to it, as scared and as nervous as he may be. 

“Try… try moving a little now,” Joe encouraged, needing his body to acclimate to all these new, strange and oddly pleasing sensations.

Nodding, Windham began to thrust, and gently scissor, the fingers inside Joe.

There was the occasional twinge and wince from Joe, but as soon as Windham seemed about to stop because of his reactions Joe would meet his eyes and silently implore him not to stop. It seemed silly to stop since they had gotten this far with it.

Besides, hadn’t the others said it had to hurt before it got better? That was the thought he was clinging to when a third finger was pushed into him.

“Fuck me…” he groaned, his legs reflexively drawing up closer to his body in response.

Unable to help himself Windham gave a crooked smile, hand moving still though he did ease up a little, “I’m getting to that part, be patient.”

“Bastard,” Joe chuckled slightly at the words, giving a strained laugh before then groaning. “It… Unh…” he shuddered, fingers twisting into the sheets. He was still partially erect, but had deflated a little thanks to the small twinges of pain.

“Touch yourself,” Windham said, noticing, too, how Joe wasn’t completely hard anymore. 

“W-what?” Joe asked, thinking he misheard. 

“I want you to touch yourself, Joe,” he repeated as he withdrew his fingers. 

“Oh, uh… ok,” he said, somewhat stunned that Windham wanted to watch him pleasuring himself. He released his grip on the sheets with one hand and wrapped it around his cock. He began stroking himself, tentatively at first, feeling oddly self-conscious knowing that Windham was watching, even though the other teen had previously been fucking him with his fingers. 

Once Joe got into a bit more of a rhythm, Windham took that moment to reposition himself and began pushing his cock into Joe’s body. 

As soon as he took stock of what was happening Joe found himself freezing up on reflex.

Immediately the tightness seemed to get worse.

“Shit—“ Windham groaned, biting his bottom-lip, “Joe, relax, fuck, relax, please!”

“E-Easier said than done!” Joe’s voice came out a bit higher-pitched than usual, feeling his muscles stretching around the thick length.

“Stroke yourself again,” he panted slightly, his body tensed to keep moving without going too fast, both to prevent himself hurting Joe and also because he felt as though the tightness could very well snap his cock in half. Joe definitely felt tighter than the girl he had slept with, and he felt much hotter… that was definitely something that he hadn’t been expecting.

“Why don’t you do it?” Joe asked. 

“Incase you hadn’t noticed, I’m otherwise occupied,” Windham replied. “Jesus _fuck_ , you’re tight.”

“Good to know,” Joe muttered. He was _trying_ to relax, he really was. Doing as Windham had asked, he brought his hand to his cock and began stroking again as his friend pushed himself deeper. 

“That’s it, Joe,” he encouraged. “That’s it. Just relax.”

“I hope you take your own goddamn advice when the tables are turned,” Joe replied. 

God, Joe wouldn’t be Joe if he didn’t have some smart comeback, no matter _what_ the situation. There was only one good way to shut him up, too. So, Windham leaned his body forward and brought his lips crashing down to Joe’s.

And, well, it worked, just as he’d expected.

It wasn’t that Joe couldn’t keep his focus per se, but if there were numerous different things going on he was more likely to focus upon one and forget the others, which was perfect for the current situation.

As they kissed Joe gradually relaxed again, allowing Windham to press into him right to the very hilt.

Unable to help himself Joe whined into Windham’s mouth; the pressure and fullness were two more things that he knew he wasn’t even _slightly_ prepared for even though he’d tried to imagine it… when he wasn’t too crippled with his own embarrassment of course.

Stilling, Windham panted against Joe’s mouth, “Sweet _fuck_.”

The smart retort was on the tip of Joe’s tongue but he couldn’t quite manage to get it out.

“How are you doing, Joe?” Windham asked. He was still tight, but he wasn’t painfully so, and his muscles weren’t clenching even tighter, so he hoped that he was a bit more relaxed and wasn’t in as much pain as he had been. 

“Ok,” was all he could say. It was funny, he was always talkative during sex, from his very first time and all the other times from then until that very moment. But with Windham, he found himself getting choked up when he tried to speak. It was still rather overwhelming know that his best friend was actually _fucking him_. And it hurt, but it felt good all at the same time. And his best friend was kissing him _while_ he was fucking him. And… and maybe they had no reason to put it off and hold back like they did. 

“Just ok?”

Joe shook his head side to side, but even in his sex-hazed mind realized that Windham could interpret that the wrong way. So he raised his head up off the pillow and wrapped his arms around Windham’s neck and kissed him. He hoped that kiss said that he was _more_ than ok.

Moaning lowly into the kiss Windham soon eased his hips back and then gently thrust in again. He remembered from past experience that he was supposed to go slow initially and didn’t see why it wouldn’t hold true there too.

At first Joe gave the occasional twinge, but that was more so because of the last lingering flinches of pain he felt. Before too long though he had figured out how to move his hips along with Windham’s, and his legs wrapped tight around his stocky friend’s waist as he arched into him. The action seemed to send Windham deeper into him and both boys moaned… though when Windham managed to get Joe’s prostate he barely managed to restrain a scream. At first Windham thought he’d hurt him and froze.

“Windham!”

It didn’t take long for him to realise though that that wasn’t the case, and he obediently began to move his hips a little more firmly than before, seeking out that same spot again. So _that_ was what Cody and Justin (and Heath, he acknowledged reluctantly) raved about when they mentioned submission.

When Windham found that spot again, Joe found that his cock began to harden once more. Not that Windham’s previous thrusts had been all that unpleasurable, but they weren’t quite enough to completely stimulate him again. But that spot had sent a shockwave through his body that seemed to send pleasure right to his cock. If this kept up, he could most definitely see himself doing this again. 

“So good, Joe, so good,” Windham muttered as he picked up his pace. When Joe had first given his cry of pleasure as opposed to the prior grimaces of pain, he knew that he could go a little faster, maybe a little harder in his quest to find that gland within Joe’s body. 

“Oh, god!” Joe cried out as Windham hit the spot again. Not only was his cock hard again, it was now leaking precum, which he could feel rubbing against his body as Windham rocked into him. He didn’t think that anything about sex with another man would feel quite that good. 

Windham found that now as Joe was more reactive and more receptive, he was enjoying it more and more. Joe was still tighter than that girl had ever been (he didn’t know how much of a difference it would have made had she been a virgin, though), and, god, it just felt so much _better_. He couldn’t help but wonder if those feelings he had for the young man beneath him had anything to do with that.

Admittedly it didn’t take either of them long to cum because the sensations, despite both having experienced a form of sexual intercourse before, were too much for them. Another few thrusts into his prostate and Joe was fairly clawing at Windham’s back as he pushed back on his cock, panting and trying to warn the other that he was close--- and then he was coming harder than he ever had before.

The unusual stickiness between their bodies, the noises Joe made and the tightness fairly choking his cock into submission had Windham giving a rather animalistic growl in the back of his throat as he too succumbed to pleasure and spilled himself deep into Joe’s body.

The sensation had Joe trembling long after his own orgasm had finished, Windham’s own arms shaking with the effort of keeping his body from falling onto Joe’s. Once he was soft enough he eased out of the other boy, murmuring an affectionate apology when he winced at the action.

Falling down beside Joe on his bed, Windham took the chance to look at the face of his best friend--- he had _thoroughly fucked_ written across his entire face. Not to say that he probably didn’t look as wrecked himself. When Joe’s eyes opened this time though Windham didn’t race to look away. Quirking a wanly sated smile Joe murmured, “That wasn’t bad at all… my arse aches like a bastard now though.”

“From what I hear, that’ll pass soon enough,” Windham said. “Is it worth it, though?” he then asked. 

“It was worth every second of it,” Joe answered. He then chuckled a little before going on, “Can you believe we just had sex?”

“Yes and no,” Windham replied. “I think everyone else was right, though… we were complete idiots putting this off like we did.”

“I think we had some legitimate worries, though, don’t you?”

He nodded his agreement. “I think so… but… my biggest worry is still that things will be different between us now.”

“Well, now we can fuck instead of getting into an argument,” Joe said. 

“There is that. You don’t think that things will really change between us though, do you? You’re still my best friend,” Windham told him. 

“And you’re still my best friend. But now we’re having sex with each other. God, Win, you need to feel what it’s like.”

“Maybe later,” Windham said both knackered and also not in a rush to be on the receiving end, he’d admit.

“You will though,” he said in all seriousness, “I know you will.” Which also meant damn right they’d swap around at least once.

One thing though: how did Cody and Justin generally end up doing this more than once a day, possibly every few days continually?

Good job he didn’t have to walk anywhere anytime soon, right?

Shifting gingerly Joe ended up laying on his front, sighing lightly as the pressure from his backside eased off somewhat.

“You alright?” Windham asked, rubbing Joe’s back without really thinking about the action, even though it was more intimate than he’d do before.

“Yeah,” Joe smiled hazily, “That feels really nice Win,” he added on after.

“Well, I did make it hurt, I guess I could make it up to you,” he grinned a little, watching as Joe slowly relaxed out.

~~~

“Maybe I should think of going back to my room soon too,” John said, barely managing to keep a straight face as he said it, Randy immediately snapping his head to the side and looking up at him, “Don’t you dare, John.”

“I was joking,” he assured, leaning down and kissing Randy’s pouty lips.

Now that Phil wasn’t there the kiss was admittedly a bit deeper than before; they might tease him but they didn’t seek to make him deliberately uncomfortable.

Evan meanwhile was still trying to recover. He swore he was going to need a stint in an asylum thanks to all he was leaning.

It was a lot for his previously sheltered mind to cope with.

“Are you Ok?” Chris whispered, seeing that Evan still had a vaguely panicked look about him. He tried to reassure him.

“It’s Ok, Evvy, I’m never going to ask you to do that, since you obviously are uncomfortable with the idea.”

Evan shook his head side to side and muttered, “No, I… I didn’t say…”

“Would you look at that?” Randy asked, looking to his cousin. “Someone wants to try it out. Or, well, maybe wants to have someone try it on them.”

“Hmm, I think you’re right,” John agreed. “Would you do that for him, Chris? If he wanted it?” 

“I don’t see why not,” Chris answered with a shrug. “If that’s something he really wants to try.”

“Well?” Randy asked, raising a brow at Evan. “Is it something you want to try?”

“I don’t know! Maybe. It doesn’t seem like… like it’d be… all that bad to just… try it…” he mumbled. 

“You really don’t have to be ashamed,” John said lightly, causing the two younger men to look at him with expression that plainly asked if he was joking.

Chris might not be as reserved as Evan but he wasn’t exactly au fait with sex.

“You shouldn’t knock something until you’ve tried it at least once. I know we may seem like raging whores but there’re even things we don’t like.”

“Really?” Chris asked interestedly; there had never seemed like anything existed they didn’t like.

“Yes, really,” John said, but he didn’t go into detail… probably deliberately to tease them both.

Evan meanwhile addressed Randy, “But, really, how do you even go about…?”

“Uh,” Randy had a look between amused and confused on his face as he answered, “you take your tongue… and you stick it up his bumhole.”

“But… I mean… how do…?”

“Evan. It really is as simple as that,” Randy assured him. “I like it best when I’m on my hands and knees and he’s behind me. And, yeah, you just… have at it.”

“What ever made you think to _do_ something like that?” Evan then asked. 

Randy shrugged. “Some of the older boys told us about it. I’d say we were just as skeptical as you are right now. But, needless to say, they were spot on about it. You just need to try it for yourself, honestly.”

Evan brought both hands up and covered his face. “This has to be the most bizarre conversation I’ve ever had. With _anyone_. And the fact that you’re my cousin just makes it all the stranger,” he spoke into his hands the entire time.

“It’s not incest if you’re just talking about it.”

“Randy!” Evan pulled a face at his cousin, shaking his head, “You shameless hussy!”

“Why must you say it as though it’s a bad thing?” Randy smirked, and then leveled a puppy-dog look to John, “Am I a shameless hussy, John-John?” he simpered.

Fighting a smile John leant down and pressed his lips to Randy’s, “Of course you are, but only for me, so it’s all well and good,” he nodded.

Chris chuckled softly, head still cushioned on Evan’s shoulder. He had to admit the way Randy was laid on John’s stomach was probably really comfortable, but he didn’t want to crowd into Evan’s space and make him feel uncomfortable with his presumptuousness.

John could see it in his face though and smiled a little; he could hardly remember the time when he and Randy had been so reticent but he wasn’t sure they had _ever_ been as awkward as Evan and Chris.

“Ev, did you want to be headed back to our room soon?” Chris asked after a while more of talking amongst the four of them.

“Oh, are you two planning on trying out that new _thing_ we told you about?” Randy asked, waggling his eyebrows at them. “If you say no, then I know you’re lying,” he added.

“We have got class early tomorrow; I don’t know if we’ll be doing anything of the sort,” Chris said. 

“Hasn’t stopped us before,” John said. 

“Don’t you have tryouts to prepare for?” Evan asked. 

“Hasn’t stopped us before,” he repeated, grinning. “Anyway, when you _do_ try it, be it tonight or… whenever… report back to us.”

“Report back… John!” Evan exclaimed. 

“Just with a simple yay or nay,” he said. “I mean, who knows, maybe you won’t enjoy it.”

“Though that’s highly unlikely,” Randy went on, his trademark smirk all but plastered on his face.

“I give up with you two,” Evan muttered, embarrassment etched onto his features, “Sometimes I really could.” And he did mean it.

But, of course, he never really meant it for too long.

“You love us really, and despite your protests we know that you’re ever so grateful for any and all advice we give you.” That had Evan’s embarrassed look turning mildly guilty then.

He really _did_ appreciate their advice and the fact that they kept an eye out for him, even if they were… a bit much to take sometimes.

Before too long they were gathering the leftovers of their sweets and saying goodnight before heading to their own room.

As the door shut behind them John turned to Randy, “I bet you a blow-job that they end up trying it.”

“That’s a fool’s bet,” Randy said, “Besides, you know you don’t need to bet me to suck your cock to do it.”

“Oh, I know,” John winked, “You big cock-slut you.”

“Well, John-John, you _do_ have a _big_ cock…” Randy grinned.

“Oh, you noticed?” John asked teasingly. 

“It’s pretty hard not to when you’ve had it shoved down your throat and up your arse as many times as I have,” Randy replied. 

“True enough… you loved every minute of it, though,” John said. 

“I never said I didn’t,” Randy returned. “I hope the same can be said about you when it comes to my cock,” he then said. 

“Enjoying having it shoved down my throat and up my arse? Yes, I think the same can be said about me and your cock… but being big, well, not so much,” he added.

“You shit!” Randy exclaimed, elbowing John. He was grinning all the while though, as it all in good fun.

That move sparked a playful tussle until---

“Watch the sweets!” John said, hastily scooping the remaining goodies out from underneath Randy’s back where they would have been flattened if they didn’t watch it.

“You and your sweets,” Randy rolled his eyes with exasperated fondness.

Giving Randy another push before capturing his lips in a kiss he said, “I guess we should think about getting ourselves to bed as well.”

Sighing slightly Randy nodded, getting up once John had gotten off of him and stripping naked in record time.

“It’s odd you saying that and having nothing more than the intention to sleep in mind,” he teased him as he got in on his usual side.

“You’re telling me,” John said. 

“We’ll have to fuck at least twice tomorrow to make up for it,” Randy suggested. 

“I don’t know… I’ve got tryouts tomorrow,” John reminded him. 

“You know how much I love those locker room fucks,” Randy said, waggling his eyebrows. “Plus then we can really start in on DiBiase. I think he’ll be the biggest obstacle.”

“So you do still want to go through with that?” John asked. “Fool around with those two?”

“What? Do you not want to anymore?”

“Of course I want to. I just don’t know how much effort we’ll have to put into it. I’ve heard tell of Runnels fooling around, but I’ve heard DiBiase is as straight laced as you can get.”

“Isn’t the challenge of getting them all part of the experience?”

“I guess so,” he nodded, “But remember what we said: he’s not interested we stop.”

Randy nodded his head, “Of course.”

They might be persuasive but if someone ever said ‘no’ seriously to either of them then they left it; what was the point in having an unwilling partner? It was just not done.

“Good… I guess so. I know he’ll be there,” and getting to him would be easier than getting to Runnels if he was in the crowd… though undoubtedly Randy would get near him somehow.

Once stripped naked they got into bed, settling together comfortably.

“Night Randy,” John said, kissing his lover, Randy returning both the sentiment and the kiss.

They settled, John _really_ needing sleep for once.

God forbid the captain be too knackered for his tryouts; he’d never forgive himself.

~~~

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy and a whole lot of awkward once Evan and Chris were back in their own room. The door was locked and it was just the two of them. “So… about what John and Randy were talking about…” Chris said.

“What about it?”

“I meant what I said, you know. That if you don’t want to, or don’t feel comfortable with it, you don’t have to do it,” Chris told him. 

“I know that’s what you said. But I meant what I said in that I _do_ want to try it with you. One day. One day soon, though. Right now I think I’d be thinking about John and Randy doing that too much to actually, um… do it myself,” Evan confessed, scrunching his nose up a bit at the thought. 

“I can see where you’re coming from,” Chris agreed. “They really don’t shy back from anything, do they?”

“No,” Evan said, “And I both hate them and love them for it,” sometimes though they could stand to use a little more tactness for once.

Replacing their sweets in their respective keeping-places Chris then began to undress for bed, unawares that Evan was just taking the moment to watch him. He couldn’t even imagine a time when he and Chris would have to part from one another.

And yet in all technicality that time should have been coming in not a few months when they graduated in the summer.

“Chris?” he started shyly, causing his lover to look up from where he was pulling his night-shirt on. “Yes Evan?” he asked, seeing that the smaller man had yet to even begin undressing. Biting his lip with a shyness he couldn’t get rid of Evan asked, “May I share your bed tonight?” in a soft whisper.

“Always,” Chris responded.

“Really?” Evan asked. 

“Of course. Why would I say no to sharing a bed with you?” 

Evan shrugged. “Dunno.”

“Well, there you go. Now get changed, don’t want to be going to bed in your uniform, do you?”

Evan smiled and quickly changed out of his uniform and into his sleeping clothes. Heading over to Chris’ bed, he climbed in next to his lover and curled up tight to him on the small bed. “I love you,” he whispered. 

“I love you, too,” Chris replied before switching off the little lamp he had next to his bed.

Once in darkness the pair seemed to shift that little bit closer together.

The night was essentially uneventful for them, sleeping peacefully, curled together, bodies slotted comfortably.

The next morning Evan stirred slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning behind the other hand. Blinking slowly as he awoke some more Evan squinted in the semi-darkness towards the alarm clock, seeing the time.

It was only five in the morning.

Groaning softly Evan curled into Chris’ chest and closed his eyes, attempting to settle again.

Why had he woken up so suddenly?

Well, that didn’t really matter. He was still tired, so he snuggled into Chris’ chest even more and shut his eyes to try and fall back asleep. His mind, however, didn’t want to let him settle down. He groaned internally when all he could think about were different events during the day, how good Chris felt and how good Chris smelled. All of that was great, but, really, he wanted to get to sleep again. 

He shifted, trying now to turn so that his back was to Chris’ chest. “Ev?” Chris croaked out. 

“Shit, did I wake you up?” he asked. 

“Yeah, but that’s ok. What time is it?” Chris asked, but soon saw the clock. “Why are you up so early?”

“Dunno. But I wanna go back to bed for a few more hours, at least,” he mumbled, this time adjusting himself properly so now Chris’ front was pressed against his back.

The wriggling really _wasn’t_ helping the healthy young man’s natural morning response and he had no doubt that Evan would soon feel him because it wasn’t as though he could pull back and away from him without alerting him that something was up. No pun intended. So, in the end he merely lay there, contented to inhale Evan’s gentle scent from the soft hair that was tickling his nose where it rested at Evan’s nape.

Feeling the pressing against his backside Evan paused momentarily, and then chided himself.

It wasn’t as though _he_ didn’t experience similar things, and it wasn’t as though Chris was attempting to further the movement or anything. He shouldn’t be so shocked.

“Sorry for waking you,” he whispered.

Chris pressed a kiss to the back of his neck, settling down once more himself, “Don’t worry about it Ev.”

~~~

Back in the common room, Justin was finishing up his homework when he saw the door open from the hall and Heath walked in. “Hey, Heath,” Justin greeted. 

“Oh, hey. Everyone left you?” Heath asked, coming in and plopping down next to Justin on the couch. 

“Yeah, well… I had some work that needed doing and I couldn’t do anything in the room as Cody and Ted are _running lines_ ,” he said, putting air quotes around the last of his words. 

“Oh, I see. What about Joe and Windham?” he then asked. 

“Umm… they’re in the room,” Justin answered. He figured that Heath would find out eventually. 

“Are they _running lines_ as well?” Heath quirked a brow when he turned his head to look at Justin. 

“I guess you could say that.”

“Curious indeed,” Heath said, stretching a little and reclining back, seemingly unaware of the close scrutiny that he was being placed under by his companion.

“Don’t you care?” he asked curiously, not wanting to start a fight but puzzled by the lack of reaction from him.

“It’s not that I don’t care,” Heath immediately pointed out, “It’s that I was _expecting it_.” However the fact that it had happened so soon after their little chat was mildly surprising to him he’d admit.

“Oh, I see…” Justin nodded, brow still furrowed in puzzlement.

Heath laughed slightly, nudging Justin’s thigh with his own, “What? Were you imagining I’d go bursting in there?”

“Maybe not,” Justin mused, “But I was expecting a little… _more_ from you about it,” he said.

Heath shrugged lightly in response.

“So, it doesn’t bother you in the slightest knowing what the two of them are doing right now?” Justin asked. Sure, he’d been one of the ones to enable them, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t interested in how Heath felt about the matter. He didn’t think he’d be so calm if he knew Wade was sleeping with someone else right now. 

Heath shrugged again. “Well, I knew that Joe wanted to sleep with Windham before me… we all knew that. I will say that the fact that it happened this soon is a bit shocking, but I knew that it would happen one day.”

“And yet you still want to be with Joe in some capacity? Do you love him, or do you just like screwing around with him?” 

“I don’t know if I can say that I love him… not the way that Windham does, who doesn’t even _realize_ that he does… but I’m certainly attracted to him,” Heath replied.

“You know, part of the reason that he’s with Windham right now is because you left,” Justin told him.

“Would I have gotten sucked off of fucked by Joe if I had stayed?” Heath asked. 

Justin raised a brow and shook his head, “No?”

“So I went to see someone who could take care of that for me,” he said simply, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“So, what? You went and had sex with someone else and you don’t have a problem doing that sort of thing? Yet you want to be with Joe?”

“Let’s just be honest here. Joe’s never going to want me in the way that he wants Windham. I may be the first boy he kissed or got sucked off by, but that won’t change the fact that he has feelings for Windham.”

“So… wait… you _don’t_ want to be with Joe?” Justin asked, now more confused than anything. 

“It’s not that… I think you just have everything categorised and compartmentalised, Justin,” he said, though the words were not unkind. Justin’s brow furrowed in puzzlement and he said, “So… you’re not going to make an attempt to compete with Windham, but you would be with Joe if the offer was there?” he questioned him instead.

“Yeah… I guess that would be the best way to look at it.” In complete honesty he wasn’t altogether too sure exactly what he felt about matters, but all he knew was he wasn’t about to be going toe-to-toe with Windham over it.

“Oh, well, I guess you’ll be having issues with Windham then,” Justin admitted a little reluctantly, wondering whether he should have mentioned it even before finishing.

“Why?” Heath asked, and again he looked more amused by the prospect of an answer than anything else by that point.

It wasn’t often that Justin felt wrong-footed but right then he really felt as though he was missing something.

“Because Windham said… he _doesn’t_ want Joe involved with you at the same time.”

“Oh,” Heath cocked his head and then nodded.

“Yeah, I can see that…” he then merely shrugged and sat forward again, indicating the books before Justin, “What are you looking at?”

Momentarily Justin faltered before then responding with, “Geography,” and then sputtering, “Hey, wait a moment--- how can you not be fussed when you were fine with the idea of sharing? I mean-- he—“ he faltered when Heath held up a hand.

“Justin, we’re not all like you and Wade,” he said simply, Justin blinking rapidly as he tried to process what was said to him, “You two… you’re permanent.”

The rest of them had obligations to fulfill, and for them things were more likely to change in the end.

“You really think that?” Justin asked. He wanted them to be a permanent kind of thing, and Wade said he wanted that, too, but others thought that, as well?

“Absolutely. He’s a bachelor and you’re being raised by him. I think it’d make perfect sense if you ended up living some confirmed bachelor’s life, as well. You two… you just work together. And you _can_ be permanent. I’d be with Joe if the option was there, but… I’m looking to get my kicks in while I’m still young,” Heath told him. 

“Wouldn’t it be more enjoyable, though, if you were just with… one person?” he asked. He couldn’t imagine being with someone he didn’t love, letting someone he didn’t love touch him and fill his body like Wade did… 

“It’s different for you, though. You and Wade love one another. And like I told you about Joe… I love him, but more in a brotherly way… but I’m attracted to him. Still, it’s not love. I’ve never been _in love_. I’d say of all my partners, I’ve enjoyed being with David the most, actually,” Heath confessed. 

“Really? He’s your family’s servant, right?”

Heath nodded. “Yes, that’s him. I mean, I didn’t lose my virginity to him, but he was the first male I slept with… so it was sort of like I lost my virginity to him. I haven’t been with a girl since and I’ve fooled around with a few boys here and there, but… I still haven’t been in love with anyone.”

“Would you be with anyone so long as an offer was there? I mean, if, before Ted, Cody came to you and asked if you wanted to get him off… would you have?”

“No. Because there’s a chance Ted would have found out and killed me. I know he always took issue with Cody’s fooling around, though he hid it well, but if he found out one of his _friends_ was messing about with Cody? I’d never take the chance. I may enjoy sex, but value my life more.”

“I think that’s the first thing you’ve said to me that’s actually made perfect sense without me having to sit and process everything,” Justin told him. 

“Well, I try,” Heath said in an enigmatic fashion, giving a grin as Justin rolled his eyes fondly and then chuckled. “Well, just as a point, Heath,” he then started.

“Maybe you should tell Windham and Joe that when they aren’t… otherwise distracted?” he suggested, “That way Windham won’t think anything of you being a threat and Joe won’t be torturing himself of how you’re going to react when you found out.” After all the other had been hesitating most greatly as he thought of Heath.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Heath nodded; he wouldn’t want to cause friction between the pair after all when it seemed that they were finally getting somewhere with things. “I’ll see ‘em later on,” they shared a room after all.

“Do you really think that Ted would have killed you for being with Cody?” Justin couldn’t help but ask then, laughing at the expression on Heath’s face, “You’re taking the mick aren’t you?” he asked and Justin tried to hold a straight expression before then collapsing into laughter anew, “Of course I am,” he nodded.

“Good… because if I had to genuinely explain _that_ to you at this stage you’re not as good a friend as I thought you were,” he attempted to chastise.

“He really doesn’t hide the fact well does he?”

“I’m not entirely too sure that Wade would take any of it well though were you to end up fooling around with someone else. If you ever did,” he reiterated when he saw the look on Justin’s face at the mere idea. “I mean, though I don’t get how you have settled so easily, completely, I admire it.”

Justin smiled slightly and then sighed, glancing at the clock, “Thanks Heath and who knows? Maybe one day you’ll have settled down comfortably too,” he said, sincerely hoping that one day that would be the case for all of his friends. He then stood up, “Well, it’s getting late and they _have_ to be done by now.”

“I agree,” Heath clapped Justin on the shoulder and winked, “See you in the morning,” before they parted to go up their separate staircases to their dorm rooms. 

Justin braced himself when he got to the door and announced, “I’m coming in!” 

“No!” Ted yelled, but it was too late. They weren’t doing anything, but they hadn’t actually pulled the covers over themselves when they were finished.

“Oh, Jesus Christ, you two! Fuck _under_ the covers next time!” he exclaimed, shielding his eyes. It was one thing to see glimpses of skin in the shower, but to see two of his friends naked in bed together was something completely different. 

“Ok, you can look now,” Ted muttered, face thoroughly red. “Sorry.”

“I take it running lines went well?” Justin asked.

“It went perfectly,” Cody answered, grinning as he ran his hand over Ted’s still somewhat exposed chest. 

“You two are ridiculous. Oh, and I’m pretty sure Windham and Joe fucked, too,” he then said.

~~~

Heath didn’t even bother announcing that he was coming in. It was his room, too, after all. Unlike Justin, though, he didn’t walk in on them naked. They had on their sleeping clothes and were under the covers of Joe’s bed. “I take it you two had a good evening?” Heath asked from the door. 

They hadn’t noticed him come in, so wrapped up in each other. They both looked somewhat guilty at being together in such a capacity with Heath right there, but… not really. “It was nice,” Joe replied. 

“I know what happened,” Heath told them. 

“You do?! But… how?” Joe asked.

“Justin told me.”

Joe did feel a bit guiltier about that. He should have told Heath about it beforehand so he didn’t have to find out from someone else. “I’m sorry. I would have… explained it… but it just… it was pretty spur of the moment…”

He held up a hand to stop Joe from going on. “Hey, don’t apologize. I’m happy that you two finally did something about your pent up sexual frustrations.”


	43. Chapter 43

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars ~ Oscar Wilde

“They what?!” Cody immediately sat upright so fast he almost dislodged the covers again, Ted’s quick reflexes only preventing Justin getting a second eyeful.

“They fucked?” Cody asked then, ignoring Ted’s reproving look at the crass wording.

“Well considering Windham took that lubricant I offered him and went straight up to their room and hasn’t been seen since I would say there is a high chance that they did indeed _do the deed_ ,” Justin told him as he began to undress.

“I bloody well knew they wanted to,” Cody said proudly, “See, Justin, we’re so good to the others aren’t we?”

Ted bit back the urge to say something about interfering.

As he pulled on his nightshirt though Justin admitted, “That wasn’t the oddest part.”

At Cody’s look he added, “Heath turned up, I told him, and he was completely fine with it all.”

“He was?” both Ted and Cody asked at the same time. 

“He was. He said that he could tell that Joe had stronger feelings for Windham… and that he would be with Joe if the offer was there, but that he’s ok with not being with him because he’s not in love with Joe…” Justin tried to explain, still somewhat confused at this whole ordeal himself. 

“So… why did he say he was ok with sharing in the first place?” Ted asked. 

“Probably because it seems like he _is_ perfectly ok with sharing. It’s Windham who never should have agreed to it, since it’s pretty clear that he was never really ok with it,” Justin said. “Heath just said he’s looking to get his kicks in while he’s still young, whatever that’s supposed to mean.”

“Not everyone can be happily married to the man that took them in and raised them, you know,” Cody said. “I… I don’t really blame him. I mean, he’s young, he’s not in love… may as well have your fun before you’re married and _can’t_. Well, you’re at least not supposed to have fun with others once you’re married…”

“I guess you’re not going to give Ted up?” Justin asked him.

“Of course not,” Cody said without hesitation, though in all honesty he had never really given much thought to the time when he would have to get married even though both of his older siblings were. “Ted?” Justin prompted before then adding on glibly, “And I am _not_ married to Wade, Cody,”

“Oh please, if that was allowed you know you wouldn’t say no,” Cody refuted, “And since he’s the person whom you’ve only ever been with and intend to be with it’s almost as though you’re married,” he pointed out before then looking to Ted in a fashion that was both expectant and a bit nervous.

He knew that Ted had always held more stock in the idea of marriage than he had and if something conflicted with his morals too badly then he wouldn’t go through with it. Ted was uncomfortably aware from the look in Cody’s eyes how much stock he was putting on his answer even though it had been a light question.

“I wouldn’t be able to carry on without Cody,” he finally admitted softly to them.

Smiling, Cody turned his head and pressed a kiss to Ted’s lips. “Good. Because if you’d said anything other than that, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“Well… I couldn’t imagine a life without you. I mean, we grew up together,” Ted said. 

“God, you two are pretty sickening to watch, you know that?” Justin asked, pulling the covers up around him.

“It’s not our fault that you’re here… I mean, I can’t imagine that you and Wade are any better when you’re alone,” Cody said. “Am I right?”

“You may be, but at least we don’t have any kind of audience.”

“You don’t have to look,” Cody replied.

“I didn’t _want_ to look when I walked in here!” Justin exclaimed. “I mean, I figured you’d be done, but… I also figured you’d at least have put some clothing on, or covered up…”

“I said I was sorry. It’s not like I want people… seeing…” Ted muttered.

“I swear, I better not come in one day and actually see you fucking each other.”

“You’d never be able to look away,” Cody told him with a smirk.

“You over-estimate your appeal to me,” Justin said simply, “You’re both handsome boys.” He grinned, “Boys,” he repeated, “I like men.” Or, more specifically _a man_ but still.

“We’d blow your mind if you saw us,” Cody said without having his confidence knocked even a little; they had made Mizanin cum just watching them.

“Whatever you say,” Justin said, shaking his head as he settled down in his bed comfortably.

“I mean it, and if you do happen to see you should consider it the greatest of privileges,” he said, nuzzling Ted.

“You best not be thinking about starting again,” Justin warned the pair of them, “I’m considerate of your presences, return that courtesy.”

Ted was about to comment that Justin didn’t have much choice but he stopped himself.

That would be unfair of him to say and Justin might misunderstand.

“We’ll be quiet,” Cody said, “Cover your head with a pillow.”

“Cody, no!” Ted protested immediately.

“But Teddy!” Cody pouted, “It’s only Justin, and he’s not looking!” 

“No! I don’t need anyone else seeing what should be a private moment between just you and me,” he stated. 

“You weren’t saying that when we saw—”

“Shut up! Yes, I was saying that!” Ted told him, knowing that Cody was talking about stumbling upon Cena and Orton fucking one another. 

“Well, it didn’t make you any more inclined to move or stop looking,” Cody said.

“What the hell are you two going on about now?” Justin asked, raising a brow at them.

“Don’t!” Ted protested, but it really wasn’t going to do him any good. 

“We saw John Cena fucking Randy Orton’s brains out,” Cody told him. “Like, they were going at it. In a classroom, no less!”

“They were _what_?!” Justin asked, eyes growing wide. 

“Fucking,” Cody repeated, leaning forward a little in his eagerness to share the tale as Ted hid his face into the pillow and groaned.

It wasn’t a groan of disgust though, but the groan that denoted when Ted was exasperated with something Cody had done.

“In a classroom…” Justin whispered, awed.

“I know!” Cody said. He had thought he and Ted were bold having done it in a dressing-room, but that had been something else _entirely_ for them.

“It was during lunchtime as well,” he said, “Anyone could have happened across them.”

“But you two happened across them,” Justin stated, Cody nodding.

Despite himself Justin couldn’t help but ask, “So… what were they like?”

“ _Amazing_ ,” Cody breathed, recounting the tale in graphic detail to the other boy.

“It was on the _professor’s desk_?!” Justin exclaimed in shock as Cody continued to tell his story. 

“Yes! And they were fucking so hard that they were _moving_ the desk! It was the most erotic thing I’d ever seen. They were even saying they loved one another!” Cody recalled. 

“Wow.”

“Wow’s right. It was amazing. I would… god, what I would do to be with them.”

“I am right here, you know,” Ted mumbled into the pillow. 

“Oh, come on, after seeing _that_ , even you have to admit that it’d be amazing to be with one of them,” Cody said. 

Ted just shrugged. He’d honestly never considered being with another male aside from Cody. John and Randy were attractive, yes, and seeing them fuck had been quite an unexpected turn on, but he honestly didn’t know if he could ever do anything with them sexually. Not like he’d ever have the opportunity to, though.

“They come to Wade’s office a lot,” Justin said, never really having thought about it before, “I’ve often gone across to see him and one or both are there talking to him about things.”

“Surely that’s not unusual though?” Ted asked, latching onto the conversation changer desperately.

“Why not?”

“Well, they are the Head Boy and Spots’ Captain respectively, they have a lot to do with the headmaster and arranging things.”

“I guess so…” Justin said, but the mood when they had been never felt like that.

It was almost as though there was a mutual… _respect and understanding_ between them and Wade.

“It still was amazing,” Cody sighed, snuggling down under the covers as Justin took the hint from Ted and reached and turned his bedside lamp off. “Now, can we please all go to sleep?” Ted asked, “I _do_ have those tryouts tomorrow.” And he was beginning to get nervous over it.

“Try not to blush too badly when you’re around John,” Cody whispered into Ted’s ear.

“Shit, I forgot about that,” he said. He had no idea just how he’d react to seeing John after witnessing his and Randy’s act of passion. 

Cody laughed. “You’re gonna be a mess tomorrow when you see him, aren’t you?” he asked. 

“Probably,” Ted admitted. 

“Well… just don’t tell him that you saw him, ok?”

“I’ll be lucky if I can say anything to him at all,” Ted muttered. He really didn’t know how to face him. 

“Oh, you’ll be fine. Now, go to sleep, Teddy,” Cody said, snuggling his and Ted’s still naked frames together. 

Ted sighed , but he eventually managed to fall asleep.

~~~

“You’re really alright with it?” Windham asked. He knew he had been pretty vocal about wanting to keep Joe to himself before but Heath was his friend and he didn’t want any bad feeling to ruin the comradeship that they had carried all these years. The redhead waved a hand, looking amused.

“It seems everyone has been expecting me to take this badly,” he said lightly as he moved over to his own bed to get changed into his night shirt, “Am I really that bad tempered?” he asked them both.

“No,” Joe started, clearly wrong-footed by his calm.

“It’s just that… we thought that… I mean with everything that’s happened—“ he stammered until Heath took pity on him and put him out of his misery by saying, “Joe, you told me you wanted to be with Windham more, remember?”

“I didn’t say more,” he protested weakly.

“No, I figured that bit out myself, true.”

He grinned at the pair before cheekily saying, “If there’s room for one more in there though…” the looks on their faces at that suggestion were absolutely priceless.

“I’m _kidding_! Jeez, you two, grow a sense of humour! There’s hardly room for one in a bed, much less three,” he said. 

“But… you’re really… you’re fine with this?” Joe asked. 

“We all knew it was going to happen. I mean, you said yourself you wanted your first time with a man to be with Win,” Heath told them. 

“I know, but… but you seem to be perfectly ok and…”

“I wouldn’t be so calm if the situation were the other way around,” Windham said. “I never wanted to share him. I still don’t want to share him.”

“Then don’t.” Heath smiled at them. “You two… you have feelings for one another… Joe, I know you claimed to feel something for me, but I think it was honestly just… confusion. I care about you both as friends, but I don’t want to come between you, especially if you’re not willing to or wanting to share… Like I said, I’ve got other friends.”

“So… it’s all ok then?” Windham repeated again and Heath rolled his eyes before nodding, “By the grace of God Almighty I swear to both of you I am completely content with the situation as it stands,” he said, now comfortably settled in his bed and looking across to the pair. The final statement finally, completely seemed to reassure the pair of them.

“So,” Joe cleared his throat lightly, wriggling back s little to slot his body more comfortably into Windham’s from where they had sat up to talk to Heath.

“Did you have a good time with your _friend_?” if Heath was happy then he knew that would definitely make it easier to him to adjust to in turn.

Heath merely smiled, “I got what I wanted in the end.”

Windham shook his head and chuckled, and just like that it was as though nothing had changed in their relationships.

Aside from the physical stuff and suchlike, of course.

“So… you’re not going to suck Joe off anymore?” Windham then asked.

“No, I won’t… unless you want to watch and see what he looks like when he’s getting his dick sucked. Then I’d be happy to help.”

“Heath!” Joe exclaimed. 

“What? I’m just offering my services. I’d return the favour on Windham,” he said, laughing at both of their expressions. 

“God, Heath, you’re ridiculous. I’m sure there are plenty of other people who would enjoy your services,” Joe told him. 

“Oh, there are,” Heath replied. 

“Can I ask you something?” Windham asked him. 

“Sure.”

“So, all those other people you’ve been with in some capacity… you’ve never had feelings for any of them?”

“Not really… It’s like I told Justin, the closest I think I’ve ever really come to having feelings for someone was probably David, and I think that was only because he was the first guy that I was ever actually with… but for now I’m just trying to have my fun, because who knows how long after school it’ll be before I’m married.” 

“None of us have a very good opinion of marriage do we?” Windham asked.

“Well, it’s not like we haven’t already been told, or seen, predominantly all of the ins-and-outs of the whole deal,” Heath shrugged.

Most of them had had their marriages pre-arranged by their parents before they were even old enough to walk independently after all, so it wasn’t as though any of them were anticipating something different. All they could hope for was that the girl they were going to marry was of bearable character for them to stand.

“Do you know your intended?”

Heath shrugged, “Never asked--- but like I said, as soon as I graduate I have no more excuses and I’m sure they’ll tell me.”

Joe’s father had never gone into too much detail about it either, but he supposed that was because the man didn’t consider he’d be a good husband.

A depressing but not altogether incorrect thought.

“What about you Windham?” Heath returned.

“I know.”

Jacqueline was a pretty enough girl and he liked her a lot… she was also the girl he had slept with before.

“And?” Heath asked. “What do you think of her?”

“She’s pretty. And she’s smart… I’d rather sleep with Joe again, though.”

“You’ve already slept with your bride to be?” Joe asked. Well, he wasn’t really one to talk. He was likely going to end up with another teacher’s daughter, and he’d been with a handful of them, so maybe he’d already been with his bride to be, as well.

“And she’d slept with others before me, remember?” Windham reminded them. 

“You did mention that, yes,” Joe said. “Does that bother you?”

“No, not really. I figure that’d make her a lot more open to the idea of us being with others.”

“True. What’s her name, anyway? She a professor’s daughter?” Joe asked. As both their fathers were teachers, they knew a lot of the same people. 

“She is. Her name’s Jacqueline.”

“Jacqueline?” Joe repeated, surprised, and then paused as he reconsidered.

That wasn’t as surprising as he had first thought… she’d always been rather taken with him.

“Which one’s she?” asked Heath, brow furrowing a little.

Windham mimed a vague outline of a woman’s shape and described her. It was common practice for the professors to bring their daughters to important events; most likely cajoled by them and their wives to ‘get them noticed’ by eligible young men.

“Oh aye,” the redhead nodded, “I think I remember that one… She got a sister?”

“Yeah, but she’s taken I think so you’re out of luck there, Ginge.”

“I wasn’t enquiring. And call me that again, I _dare_ you,” Heath challenged, though they both knew it was all in good humour and just a playful jest.

“She’s not bad looking,” Joe conceded reluctantly.

“No, she’s not at all bad looking,” Windham agreed. “But it’s like I said, I’d much rather have you. Wait… you haven’t slept with her, have you?” he then asked.

“No. Umm… her older sister, though, I may have,” he confessed. 

“Well, there’s no way I’d want her now,” Heath chimed in. 

“Oh, piss off, Red,” Joe teased. 

“You slept with my future wife’s sister?” Windham asked, shaking his head. “Wait, that night that I was with Jacqueline, you went off with someone…” It had been during one of the usual professor gatherings, so a lot of people were there, but…

“Maybe that was her,” Joe said with a smirk. 

“Did you know that at the time?” 

“I may have, yes,” he answered. 

“God, I’m surprised you don’t have an even worse reputation around school than you already do,” Heath said. Joe was the epitome of the bad boy, rebel without a cause. It was just surprising that people from their sister school didn’t talk more about his actions when it came to the opposite sex.

“I have an excellent reputation,” Joe said sniffily and Heath and Windham both snorted a little with laughter; there was often no wonder how Joe resulted in his father all but chomping in the bit to try and get his behaviour to a ‘respectable’ level.

“Wait, was she attached then?” Heath asked; if Joe had slept with a taken woman then that was definitely something he should receive some props for from them.

“Dunno,” Joe shrugged, “She never mentioned anything about a bloke.”

“Just think,” Heath chuckled, “If you married them both you’d be almost like brothers in law!” of course they wouldn’t be family by blood but there was something in it that struck Heath as vaguely incestuous and he couldn’t help but begin to laugh as he considered how awkwardly family meals could have been with that.

“It would be convenient that way,” Joe said thoughtfully.

“Oh yes, I’ll bet; you’d always have an excuse to be together.”

“Jealous much? Or are you planning to have David work for you instead one day?”

“That’s not a bad idea actually, Windham.”

“You wouldn’t have the balls to.”

“What makes you say that?” Heath asked. “When I’ve got a house of my own, I would certainly ask if he’d want to work for me. And I’d fuck him again given the opportunity… could you imagine, me having an affair with a household employee? A male one at that. It’d be so scandalous.” 

“You would fuck him again?” Joe asked him. 

Heath shrugged from his bed. “Why not? I mean, he’s in the house so it’s not like it’d be that hard to see him… and it’s not like the sex was bad, or anything… so, yes, I would definitely fuck him again.”

“So… your other friends…”

“There’s _a_ friend, for the record. And we haven’t actually done _that_ with one another. Not yet anyway,” Heath told him. “I’m just trying to clarify that before I end up with a reputation like Cena and Orton’s.”

“Speaking of Cena… we’ve got those tryouts tomorrow, so I suppose we should get to sleep,” Windham said. 

“You’re right. You’ll be there watching, right, Heath?” Joe asked as he flicked off the light.

“Yeah, I’ll be watching,” Heath responded, and that was the end of that conversation.

~~~

The following morning the group of six met in the common room before heading down for breakfast. Each of them were wearing their own versions of rugby gear in tops and shorts, each thinking of how, if they made the team, they would get one of the pristine uniforms that Cena was always in.

Ted found himself flushing just thinking of it.

“Are you alright?” Cody asked, seeing the slight colour around Ted’s cheeks as they entered the hall, “Are you ill? Or are you imagining watching Cena run around in those tight white shorts he wears?”

“Cody!” Ted protested firmly.

Though really this time he was just embarrassed because Cody wasn’t far wrong… Lord, give him the strength to get through the tryouts with his pride and dignity intact. At this stage he wasn’t too concerned about getting _on_ the team---

He was worried about even being able to look the captain in the eye for them. For once Ted wasn’t very hungry.

“Ted, you’re not eating anything,” Cody pointed out. Windham and Joe were shoving their faces full of food, but Ted had taken maybe two bites. “You have to eat something. I mean, look at those two. They’re replenishing from last night’s strenuous activity,” he said. 

Windham nearly choked on a piece of sausage. “What did you say?” he asked once he managed to swallow properly and stop coughing. 

“That you’re replenishing your bodies after last night’s strenuous activity. I mean, it’s true, isn’t it?”

“Did you tell them?” he asked, turning to Justin. 

“They saw me with the… and… yes, ok, yes, I told them. So now everyone knows, ok? There’s no need to try and hide it now.”

Windham sighed, but figured Justin did have a point. So, he moved on and began eating once again. “Cody’s right, though, you should eat something. Otherwise you won’t have energy enough to get through tryout.”

Reluctantly, Ted stuck his fork into the sausage and shoved it into his mouth. “Happy now?”

“I’m getting there,” Cody said lightly, knowing that even though Ted looked as though they were forcing him to do something horrible, he would appreciate it later when he had enough energy to allow him to keep up with everyone else that was attempting to try out.

Justin was distracted from Joe admonishing him lightly for telling what they had done before they could tell themselves, when Wade appeared.

It was funny, but after what Heath had said to him it was as though he was seeing his relationship from a completely new perspective.

And when Wade suddenly headed towards him Justin all but froze in place like a love-struck school-girl.

Cody immediately smiled his best smile, “Good morning Headmaster,” he said brightly to him.

“Good morning Mr. Runnels, boys,” Wade returned brightly.

He did enjoy sport and tryouts were a good lark. He had come over to see Justin about arranging the tailor’s appointment they had talked about, and also for something else--- to show off the fact he was sans his hair gel.

“Good morning, Headmaster,” the rest of them said at the greeting. 

Aside from Justin, anyway. He was completely and utterly speechless. He wasn’t expecting to see Wade out _like that_ so soon after they discussed it. 

“Mr. Rotunda, Hennig and DiBiase, I’d like to wish you the best of luck today at your tryouts. I’ll try my best to make it to the tryouts, but I have got a meeting later on and I don’t know how long it will run.”

“Thank you, Sir,” Joe said, grinning. 

“Mr. Gabriel, if I could please have a word with you in my office? There are some matters I’d like to discuss with you,” he then said. 

Justin just nodded, still unable to say anything. He stood up from the table and grabbed his bag. Before they headed off, Wade said one final time, “Again, you three, good luck at today’s tryouts.”

“Have fun, Justin,” Cody whispered wickedly, seeing his friend’s state.

Justin didn’t even acknowledge the tease and usually he would have said something back to him. As he vanished out of sight the boys burst into laughter.

“He looked like someone had hit him over the head!”

~~~

The next morning John awoke bright and early, excited about the day ahead of him.

His good mood was displayed in the way he kissed Randy until the other awoke, not even caring about morning breath in his excitement.

“Mhm… You always did give the best wake-up calls,” Randy then heaved a mock-sigh, “But I suppose it’s _not_ me that has you so excited?”

“You always have me excited,” John responded, “But that, my dear one, will have to wait until later on.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Randy sighed, watching as John got out of bed and put on a robe.

He always bathed before a game or tryouts, his ritual.

“You coming with?” John asked, unsure if Randy wanted to go back to sleep.

“As if I’d let you go alone.”

“Well, then, get your lazy arse up out of bed,” John said as he headed into the bathroom.

“How about you get the bath started first, then once it’s ready I’ll get my lazy arse up out of bed,” Randy suggested.

“God, you’re ridiculous, Randal,” John muttered, beginning to fill the tub.

“And you love me for it,” Randy replied, still huddled up beneath the blankets.

“I love you for your cock. Please, get it right,” John said. 

“Sorry, sorry… I didn’t mean to offend. I’ll remember that from now on. That you only love me for my cock.”

“Right.”

“How’s the water coming?” Randy asked.

“Should be ready soon. When are you getting your lazy arse over here?”

“Already told you. When the water’s ready.”

“Your bath is ready, your highness,” John drawled from the bathroom doorway, looking to where Randy was lounged out.

“I’m getting up,” Randy said, though it was quite obvious that he was doing no such thing.

“Fine,” John shrugged and sing-songed back to him, “I’ll just get in the bath myself then, and you can have it after.”

Getting into the bath, John relaxed back and waited, counting in his head.

And, sure enough, when he reached ‘fifteen seconds’ Randy appeared before him.

He was pouting and John was seized by the urge to kiss him.

“I can’t believe you’d bathe without me.”

“I don’t like cold water, you know that,” John said, shifting a little bit.

With practice Randy eased into the water too.

“Pass the soap, John.”

“What? I don’t even get a please now?” John asked. “Get your own damn soap.”

“Incase you’ve forgotten, that _is_ my soap,” Randy pointed out. “And this _is_ my bathroom. So. Pass the soap, John.”

“You’re… God, I can’t even…” John muttered, handing the soap over to Randy. 

“Good, now turn around so I can wash your back,” Randy said. 

John smiled. Even though he was a dick at times, Randy was a complete softy. “Anything you say. I’m so ready to begin tryouts now.”

“I know you are. But you’ve got to get through classes first. Then you can prepare for your tryouts.”

“You’ll be there, right?” he asked, wanting to confirm that yet again.

“Of course I’ll be there, silly. I wouldn’t miss it. You got a lot of people trying out?”

“A lot more than I thought there’d be. I’m really hoping to have some standout players, though,” he said as Randy washed his back. “Like I said, I’ve got high hopes for a few of them, but we’ll see how that pans out on the field.”

“Would DiBiase be one of those?” Randy asked slyly as he rinsed the soap away.

“Maybe,” John responded casually, relaxing underneath the touch of Randy’s familiar hands mapping his skin. “Switch around and I’ll get your back.”

A shift and John was soon lathering Randy up in turn, “I have some good potential though.”

Randy couldn’t help but smile; he could hear the excitement in John’s voice clear as day.

This was one of his favourite times of year after all, the tryouts.

When they finished with the bath John donned his own kit; that was one of the stipulations Wade had mercifully brought in; they needn’t waste time getting changed and after lunch they could all just head right on down to the field to get started.

“I do enjoy seeing you in the stands, knowing you’re cheering me on,” John grinned, pulling on his shorts and rugby top, but adding non-studded shoes for the moment.

“Yes, I do,” Randy said, “But I’m also admiring the way your ass looks in those shorts,” he said without shame.

“Why does that not surprise me? Come on Randy, we’ll miss breakfast!”

“God, you and your food,” Randy muttered, finishing up dressing into his usual, everyday uniform.

“I need my energy if I’m going to make it through classes,” John said. “I’d much rather be out setting up for the tryouts, though. I don’t know why I need to go to classes at all today.”

“Even you can’t escape,” Randy told him, opening the door to his room, closing it behind John before they headed towards the dining hall. 

“Sadly. I don’t know how I’ll be able to focus at all. I’m going to end up drawing game plans and maneuvers on my notes today. Honestly, I’m not going to be thinking about anything but rugby today.”

“Well, do try to focus. Just a little bit. Please. It’s one thing to go over notes with you, but it’s another when I have to attempt to teach an entire lesson back to you.”

“You always end up explaining it better than the professors themselves,” John said as they now entered the dining hall. 

“I know,” Randy said haughtily, “But that doesn’t mean I want you scrimping on your studies, and you know it.”

“Yes dear,” John responded in the reflex fashion that he had often heard his father using on his mother when she was getting on to him about something. “Oh yes, bacon, hash browns…”

“It’s a good job you are an athlete,” Randy murmured with a smirk, “Otherwise the rest of your body would be as fat as your delectable arse.”

John pouted at Randy as he picked up a tray, “Just you wait,” he warned, “You’re going to get it later.” He moved through the queue as per, Randy right behind him and fighting the urge to grin madly.

“Looking forward to it,” Randy said, sweetly, “Try not to wear yourself out during tryouts; I’d hate for you to fall asleep midway.”

“Hey, I only did that once!” John protested, and in his defense it transpired that he had been terribly sick at the time and the fever had yet to manifest itself until he overworked himself.

“You should be ashamed that it’s ever happened at all.”

“Shouldn’t you be the one that’s ashamed?” John asked.

“You were the one that got me sick from that, too,” Randy went on, ignoring John’s question. “God, that was awful.”

John nodded. It had been a couple years ago, but he certainly remembered it well. He got sick and passed it onto _both_ Phil and Randy before he knew that he was sick. Randy got the worst of it, though, since he was always in closer contact with John anyway. “It really was.”

“Don’t ever get me sick like that again,” Randy said to him. 

“I’ll try not to. I haven’t been sick in a long time,” he said, giving a quick knock to the table they walked past. No need to take any chances with getting sick, especially since these tryouts were important and once the regular season started, he didn’t want to be missing any of the games. 

Though Randy obviously had concern for himself when he got sick his biggest concern had always been for John, and it always would be. The other was right then he said he didn’t get sick often but when he did get sick… Well, let’s just say it was never anything minor, like a sniffle.

“You’re looking rather serious there,” John commented as he saw Randy’s expression once they had gotten their food and begun seeking out a table.

“It’s nothing important,” Randy said lightly, finding an empty table.

A mild look of disbelief touched John’s face before he shrugged and nodded.

They fell quiet as they ate, each man lost to his own thoughts.

When they were finished John whined lightly, “Randy, class is going to take so long!” An amused look crossed the Head Boy’s face as he stood, gathering up his tray, “Well,” he started innocently, “The more involved you become in the lesson the faster it passes,” he pointed out to him. 

“You say that as though I can actually get myself involved in class,” John retorted. 

“You do enjoy our history classes,” Randy pointed out. 

“And are we going to history today, Randal?” John asked with a raised brow. 

“No. But I was just saying that there is actually a class that you get involved in. Though, why that class, I couldn’t tell you.”

“I’ve no idea, either. But, like you said, we don’t have that class today… so I really don’t have anything to look forward to… it’s going to be _miserable_ waiting for classes to end.”

“It won’t be so bad. You’ll have me for company,” Randy said. 

“And will you keep me occupied during class?” John asked. 

“Perhaps,” Randy replied with a grin.

“You tease,” John murmured, shaking his head a little. He then paused as he heard laughter and glanced towards the sound.

It was DiBiase, Runnels and their hangers-on.

“Mhm… There’s another one with a fine ass in rugby shorts,” Randy admired and John swallowed a little bit; he had to admit, though ready for the challenge, he was nervous.

Since the Danielson episode he’d been seriously rethinking the effect they had on people.

And he didn’t mean that arrogantly, he meant it objectively.

The bell to signal first lesson rang, and the group of younger men left the room.

“John?” Randy prompted, “Are you having second-thoughts?”

“No,” he got up, shouldering his bag, “Come on, let’s get going.”

“Are you sure? You look to be thinking about something pretty hard, which really is a new look for you,” Randy said. 

“I’m positive. No second thoughts… just trying to figure out how to go about… things,” he told Randy. 

“Fair enough,” he replied. 

When they got to class, they took their usual seats, then saw someone come into the classroom that neither of them recognized. He was tall and clearly of an athletic build. John leaned over to Randy and whispered, “That must be the new student.”

“He looks as though he’s around twenty-five. There’s no way that’s the new student,” Randy whispered back. He’d been told the new boy was eighteen. The person in front of him looked far older than that… maybe he was going to school and was going to shadow the professor. At least that’s what Randy thought until he took a seat. 

“Looks like he _is_ the new student after all,” John said. 

“I… I guess so.”

And he was indeed the new student, they learned, when the professor made a note to quickly introduced Mark Jindrak. 

~~~

Meanwhile, Justin was following Wade to his office, barely noticing anything except the way the unrestrained curled were bouncing against the nape of his lover’s neck as he moved. Inside the office he could no longer restrain himself.

“A little warning would have been nice,” he panted against Wade’s mouth when he broke the passionate embrace he’d instigated with the elder.

Another one of those roguish grins appeared, a dusting of red on Wade’s cheeks the only sign of his embarrassment, “Well, where would the fun be in that? I’ve been getting a lot of attention that’s for sure.”

“I can imagine! You look completely different,” Justin said, running his fingers through the soft curls of his lover. 

“I know… but I honestly can’t say I was expecting so many people to notice that I’d done something differently today,” Wade told him. 

“Hmm, well, I can’t blame people for noticing… but I’m the only one that gets to have you,” Justin said, biting his lower lip before pressing another kiss to Wade’s lips. 

“Too true, Angel,” he whispered, giving Justin yet another kiss. 

“So, was this the only reason you asked me here? Not that I mind, but… you don’t usually call me here in the middle of the day,” Justin said. 

“Ah, no. But do you remember how we discussed a new suit? Well, we need to plan the tailor appointment.”

“You called me all the way down here to discuss an appointment with a tailor?” Justin asked. 

“Yes. That and I wanted you to see me early in the day before you ended up hearing about my hairstyle without actually seeing it first.”

“That is much appreciated, thank you,” Justin said before shrugging lightly, “Anytime is fine with me for the tailor. You have a copy of my timetable still, right?”

Wade nodded his head and Justin added, “So arrange however you see fit, a time that would suit you as well.”

Whenever he had a new suit made Wade was always there to make sure that no tailor attempted to fob him off or treated him substandard.

Sad and medieval as it seemed Justin knew his skin would always factor into how most people saw him.

Leaning in for another kiss, Justin curled his fingers through Wade’s curls, “You’re missing the overly tousled look you have after being with me…”

But that was _one part_ that he wasn’t willing to share with anyone.

“I need to go to class,” Justin sighed as he caught sight of the clock, but he made no move to get off of Wade’s lap. The headmaster grinned.

“So you’re a few minutes late… I’ll write you an exemption letter to take with you,” Wade said.

“I feel like that’s abusing your power,” Justin said, adjusting himself slightly on Wade’s lap to rock just slightly against him. 

“It may well be… but you try and stop me.”

“I love you, Wade,” Justin told him, leaning forward and pecking his lips in the briefest of kisses. 

“Love you, too, Angel,” he replied just as the bell to signal the first class started. 

“Can I just be written out of classes all day?” Justin then asked. “I’d so much rather stay here with you.”

“Well, I’d like that, too, but I’m afraid I’m not _that_ lenient. You don’t remain head of the class by not going to classes.”

A heavy sigh of understanding left Justin, “It would give the naysayers a good day though,” he said dryly.

“What did you say, Angel?” Wade asked, having been momentarily distracted by the way that Justin had rocked on his lap again.

“I’ve told you before about people saying I do _things_ with you to get to top of the class, right?”

Wade looked amused, “Yes, I remember that.”

“Well, if I stopped going to class and still stayed at the top they’d have all the proof they’d need.”

Wade pretended to look hurt, “Are you saying if you stopped attending class that would be the only reason you’d do _things_ with me?”

“Not at all. I _want_ to do _things_ with you. I just… I wish there was a way I could tell people that you have _nothing_ to do with my grades. I mean, I have said that to them before, but… they don’t believe me,” Justin told him.

“Well, as long as _you_ know it, then what does it matter? People will always think what they will. I just wish that people had more faith in _me_ in that I wouldn’t bump someone to the top of the class no matter what.”

“Yes, I mean… of course I know that. I know how hard I’ve worked… but it’s frustrating to hear people talking about me like that. That I would actually use your position to get myself ahead,” Justin said. 

“You can’t let yourself be bothered by them. They don’t know what they’re talking about, and are clearly just jealous. If anyone else was at the top of the class, I’m sure there would be rumours about them sleeping with some professor.”

Justin nodded. That was probably true. That didn’t mean he liked people talking about him, though, and degrading what he and Wade had to something far baser than what it truly was… “It seems so childish.”

“It is,” he agreed. “But, like I said, pay them no mind, ok?” 

“Sure,” Justin sighed gently, rubbing a hand over his neck.

“I guess I should be heading to class now,” Justin said, though by the time he got to class he wouldn’t be that late. “Alright,” Wade said, sensing Justin had said all he was going to say on the matter, “Let me just do you your note. Which professor?”

Telling him the teacher he had Justin then accepted the neatly penned note, leaning in for a final kiss. “I’ll see you later then,” he said, “Ted’s trying out, along with Windham and Joe so Cody, Heath and I will be rallying the support.”

“Good,” Wade said, “It’s good to support friends,” he nodded. “Be a good boy now, and cut along,” even as he said that though he pulled the other in for another kiss. Justin smiled softly as he left after bidding Wade goodbye.

When Justin was out of sight Wade sighed, leaning back in his chair somewhat. He tugged a curl of his dark hair and curled his lips into a wan smile; he was glad Justin had liked him sacrificing some of his reputation to do it.

However, he wished there was more he could do about the rumours. His words had been true regarding that people would _always, always_ talk, they couldn’t help themselves, but if he was Justin’s age he would be much more proactive in stopping it.

Justin walked into the classroom, note clutched in his hand, and could feel all eyes upon him. He handed the note to his professor and said, “Sorry I’m late.” He waited until the professor read the note and told him to take a seat before he actually took his seat. 

“Late to a class after a meeting with you-know-who?” Cody asked suggestively.

“It wasn’t like that,” Justin replied in a harsh whisper. “He needed to see me about something we’d talked about before.”

“Oh. Ok. Sure,” Cody said. “By the way, what was with his hair this morning?” he asked. 

“I’ll tell you later. Now shut up, I’m actually trying to pay attention.”

“Sorry… but you’ll tell me about the meeting?” Cody asked. 

“I’ll tell you every little detail,” he replied, “so long as you shut up right now.”

Cody actually shut up.


	44. Chapter 44

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious. ~ Oscar Wilde
> 
> ~~~
> 
> Everything before this chapter has been posted before on livejournal, from this chapter on, it's all new, never before seen material :O

“Foreigner indeed,” John murmured, listening to the last name. He must have an English parent though with that first name.

“Hm…” Randy didn’t respond verbally, eyes fixed on the boy he would be guiding around after that lesson.

Quite an attractive specimen.

Recognising that look immediately something stirred in John that snarled in territoriality, wondering what it was about this boy that had gotten Randy so determinedly interested at first sight… that had never happened before. Never. _He didn’t like it_.

But, he was probably over-reacting or something, worked up because of tryouts. Yes, yes that had to be it. John shook his head a little and focused on the blackboard as the teacher began writing in over elaborate cursive. His own handwriting was neat but he never bothered with the joins as much as the teachers chided he should.

Randy caught the new boy’s eye, brow arching when he was smirked at.

My, my, either this one had balls or he didn’t realise just who Randy was, or what his position was as top of the student food-chain.

Either way, curious indeed. 

“You keep looking at him,” John muttered. 

“You did say one more aside from Runnels and DiBiase,” Randy returned. 

“ _What_? You don’t even know him… he just got here!” John protested, though they did agree to those terms. One more person to fool around with before they became mutually exclusive to one another. 

“Getting to know more about him will be a part of the fun. And, as Head Boy, I get to show him around.”

“Damn well better not be showing him around too much,” John warned. 

“Ooo, is someone jealous?” he asked. 

“No. I’m just saying… take your time with things?”

“Well, it’s not like I’m going to rush into sucking his cock. I have all next semester to get my one more person,” he said. “No need to waste it before we even get to winter break.”

So he said… But when it came to Randy you never knew.

Sighing a little John returned his attention to the blackboard… Well, sort of.

He couldn’t help but sneaking looks out of the corner of his eye towards Randy and the newcomer. He didn’t know what it was but this was really making him uneasy. And as established they were usually fine with it.

Though John’s jealousy was surprising Randy wasn’t upset by it; he loved when John got jealous over him.

Though what it was about the newcomer to rile him up he had no idea.

The lesson seemed to drag worse than John expected.

At one point Randy nudged his thigh underneath the table in a warning manner when he had noticed that John had begun doodling rugby plans and tryout comments in his notebook.

Sometimes his boyfriend’s focus left a lot to be desired.

Finally the bell rang for the end of class, and instantly Randy stood up and headed towards the new student. John followed behind as soon as he’d shoved his notebook into his bag. “Hello, there. I heard the professor introduced you as our newest student. I’d like to say welcome and introduce myself. I’m Randy Orton, Head Boy,” he said, extending his hand.

“Mark Jindrak,” he replied, shaking the offered hand. 

“And this is our Sport’s Captain, John Cena,” he introduced. 

Mark nodded his head and took John’s hand, as well, when it was offered to him. 

“Now, as Head Boy, I’m to lead you around the academy a bit,” he informed him. 

“Yes, I was told that. Lead away,” Mark said. 

The three of them headed out of the classroom and Randy asked, “So, where’s your next class?” When he answered, Randy said, “Well, what do you know? That’s where our next class is.”

It took all of John’s effort not to make some sort of sarcastic remark about ‘how exciting’ it was that they all had the same class. If Mark sensed any sort of wariness from John he didn’t outwardly act like it. If anything he seemed quite contented just to saunter around giving what appeared to be a naturally imperious look, Randy giving the expected Head Boy spiel to him.

He pointed out the necessary rooms/routes and the architectural amazingness of the building.

“Is something happening today?” Mark suddenly asked casually, causing Randy to stop.

It wasn’t often he got interrupted and it startled him.

Something that had John frowning just a bit.

“What do you mean?” Randy asked, swiftly recovering his composure.

“I mean all of the people in rugby gear, our captain included,” Mark drawled, “Unless there’s an alternative uniform for some students for some reason?” he smiled sweetly and John rolled his eyes behind the boy’s back as Randy said, “There’s tryouts today, yes.” 

“Shame I wasn’t here sooner. I would have tried out. I played rugby every year at my old school,” he told them. 

“Did you?” John asked. Maybe _that’s_ what it was about this Mark fellow that irked him so much… he was quite similar to himself. He was broad in his build, just like John, though he was taller… just as tall as Randy… 

“Leading offense,” he replied. “The past four years I’ve been starting.”

“Really?” John asked. He certainly felt conflicted over this. Randy was very quickly taking an interest in him and he could feel the jealousy bubbling up inside him… but he could certainly be an asset to their team. And, who knows, maybe he and Randy could get to know Mark a little bit better together… “I suppose it’s not too late to signup. Especially since you did just transfer.”

Randy looked to John and raised a brow. John just smirked at him. Randy smirked back. “Excellent,” Mark then said. “I’ve got my rugby uniform in one of my trunks. When do the tryouts begin? I wouldn’t want to be late.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll escort you down to the field when they’re going to begin,” Randy assured him. “I always try to watch from the stands when they hold tryouts.”

“Have a special interest in sports do you?” the question seemed innocent enough but John and Randy caught one another’s eyes when it was asked, sensing something underlying the new boy’s comment. “You could say that.”

The briefest look of irritation flashed over his face and John had to hide a smile. If he thought Randy’s deliberately evasive answers were a problem he was going to have to get used to it because he did it to everybody.

“John will work you hard though,” Randy said innocently and John fought not to falter in his steps, not looking at Mark’s face, “Are you quite ready for that?” he asked.

“I think I’ll be able to manage,” came the cocky reply and John arched a brow slightly. _Oh really? They’d see about that._

“It’s nice to see such anticipation,” John added lightly, leading the way up the stairs towards their next classroom. Randy waited for Mark to go ahead of him and then walked behind. This proved to be a strategic plus on his part because it meant he could check out his lover (in those indecent little shorts) and also see whether the new boy had anything of interest for him to consider.

_Hm, not quite as big as John’s but it carried a similar roundness to it. Nice._

So, yes… yes there was definitely some things of interest in regards to the newest student. And, unless he was misreading things, there seemed to be a bit of mutual interest from Mark’s part, as well. Though whether it was towards John, himself, or even both, he didn’t know. 

“Our class is just up ahead,” Randy said to Mark once they reached the top of the stairs. “Around this corner,” he added when John turned right down a hall, then turned right again as he entered the class. “And here we are.”

“Excuse me, may I speak with you a minute?” their professor asked upon seeing the new student enter his room. 

While Mark went up to the front desk, John and Randy went to their own seats. “You’ve seemed to warm up to him a bit… considering just how cold you were to him in our last class,” Randy said. 

“Well, it helps knowing that we share some common sporting desire,” John replied. “You seemed awfully warm towards him from the beginning.”

“It takes a lot for someone to catch my eye,” Randy told him. 

“He caught it awfully damn fast,” John mumbled.

Shifting slightly so he could lean into John a little, Randy purred, “John, you know what it does to me when you get jealous.” And, though the other boys in the room barely spared them notice the new boy was watching as closely and subtly as he could through the door.

He had expected that being questioned by each of his teachers individually upon them meeting him was going to be standard fare for a while.

“—Can’t you wait until we’re somewhere where we can do something about it?” Randy continued and momentarily John considered it. Reasserting himself over Randy as a reminder before he went off for a bit with his new plaything...

But then, to Randy’s shock, John merely said, “There won’t be any time,” and then turned away from him to the front.

Randy was so startled that for a moment he couldn’t speak. But the new boy was soon appointed to the –usually empty- seat on his other side so it didn’t matter too much anyway in the end, but still.

It wasn’t often he got turned down when he put himself out there.  
And he usually got turned down even less by John.

For the first few minutes of the class, Randy could hardly focus. He still couldn’t believe what John said to him. John had never been one to pass up a quickie in the changing room. He knew that John was wound up about tryouts, but maybe what he needed was to relax a bit… but he had turned Randy down! 

“Is something the matter?” Mark asked quietly while Randy jotted down some notes.

“Huh? Oh… no. Just trying to pay attention,” Randy replied. 

John, who heard Randy talking, turned and looked to him. He didn’t know _why_ this Mark was getting him so wound up… it’s not like Randy hadn’t fooled around with other people before, and he’d never had an issue with it before. Maybe now he knew how Randy felt when he was with Dupree. There was just something about the thought of Randy with Mark that troubled him… and it didn’t have to do with the fact that he wouldn’t mind a piece of Mark, either… It was such an odd feeling, that he really didn’t know how to classify it. 

Just before the bell rang for the end of their class, Randy leaned to John and whispered, “Maybe someone else will have time.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” John replied. 

Randy just smirked, and when the bell rang, he turned to Mark and asked what and where his next class was.

Shoving his things into his bag, John shouldered it before walking around Randy and Mark and heading out the room. Though his smirk remained in place Randy did falter a little in his conversation with the other boy when he noticed this. Mark’s gaze followed Randy’s and he felt his brows rise as he put two and two together.

“Are you sure there’s nothing wrong?” he asked innocently, a hand lightly resting on Randy’s shoulder, “You seem… a bit put out.”

“It’s nothing,” Randy responded reflexively, though whether he was trying to convince Mark or himself he wasn’t too sure at that point.

“If you’re sure,” the hand on his shoulder squeezed just so and Randy looked at him.

He sent Randy a charming smile, “I’m a good listener you know.”

Randy wasn’t stupid enough to think he _truly_ meant _listening_.

“I’ll bear that in mind,” Randy said, smiling back before standing. He didn’t have his next class with John, and chances were he wouldn’t see him until lunch now--- if John even bothered going to lunch at all and didn’t just head straight to tryouts. Grr, Randy didn’t know what was up with him suddenly but he was finding himself getting more and more pissed off, and wanting to refute that by winding John up in turn. “You don’t mind a quick stop at the bathroom do you?” he asked sweetly, Mark immediately shaking his head in response. 

“You’re the guide, after all. I’ll go wherever you take me,” Mark replied. 

Randy raised a brow and said, “All right, then. Follow me.” He led them both out of the classroom and down through the hall. Upon reaching the bathroom, Randy told him, “Your next room’s just down this hall, the second door on your right. Mine’s back that way a little.”

Mark nodded, looking quickly to his next room, then back at Randy. “Got it.”

“Good,” Randy said before heading into the bathroom, Mark following right behind. “I’ll lead you to your class, though, if we happen to be late.”

“Perks of being Head Boy?” Mark asked, raising a brow.

“Yes. And there are perks that come with being friendly with the Head Boy, too,” he added, quirking a little smirk. 

“Are there really?” Mark asked, leaning against a sink as Randy moved to the toilets.

“Really,” Randy said, the words reminding him of someone but he couldn’t place the thought and so shoved it off swiftly.

“What sort of perks?” Mark asked, seemingly unabashed by the fact Randy was now peeing in front of him (other boys usually either left the bathroom until he was done out of embarrassment, or could barely do their own business through the awe) still looking steadily.

Looking over his shoulder Randy said, “Surely a clever boy like you can figure something out?” he tucked himself back into his trousers once done.

Moving to the sinks towards Mark, Randy then innocently washed his hands.

“I can think of one or two… but I don’t think your lover would like it.” 

“Oh, you are quick to pick up on things, aren’t you?” Randy asked. “Well, I’ll let you in on a little piece of information that you wouldn’t know: he and I aren’t exclusive to one another.”

“You don’t say. Well that is an interesting piece of information,” Mark said. 

“Isn’t it, though? If you don’t mind me asking, though… how did you figure John and I out so quickly.”

“Just watching the way you two acted together. Now, if you don’t mind me asking, you were saying something about perks?”

Randy smirked. “Indeed I was. I’ve got my limits, but… there are most certainly perks, yes. You said you’d thought of one or two?”

“Hm,” the genial smile that was sent his way had an almost innocent air about it, but the way that Mark then deliberately looked him up and down destroyed that notion in one fell swoop.

“One or two, or, should I say one and two?” Mark then asked, almost to himself.

That response puzzled Randy momentarily but he didn’t interrupt, merely watched as Mark stepped closer towards him.

“One mouth,” Mark murmured, reaching a hand out and stroking his thumb over Randy’s bottom lip in a glancing movement, “Two knees.”

It was certainly unusual for Randy--- Mark had a confidence that seemed on par with his own. He smirked, “You sure don’t waste time.”

“Never. Why wait until later when you can get what you want right now?” Mark said.

“My thoughts exactly,” Randy agreed, grabbing onto Mark’s jacket and pulling him into a stall just as the bell rang for the start of their next class. 

Mark shut the door behind him and promptly sank down to his knees. His hands undid Randy’s belt before he then popped open the buttons on his pants. He pushed Randy’s pants down just enough so that his cock was revealed. He brought his hand to the base and began stroking, trying to get it completely erect. 

Every time Randy was with someone else, he always thought back to how different it was than when he was with John. But there was something about Mark that was… very similar to how it was with John. Maybe it was simply because of their build and how similar in size their hands were. It certainly wasn’t just like John, no, but it was close. And Mark was most definitely not lacking in technique. He’d clearly had some experience under his belt. 

When those lips wrapped around his cock, Randy moaned and his head fell back as his hands tangled into Mark’s hair. 

~~~

When the lesson was over Cody was immediately on Justin’s back to find out what had happened. “The meeting itself was nothing important,” Justin finally sighed once it became apparent that Cody just wasn’t going to let him postpone the talk any further.

Ted and Windham had split off from them for their next class, and Joe and Heath had undoubtedly snuck off for a fag.

And neither of them questioned that that would be _all_ that would happen this time.

“I need to see the tailor again soon, and he asked me when would be suitable.”

Cody looked rather disappointed.

“Surely that wasn’t all?” he prompted, “Tell me about the hair thing!”

“Well, everyone’s been noticing,” and yes, he was jealous and smug over the fact thanks.

“But _why_ did he do it?” Cody pressed his friend impatiently.

“Because I wanted him to. I didn’t know it was going to be _today_ … but, yes, it was because I asked him to.” Justin bit his lower lip and added, “When we… well, afterwards, all the gel is out of his hair and I always loved it like that.”

“So, that’s his freshly fucked look?” Cody asked. 

“Hardly,” he answered. “That’s just a small part of his freshly fucked look.”

“He looks really different… is that how you like his hair best?”

“Yes. Because I love all his curls and… well, seeing his hair like that just makes me think more about what we did and… I don’t think the hallway is the best place to be talking about this,” he pointed out. 

“That’s… a good point,” Cody agreed for once. Anyone walking by could possibly hear snippets of their conversation (even though they were talking quietly to one another) and it probably wouldn’t make much sense, but there was enough talk about Justin and Wade as it was, and he really didn’t need to risk Justin’s character by speaking about Wade where someone could hear _any_ of their conversation. 

“Why don’t we skive class and you can tell me then?” Cody enthused but Justin immediately shot the idea down flat. “I need to go to classes Cody,” he said, remembering what Wade had said earlier about wanting him to remain top of the class.

Pouting, Cody sighed, “Fine… At morning break then.”

“Alright,” Justin acquiesced, “We’ll get something from the tuck shop and then go find somewhere that we can talk.” Despite being an insatiable gossip he really did enjoy talking to Cody when he wasn’t pushed too much.

“Good,” Cody grinned and then said in a very sly whisper, “Maybe we’ll get to see more of his _freshly fucked_ look when we come to your house over the winter holidays.” And he would admit there was a definite boyish charm around Wade when his hair wasn’t so firmly bound. “Ted would lose appeal if you saw that,” Justin teased, “And I’d have to pull your eyes out afterwards.” Cody snorted in amusement and denial.

“Please, nothing would make Ted lose appeal.” It just wasn’t conceivable.

“Whatever you say, Cody,” Justin said, leading the way to their next class.

“What? You actually doubt that?” Cody asked when Justin’s reply set in.

“Hmm?”

“That Ted would lose his appeal if I saw… your lover’s freshly fucked face,” he said.

Justin shrugged. “I didn’t put it quite like that.”

“But that’s what you implied! It just so happens that I love Ted’s freshly fucked face… he just looks so… stupidly happy,” he said, not too sure how to explain it. 

“All I’m saying is that if you saw it, you wouldn’t know what hit you.”

“What hit me would most likely be you for walking in on such a moment,” Cody teased jokingly. 

“Fair point,” Justin agreed, grinning as he took his seat in the classroom. 

“But, you’d do the same to me so that makes us equal,” he pointed out.

“Fair point,” Cody echoed his earlier sentiment and the pair grinned widely at each other.

“Quiet boys!”

And just like that a stopper was placed in their conversation.

As always Justin became so involved in his work that it was impossible to talk to him and after ten minutes Cody found his attention waning on the matter completely.

Instead he found himself doodling at the back of his workbook, bored.

Ted’s name appeared, alongside a mix of both his last name and Cody’s first, and Ted’s first and Cody’s last.

Yes, he was a romantic deep down but really, what did you expect from an actor?

Just before the bell rang for the end of class, Justin looked to Cody’s notes and saw… that there were no notes at all. Once the bell did ring, he asked, “Cody, what kind of notes are those?”

“Good ones,” he answered. 

“You’re going to have to copy over all my notes! I wish you would just pay attention in class,” he muttered. 

“Well, I’m sorry that it’s utterly dull.”

“Maybe if you actually paid attention more, you’d actually find the class to be somewhat interesting,” Justin said. 

“I highly doubt that. I’d so much rather be in theatre practice,” Cody told him as they walked through the hall. 

Justin rolled his eyes and asked, “So, were you really writing Ted’s and your names down in your notebook?”

“What of it? Don’t tell me you’ve never thought that you should be Justin Barrett.”

“That’s something completely different, though. I didn’t even _have_ a last name when he took me in,” Justin told him. “I do sometimes wish it, though, that I had his last name… but then at times I’m happy I don’t, because of… everything.”

“But if you married,” Cody prompted lightly, “Are you saying you _wouldn’t_ take his name?” Justin sent the other a questioning look, “Cody, in case you’ve forgotten: men can’t marry other men.”

Rolling his eyes Cody said, “I am aware of that, thank you Justin. Answer the question. I was asking subjectively.”

“Well,” Justin floundered, “I suppose I would, yes.”

“Exactly,” Cody said, “And can you honestly, hand on heart, tell me you’ve never written _Justin Barrett_ on any paper in your possession before in all the time that has passed since you were taught to read and write?” He watched Justin carefully.

The blush told him all he needed to know.

“But it was just for a silly lark,” Justin said embarrassedly as he packed his things away, “I’d never say so to him.”

He then added, “Besides, like you said, it was subjective. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Cody said, placing his satchel onto his shoulder, “Personally I think _Cody DiBiase_ has quite a ring to it.”

“I dare _you_ to tell _Ted_ that,” Justin said, already picturing the way Ted would respond to such… intimate news.

“Maybe I will. I can’t imagine that he’d take much issue to it. If I hadn’t bedded him by the end of our final year here, I was considering dressing as a woman just to eventually get him to marry me,” Cody said to him. 

“You are such a little drama queen, Cody,” Justin replied with a roll of his eyes. 

“Well, yes, of course. But… the thought definitely crossed my mind before. I didn’t think he’d ever sleep with me, honestly.” 

“Oh, please, of course he would have. If you didn’t get him when you did, it wouldn’t have been much later that you did. You two… you were just… almost like you were meant to be together somehow,” he said, like himself and Wade, although he really didn’t know how that worked, since he knew they, at least, would one day end up marrying women and carrying on their families’ bloodlines. But if men were allowed to marry other men, those two would be right there in line behind Justin and Wade and John and Randy. 

“I think that, too,” Cody agreed. “I wish there was a way that I could take back those things that I’d done with others, though, while thinking that I’d never have Ted… but hoping against all hope that just maybe, one day, I would.”

“Just look at it like your past experiences have helped to make Ted’s far more enjoyable. Right?” Justin suggested. 

“I could do that no problem,” Cody said, “But you know how sensitive Ted is about anything to do with _that_ and _me_ ,” he sighed gently, “He wouldn’t take it as the compliment it’s meant to be if I ever went and told him.”

Justin sent Cody a supportive and mildly sympathetic look, understanding his plight.

In general terms Ted was a very loyal and logical friend, but when it came to Cody that loyalty was unwavering still but the logic became a little… unbalanced by jealousy and upset. Still, it was the best way he’d be able to view it all.

Because it wasn’t as though Cody could take any of it back, could he? Suddenly though he had a horrible thought about being a bad lover because he hadn’t waited for Ted for _everything_ , like Justin had done with Wade. Though, he supposed technically Wade hadn’t been the one Justin was waiting for, it had just happened (he hadn’t even understood it to start with had he?) but did that make Justin a stronger person morally than him? It wasn’t often Cody had thoughts like this but when he had them they were _deep_.

“I can hear your brain working,” Justin pointed out to Cody and the other chuckled weakly, “Sorry… I’ll try to quiet down.”

“You shouldn’t dwell on it Cody; I’ll bet Ted really hasn’t taken any of it as hard as it might seem that he has,” he added.

“I don’t know… I mean, we got into a fight about me not waiting for him completely,” Cody reminded him. 

“But he knew about it. Right? He always knew that you were with other people. If he asked you not to be, would you have stopped?” Justin asked. 

“Yeah. I mean, he always told me to be careful, but I do think I would have stopped, or not done it at all if he’d just… asked me not to,” Cody said. 

“Then, really, don’t dwell on it. It’s in the past now and nothing you can do can change it, so just move forward and be with Ted. That’s all you can do. And, it’s like you said, you had saved yourself for him in a rather important aspect.”

“I suppose you’re right. But… did I ever tell you that I told him I’d consider sleeping with other people? No, I probably shouldn’t bring this up now… later when we talk, ok?” Cody asked. 

“You said _what_ to Ted?” Justin asked back, shocked. 

“Later?”

“Alright,” Justin accepted the delay reluctantly, making a mental note to definitely ensure that later came about and Cody told him _everything_ about it.

In all truth he had momentarily wondered whether he had misheard Cody, but the other’s expression had told him that he’d heard him _just fine_.

Cody meanwhile was questioning whether he should have mentioned it. Would Justin think he was a complete bitch for doing so? It was being honest though, he reasoned in his mind, and that was what was important for a relationship wasn’t it?

It would be good to have another perspective on it though, and on most occasions he and Justin had similar views on things so he shouldn’t find it all _too_ outrageous.

God, why was this day dragging? At best though his next lesson would have Ted in it so that would definitely perk him up. And then lunch, before the tryouts they were so excited for.

Not that Cody would turn down the chance to see Ted in shorts...  
No one would.

When they reached their next class, Cody couldn’t help but smile when he saw that Ted was already there in his seat. He slid into his own seat next to him and whispered, “I’ve seen several people walking around in their rugby uniforms and I must say, no one wears it like you do.”

Ted blushed. “Thank you?” he replied.

Cody rolled his eyes. “You’re welcome. Jeez, learn to take a compliment.”

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I just feel like I’ve had a lot of eyes on me today… walking around in this really makes me stand out.”

“And that’s the point. Now everyone in the school will see you in this and finally see what a damn fine backside you have,” Cody told him. 

“Cody!” 

“It’s true! But they’ll just all have to be jealous of me, since I’m the only one who gets it,” Cody added, grinning. 

“You’re so spoilt,” Ted chided him lightly.

“That I am,” Cody responded without missing a beat, “But who’s partly responsible for that?” he asked innocently fluttering his lashes at Ted.

Giving a little sighed Ted nodded in acceptance, “Me. I was always too soft on you,” and even though he knew it, it probably wouldn’t change.

Glancing around to make sure that no one was paying particular attention to them Cody then shifted just slightly so he could lean in towards Ted. The urge to run his hand down Ted’s exposed arm was great but he held back, whispering instead, “I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to be _firm_ with me.”

Initially Ted was non-plussed, blinking confusedly at Cody--- but when he caught the look in the other’s eyes his own widened.

“Cody!”

The actor grinned impishly as he pulled back to sit in his own seat once more.

Ted was fairly certain that he was blushing the entire rest of the class. And it didn’t at all help that Cody would occasionally lean over and say things into his ear that would cause him to blush even more. 

Every now and again, Justin would look over and see Cody whispering something to Ted and would see Ted’s cheeks going bright red. He just shook his head. At one point, he scribbled a little note to Cody and passed it over to him. All it said was _Stop that_. Cody smirked at him and jotted a note down himself. _Nope_. 

Again, Justin shook his head, but then decided to focus back on his work and what the teacher was telling them. 

Ted was trying to do as Justin was, pay attention to the teacher and take notes, but it was hard when he had Cody saying all those things to him and getting his mind to wander from the task at hand. 

“I bet you’ll be really sore after tryouts,” Cody said. “You’ll need someone to soothe all those sore and aching muscles.”

Ted blushed again.

“Good thing you have me,” he went on. “I can prepare you a nice hot bath and I can give you a massage… and then you can fuck me to relax you even further.” 

“That’ll be more strenuous as opposed to relaxing won’t it?” Ted found himself murmuring back before he even really thought about it, the blush that then followed one of his own making for a change.

The grin on Cody’s face was wicked.

“Well, you do get _vigorous_ when the mood strikes you, Teddy,” he then whispered and Ted resisted the urge to groan aloud.

Another note from Justin was sent their way again, momentarily distracting Cody and giving Ted a blessed reprieve. Though it shouldn’t Cody’s words were beginning to cause a stirring in his groin and he could _really_ do without that happening; his uniform would have hidden the reaction only partially, but these shorts? _No chance_.

His attention, however, was not diverted for long and indeed Justin was left pouting somewhat when Cody’s return note claimed he was merely jealous because he couldn’t do the same thing… he wasn’t entirely wrong either.

Ted almost cried in relief when class was over because he wasn’t sure how much more he could take of Cody teasing him.

“You’re looking a little flushed, Teddy,” Cody said innocently as they gathered their things, packing up, “Surely you can’t be warm in that skimpy uniform you have on?”

“You know damn well what you’re doing,” Ted muttered to him. 

“What _I’m_ doing? Teddy, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied, still feigning innocence. 

“Cody.”

“Can’t you leave him be for once?” Justin asked, seeing how badly Ted was blushing and how Cody was just _not_ letting up. 

“I was just saying that he must be a little chilly in his outfit, that’s all,” Cody told him. 

“Can we just go to lunch now?” Ted asked, though he still wasn’t all that hungry.

“Of course we can. And you better eat something, otherwise I’ll start force feeding you,” Cody said. “You need to get as much energy as possible before your tryouts,” he added. 

“I hope I do all right,” he said, shoving his things into his bag haphazardly before following Justin and Cody out of the room. 

“You’ll do wonderfully, I’m sure of it,” Justin said. “I’m just happy I’m able to go now. The people I’m tutoring are actually trying out today, so I’m free to watch.”

“God, they’re only tryouts… you’d think it was an actual game happening what with all the people that are going and watching,” Ted went on, sounding more nervous as he spoke.

~~~

When John found himself alone heading for lunch he wasn’t altogether surprised about it.

This whole ‘monogamy’ thing that they were attempting at uni was something that he was definitely looking forward to—more so than ever before it seemed, and all because of this new boy. It seemed Randy had even forgot about setting him on to work on DiBiase… though John suddenly considered that the distraction might help…

Sighing, John scrubbed a hand over his short hair and turned a corner towards the main stairs. Just as he reached them though he happened across three boys--- three boys that he recognised very well indeed though he had had very little to do with them in terms of direct contact. “Hullo boys,” he smiled, seeing how the expression of the three changed just a little before they became normal, though their smiles didn’t move. It was odd.

Not in a bad way but he wasn’t sure how to define it. It was… Kind of like they knew something that he didn’t, but that would be odd indeed.

“Hello Cena,” the one he knew as ‘baby’ Runnels greeted him and he smiled before saying, “Please, call me John.”

“John,” Cody nodded, though Justin and Ted looked like they might tell him off for doing so--- something that amused John greatly.

He _had_ asked him to do it after all.

“Looking forward to tryouts today?” Justin then addressed him.

“I am indeed,” he beamed, dimples appearing. He then took stock of the fact that Ted looked a little green around the gills.

“Everything alright DiBiase?” he asked, genuinely concerned, leaning a little to try and see the younger man’s face, “You look a bit peaky.”

The fact that Ted went so fantastically red at those words almost made Cody laughed, but more than that he was enjoying the sudden image in front of him.

He knew that Ted found John attractive, as did he but maybe slightly less than Randy, and being so close to him after what they had seen (as well as that) was probably killing him.

“I’m fine,” Ted managed once he recovered his composure (and stopped getting lost in those bright eyes and dimples) but then he hesitated, “It’s just…” he tailed off and John nodded.

“Tryouts have that effect on people,” he said comfortingly before placing a hand on Ted’s shoulder.

“But you needn’t worry; I have high expectations that you’ll be formidable on that field.”

“Oh, do you?” Ted managed to say, somehow without choking on his own words in his embarrassment. 

“Of course! I’ve seen your athleticism out on the cricket pitch, and your size and quickness will translate so well to rugby,” John told him, grinning, squeezing his shoulder a bit. 

“Will it, now?” Ted asked, voice getting a bit more high pitched. He tried not to glare at Cody, who was trying not to laugh at his expense. 

“Most assuredly,” he replied. He looked into Ted’s face and smiled even wider. “No need to look so nervous! You’ll do fine!” Of course, he had no idea behind the true reason as to _why_ Ted looked so nervous, so he chalked it all up to tryouts. “Like I said, you’ve got agility and speed on your side.”

“Thank you,” Ted mumbled. 

“Really, DiBiase, you’ve got me rooting for you, along with your friends… They all know you’ll do a great job. Just go and eat a good lunch and try and calm down or you’ll get yourself too worked up,” John said to him. 

“Will do,” Ted replied, attempting to smile, but feeling really awkward about it. 

“Good!” John exclaimed, clapping Ted on the shoulder before finally letting go. “I’ll see you in a few hours, then!” 

“Sure enough,” Ted agreed.

Just before John turned and walked off, Cody asked, “Randy will be there, right? In the stands, that is?”

“He’s supposed to be,” John told him, wondering just what Randy had managed to get himself into this time. “He’s been a bit held up as he’s showing the new student around the building,” he added. At least that better have been all Randy was doing right then. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh… just curious… since he’s not here with you and, well, that’s pretty unusual, wouldn’t you agree?” 

“I would,” John said. “He’ll be there, I’m sure. And I believe the new student may be trying out, as well.” And that could be _his_ time to get to know Mark a little bit better… With a final smile, John said, “I’ll see you soon. Good luck out there.” With that, he headed down the stairs so he could go grab his own quick lunch. 

“I think he likes you,” Cody whispered into Ted’s ear, causing him to jump as he had been lost in his own thoughts and watching the captain as he walked away from them all.

Jumping and flushing Ted then pushed Cody slightly, along with Justin, to go towards the dining-hall, “Come on.”

Justin looked confused and amused in one, then addressing Cody though, “You’re certainly interested in where the Head Boy would be.”

Cody merely grinned, not replying.

When they reached the dining-hall Ted got into the queue, taking John’s advice and at least getting some decent food that would give him energy on the pitch. He was still terrified internally but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel somewhat emboldened by the fact the captain had spoken to him personally.

Cody felt that this proved his point all along: even if Ted didn’t find Randy attractive to the same degree he did John, he obviously liked John.

And speaking of Randy--- that must be the new boy there with him, Cody thought to himself as he watched the Head Boy stroll through the doors with the casual, attention-grabbing grace that he possessed. He then did a double-take.

He’d seen plenty a built boy before but never one on an almost equal caliber to John.

Randy, meanwhile, moved down the queue as per usual with Mark in tow this time, completely unaware of the younger boy’s scrutiny.

“Don’t get used to this,” Randy mused as they picked up trays, “You’ll have to begin queuing with everyone else when you’ve had your time being personally escorted by me.” Mark chuckled, selecting some food and then paused as he watched Randy searching for someone.

“He’s over there,” he indicated.

And indeed John was sat alone, though there was a small cluster of excitable boys stood near him.

“Popular fellow isn’t he?” Mark mused, amused to note that Randy looked less than impressed by this but the expression was only fleeting. When they headed over the group of boys scattered before Randy had even opened his mouth to tell them to do so. “Hullo,” Mark said and John nodded, studying his lover’s face as Randy sat.

“That was quick, Randy, even for you.”

“Hmm, well… when the opportunity arises, there’s no reason to let it pass you by,” he replied with a challenging quirk of the brow. 

“I’m sure the opportunity would still have been there in due time,” John said.

Randy simply shrugged and Mark looked between the two of them. He had to admit, they were one of the most interesting couples he’d ever met. They weren’t exclusive to one another, clearly belonged together and were jealous when their partner was with someone else… “You know I can hear you talking,” Mark butted in. 

“Did you even make it to your classes?” John then asked. 

“Yes,” Randy answered. “A little late, but we made it,” he had to add, just to goad John that bit further.

John’s eyes darkened a bit as he distracted himself with a forkful of food. Once he chewed and swallowed, he decided to change the subject a bit. “I managed to talk to DiBiase.”

“Oh, did you?” Randy asked.

Nodding, John went on, “Yeah. He seemed pretty nervous, but I told him that he’d do just fine and that I had faith in him and his abilities.”

Mark continued to observe the pair. They were interesting indeed. The way they talked, it was as though they were both pursuing this DiBiase. And then Randy asked, “And was Runnels with him?” 

“Of course he was,” John replied. 

“Good, good.”

Mark looked between them again. Were they both pursuing… another couple of sorts? “Have you two ever been with another person… at the same time, I mean,” he added to clarify. “You know, you two and a third party participant?”

“Not since we were younger, no,” John answered. “When we were first… getting to know one another… Why do you ask?” He tilted his head a bit and raised his eyebrow, questioning the new student.

“I was curious,” Mark said, though it was apparent that his interest ran deeper than mere curiosity and John was momentarily surprised.

“Randy… I don’t recall being propositioned in such a confident manner since you.”

Randy smirked a little, though there was a small twitch in the cheek that denoted he was affected by someone approaching John so openly despite what he had let Mark do to him before. “Indeed… I was thinking though he has more tendencies like you than me,” he then glanced at Mark subtly, “I doubt you could manage us both.”

“I’m a big boy,” he smirked cheekily, “I think I can manage.”

“It’s not that simple as being eager you know,” John said suddenly, causing Randy to shiver; it wasn’t often he heard _that_ tone of voice from John and it never failed to rouse him.

“Impress me and then we’ll consider it,” he said to Mark, and then grinned, “But I expect no less than your best.”

“Of course not,” Mark nodded.

And to think they were discussing the possibility of the three of them engaging in unsavory activities with the same regard as you would the weather.

“Runnels will be in the stands,” John then addressed Randy, “He was asking after you,” triumph immediately registered in the Head Boy’s eyes. “I’ll have to keep an eye out for him,” he nodded.

John returned to his food then, hungry.

When he was finished he stood.

“Come on then,” he addressed Mark, “I’ll show you where the tryouts will be held.” He glanced at Randy, eyes softening just a little, barely noticeable unless you really looked, “See you later, Randy,” the Head Boy inclined his head.

“Put them through their paces, won’t you John? I’ll be watching,” his own expression softened just a fraction before his natural regal haughtiness returned. John nodded and began making his way out of the hall, Mark behind him.

“It wasn’t my intention to upset you,” Mark said as he followed behind John. 

“I never said I was upset,” John replied, not looking back. 

“Well, you certainly didn’t look happy when Randy and I showed up together,” he pointed out. 

“Like I said in the dining hall, it was moving awfully fast, even for him, who’s been known to make rather rash decisions in his life.”

“I see… so you’re just pissed off about the fact that he did sooner something he would have done later, anyway?” Mark asked. 

This time, John did turn his head and smirked a little bit. “You just got here and you already knew that you’d be fooling around with Randy?”

Mark gave a little smirk of his own. “What can I say? I know what I want… and I genuinely am curious about the two of you and a third party participant.”

“Are you really?” John asked. 

“I wouldn’t have brought it up if I wasn’t. I also meant what I said about being able to handle it,” he added. 

“Were you now?”

“Of course… But I won’t push that any further… not until you two have talked it out,” Mark said. 

“I am quite frankly amazed by your boldness,” John said as they continued to walk down the path to the field. 

“Well… to be fair, it’s not as though we’ve never met before,” Mark then told him.

“We have?” John asked. 

“Of course. I told you I played rugby at my old school. We’ve met numerous times on the field before.”

Suddenly it dawned on John that he _had_ seen Mark before. He used to go to their rival school. “Well, fuck me,” he muttered. “We have met. Though I’m not at all sorry for crushing you guys last year in the championship.”


	45. Chapter 45

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. ~ Oscar Wilde

“Well, a miserable occasion but we could have lost to worse I suppose,” he grinned.

“Well, having you there did up their defense but they are still fundamentally lacking on many aspects of the game—not least the passion for it.”

“That was what I first noticed about you, John,” he said then as they headed out of the school building and across the field to the designated tryout area.

“My passion?” John glanced at him, slightly surprised, “I suppose I do have some; I love sport and I love everything to do with sport.”

“I’ll bet you’re really passionate elsewhere aren’t you?” Mark asked boldly, “Especially with him involved as well.” John paused then.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, new boy,” he warned, “I told you: impress me and we’ll see about it.”

“Just making sure that the offer’s still on the table,” Mark said.

“They have a saying in the countryside: don’t count your chickens before they are hatched,” John returned lightly.

Mark had to admit having John this stern was rather arousing and he was determined to try and get his ideal wish of both men at once.

He had little doubt it would be the most intense thing he had ever experienced; the blowjob from Randy assured it.  
He had been _very_ good at it.

~~~

They were amongst the first to arrive but it seemed no time at all before other’s joined them.

The stands were filled and the tiers assembled, the atmosphere charged and buzzed.

“I still don’t understand why there’s this much fuss over tryouts,” Cody said as he sat down with Justin and Heath.

“Oh, do buck up, remember, we’re here to support the others,” Justin said, though he was quite obviously scanning the crowd.

Before Cody could comment back though a deep voice sounded to his side and he had to fight a shiver as he took stock of who it was. Randy’s smile was disarmingly charming as he asked, “Is this spot taken?” he indicated next to Cody who immediately shook his head.

“You don’t mind, do you?” he asked, still pointing to the seat. 

“Not at all,” Cody replied. Who _would_ mind Randy Orton sitting next to them?! 

“Thank you,” Randy said, sitting down. “It’s good to see that you all made it,” he said, looking down the row of the three friends there to support their three other closest friends in their tryouts. 

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Cody told him. Justin and Heath just rolled their eyes at him as mere moments before he was wondering what the fuss was over these very same tryouts. 

“I like that kind of school spirit,” Randy said.

Cody was clearly imagining things, because he _swore_ that Randy just winked at him. Or he probably just had something in his eye… “I’m very spirited,” Cody replied. 

“Good to know.”

Before this obvious flirtation went on any further, Justin leaned over and asked, “Do you happen to know how many spots on the team John’s looking to fill?”

“I’m afraid I don’t. But he’s got a lot of guys trying out, so maybe he’ll be looking for some second string players, as well,” Randy told him. “Are you worried your three friends won’t all make it?”

“Not at all. I’m just wondering how many others _won’t_ ,” Justin retorted. 

Randy smirked at him. Justin was head of his class for a reason, and he knew it wasn’t like people often said; it wasn’t simply because of his relationship with their headmaster. He was a brilliant, quick witted young man. “Fair point. Wait a moment, didn’t you say you had tutoring today?” Randy then asked him.

“Turns out my tutee is trying out today,” Justin said, pointing down to the field where things should be starting soon. 

It was, as some had predicted, a very _vigorous_ tryout session.

Everyone knew that if you wanted to be on a team headed by John Cena you had to work hard… but considering how many boys dropped out after the first few laps they hadn’t realised how hard it would be.

“His energy is impressive,” Cody commented to Justin, referring to John but always keeping his eyes on Ted as best he could… though they occasionally slipped to the boy next to him.

“Indeed,” Justin responded absently whereas Randy was trying to fight a smirk as he heard their whispers. _Oh, if only they knew the true extent of that enthusiastic energy_.

“Your friends are impressive,” he said innocently, deliberately mimicking their opener.

“Do you think so?” Cody asked, glancing at Randy properly then.

“Indeed; John has higher hopes for you younger boys.”

He would need to appoint a replacement when he left so chances were he might pick someone of their age since that meant that the boy would be in position longer and would know the form sooner.

“If Ted doesn’t get on the team, as well as Joe and Windham,” Cody added on hastily, “Then it will be a travesty,” they were the best ones out there it seemed, though he wasn’t biased.

“Is that the new transfer there?” Justin asked Randy suddenly, indicating Mark.

Randy wasn’t surprised that Justin would know about him; Wade would probably have mentioned it to him some point.

“Yes,” he nodded, “He was ever so keen to try out…” And Randy had no doubt that the way John was seriously putting him through his paces was a tester as promised in their wager before. Leaning into Cody’s ear subtly, he murmured, “I’m surprised you aren’t trying out… you’ve got the build of a sportsman as well as an actor.”

Cody turned his head and gave Randy an inquisitive look. He then leaned over and replied, “Well, I thank you for that flattering compliment, however, this face belongs on the stage and _not_ covered in mud and grime after such sport.”

“There’s nothing quite like the elation of winning a sporting event, though… especially when you’re all in the locker room, celebrating,” Randy replied in turn. 

“Is that so?” Cody asked.

“Oh, yes. Two years ago when the football team won the championship, for example,” he said. 

“You don’t say… You celebrated with the entire team?”

“Yes, of course… though only a select few stayed for the extended celebrations,” Randy then told him. 

“Really, now?”

“Really… maybe one day after our rugby team wins, you can go witness these extended celebrations first hand,” Randy said to him. 

“Are you implying something?” Cody asked. 

“You’re a smart boy, I’m sure you can figure that out.” He then sat himself up back straight and focused his eyes back on John.

“What the hell are you two talking about over there?” Justin asked Cody once he stopped whispering sweet nothings into the Head Boy’s ear. 

“Nothing,” Cody answered. 

“I’m not an idiot, you know. You’ve got a weird look on your face.”

“It’s nothing. Honestly.”

“I know you’re lying to me.” He dropped his voice as he asked, “You were talking about fooling around with him, were you? Ted will kill the pair of you!”

Cody rolled his eyes. “Please, I wouldn’t fool around with anyone… without Ted knowing about it first…”

Meanwhile, on the field, Ted had just tackled down his ‘opponent’ for John’s training exercise, sending the boy crashing to the floor. Ever the gentleman Ted’s first instinct was to apologise, but before he could John’s voice suddenly sounded out.

“That was really good, DiBiase, but there’s one thing you could improve that’ll make it so you don’t feel the jar as much when you hit the ground,” he jogged over.

One thing John hated about tryouts though was that he wasn’t allowed to get as involved physically as he would like, but little demonstrations were OK.

“OK, take your stance,” John instructed and Ted did as he was told, hoping that he wasn’t blushing as badly as he thought when John suddenly moved behind him.

“Angle your back down a bit more, that’s it…” John murmured, using light but firm touches to change Ted’s positioning.

“If you go down from here, you cushion the impact with your arms, right?” John spoke into his ear and Ted felt an odd shiver run down his spine.

“Ri-Right, yes,” he sputtered.

John flashed him a dimpled grin, “Keep up the good work,” he seemed to linger just a moment too long with his hand on Ted’s back before heading off.

For a moment Ted found himself watching John walk away before he shook himself to focus.

From the stands Randy fought a smirk as he watched the interaction.

John had always been considered the more subtle one.

Still though, with any luck their groundwork with the younger pair would be well and truly laid before the tryouts were over.

“Ok everyone,” John called out after a bit more time, “Ten minute break and then we’ll round it off!”

People immediately began dispersing towards their friends and Justin took Cody’s arm, indicating they should go down and see the others.

“Excuse us will you, Randy?” Justin spoke over his shoulder and Randy chuckled; you could see where he got occasional mannerisms in Wade.

“Go ahead,” he glanced at Cody, catching his eyes, “I’ll be here when you get back.”

Justin and Cody headed down, Heath deciding that he should probably go down and see his friends, as well. With Heath a bit behind them, Justin asked, “Are you scheming something, Cody?”

“I already told you no,” he replied. 

“Do you think Orton’s scheming something?”

“Couldn’t tell ya,” he answered. 

“Did you see the way that Cena had his hands all over Ted?”

Cody flushed a little at that thought. Not so much out of jealousy, but because that image had been so unbelievable attractive. “I most certainly did.”

“You don’t seem at all bothered by it,” Justin pointed out. 

“Well… I’m not. I think the pair of them together would make for a damn fine looking coupling,” he said. 

“ _What_?!” Justin exclaimed. 

“Look, let’s just talk about this later… in private… like we discussed doing earlier,” Cody said. “I’ll tell you everything.”

“Ok, fine,” he agreed as they reached the field. 

“Ted!” Cody called out, not even replying to Justin. 

Ted looked over and saw his friends coming down from the stands. Windham and Joe looked over, as well, smiling as they saw them. “Hey… how do things look from up there?” Ted asked.

“Things look really good from up there,” Cody answered. He moved in closer to Ted and whispered into his ear, “How’s it feel having Cena’s hands all over you?”

Ted instantly blushed and muttered, “Fine.”

Joe interrupted before anymore could be said between the two of them. “Really, though, how’s our performance comparing? I feel like the lot of us have been doin’ a pretty good job of it.”

“You have been,” Justin told them. “Even Orton said that Cena has high hopes for you three in particular, since you’re young and still have a few years left here.”

“Really?” Windham asked. 

The three of the boys that were in the stands nodded.

“Yes!” Joe said jubilantly. Of course he had natural confidence but it never hurt to get some reassurance… and with any luck this spot on the rugby team would provide him with leverage towards his father.

_Though if anyone asked he’d never be caught dead trying to make any sort of approval-seeking move towards the man._

“That means that we just really need to bring it home in the second half,” Windham murmured, looking much more concentrated than he usually did.

“We’ll walk it,” Joe responded to his lover.

“There’s such a thing as over-confidence you know?”

As the pair began to bicker good-naturedly, Heath egging them on as Justin was momentarily distracted looking for Wade, Cody watched Ted. His lover was definitely distracted about something.

“Teddy?” he prompted quietly, receiving no immediate response.

_Cody had a feeling he knew why he was so spaced-out._

“Teddy!” he nudged him this time.

Startling just a little Ted asked, “Sorry Cody, did you say something?” Cody looked amused and Ted blushed, “You did. Sorry.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Cody asked again.

“Yes, perfectly, absolutely,” Ted insisted.

Glancing around to make sure that their friends were adequately distracted (and being momentarily distracted himself as his eyes alighted back on Randy) Cody leant in to Ted.

“If it hadn’t been so appealing to see I might be jealous that another man’s hands on you could drive you to such distraction,” he whispered, reading for the reaction.

“It wasn’t like that!” Ted burst out.

As their friends looked at them curiously Ted hastily turned a smile their way, feeling his cheeks colouring in a blush. When they turned away he shot Cody a look.

“It isn’t like that!” he repeated, urgency in his voice.

“Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?” Cody asked.

“Cody—“ Ted’s tone had a warning lilt to it now.

“So you _are_ trying to convince yourself,” Cody said with a smirk. 

“I am not!” Ted said it as though he were done talking about it. So Cody decided to let it go. At least for the time being. 

“Whatever you say, Teddy. Remind me to tell you later what Randy said to me earlier in the stands,” Cody then told him, smirking at the thought of the _celebrations_ Randy spoke of. 

“You can’t just tell me now?” Ted asked. 

“Oh, no. It’ll leave you far too distracted, and you’ve got to have yourself completely focused on these tryouts.”

“You’re an awful person. What did he say to you?” 

“Look, just put that out of your mind for now, and I’ll tell you once tryouts are over, and you’ve hopefully made the team.”

“John said results will be posted tomorrow as to who made the team, in what positions, things like that,” Ted said to him. 

“Well, then, I guess I’ll tell you about it tomorrow,” Cody teased. 

“I hate you.”

“All, right, boys!” John called from the center of the field. “One more minute, then break’s over and we’re back to it!” 

“See, I wouldn’t have time to tell you, anyway,” Cody said. “Good luck, Teddy.” He leaned in and muttered, “If I could, I’d give you a kiss.”

Ted flushed a bit and couldn’t help but smile, despite being slightly annoyed by Cody. “Thank you.”

“Good luck you two!” Cody said to Joe and Windham.

“Thank you! Not as though I need luck,” John then told him. “Not when you have natural born skills such as myself.”

All his friends rolled their eyes. Heath and Justin wished the three of them luck, as well, before they all headed up into the stands again, making it to their seats just as John was beginning to drill them all again.

Needless to say the second half was indeed more vigorous than the first.

An amused Cody, Justin and Heath approached the field afterwards where Ted, Joe and Windham were all sprawled out.

“Tired?” Heath asked jovially to the three boys.

“You have no idea!” Joe groaned, “I ache all over!”

“Surely not as bad as you must have been aching last night?” Heath inquired innocently before neatly side-stepping the weak kick that was leveled at him by the furiously blushing Joe.

“You all really shone out there,” Justin said, “You’re definitely going to get a spot on the team somewhere.”

“No need to tempt fate and get too presumptuous,” Ted mumbled as he pushed himself into a sitting position, “We’ll have to see.”

The sight of a sweaty, mussed and tired Ted had Cody thinking back to certain other occasions where he had rendered Ted in a similar condition...

“Great job everyone!” John’s voice suddenly called over them all, “I’ll be posting the results by breakfast tomorrow, good luck to you all!”

The captain barely looked out of breath and was beaming brightly.

“That man’s stamina must be amazing,” Cody whispered to Ted as he moved to help the other to his feet.

“Don’t start,” Ted returned tiredly.

He might be a sporty and fit young man but he had forgotten how intensive a tryout for John could be, and he just wanted to rest now.

“You need a bath,” Cody said, “And I, for one, will be more than happy to help you by scrubbing your back.”

Ted blushed beet-red but didn’t turn down his boyfriend’s offer.

As they were heading back towards the school in their usual six Cody happened to glance back to the field once more--- and felt a blush rise on his own cheeks as he noticed both John and Randy looking after he (and Ted if he wasn’t mistaken) with rather _hungry_ expressions on their faces.

“That was a nice little maneuver you pulled with DiBiase,” Randy commented as they watched the group of six walk away. 

“It was, wasn’t it?” John replied. “If body language alone is anything to go by, he seemed like he wanted to resist his interest.”

“That’s what it looked like from the stands, as well. And, to be quite frank, from the corner of my eyes, it appeared as though Runnels was drooling at the sight.”

“Was he, now?” John asked. “I take it things went well on that front, then?”

“I would say so. He seemed to be… interested.”

“Wait, what do you mean by interested? Did you up and tell him that we wanted to fool around with him?” 

“I wouldn’t be so crass as to outright tell him… but I may have hinted at it. And he did seem to be interested in the prospect,” Randy clarified. 

“Ok, then… I would say that DiBiase still needs to be worked on a bit,” John said. 

“Do you think he’ll come around?” Randy asked. He thought he probably would, given the way he reacted to John’s touch, but he could potentially be too stubborn to give into his wants. 

“I hope. If I keep up contact with him and if you and Runnels can work at it, as well, then I think he’ll come ‘round.”

From behind them, they heard a few more students leaving from the locker room. Turning around, both John and Randy spotted Mark (which wasn’t hard, as he simply towered over everyone). As they passed, John wished them the best of luck and reminded them that the post would be up tomorrow. Mark lagged behind, though, and stopped when he reached John and Randy. “So, how would you say my performance was today?”

The deliberately blank expression on John’s face was one that Randy knew he had to fight to keep on; he couldn’t _be_ without expression facially.

“Well… you put a good effort in,” John said, “You have good base form obviously and stamina. What you need to work on though, is working in a _team_.”

It wasn’t hard for someone to assume that the little shuffle Mark gave was of interest as he listened to John’s words.

“And… Are you saying that you have an exercise that will better teach me how to work in a team?” he asked innocently.

Still John did his best not to let anything show.

With a quick glance at Randy though he knew what his lover wanted and he already knew that he personally wasn’t opposed to the situation either.

“I know of one,” John said, “But you’ll have to wait until after dinner to try it.”

Mark’s eyes glimmered, apparent disbelief on his face momentarily though; from John’s hostility before he had thought for sure that the other boy would refuse his advances.

Randy’s grin widened, looking positively deviant as he moved closer to John in an almost serpentine fashion, graceful and deadly.

“Are you going to work me hard as well, John-John?” he whispered into his lover’s ear.

It seemed that all of the working out on the field had been all that John had needed to work himself out of his mood that he had obtained earlier that day. He wouldn’t deny he was glad about that because when John got in a mood it was really hard to get him to do anything--- and that included eating. Mark felt a pulse in his groin as John suddenly gripped Randy’s chin and rumbled seductively, “ _You_ are going to work _twice_ as hard.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Randy muttered, smirking as the gaze between he and John heated up. 

“I’m not joking,” John told him. 

“I’m not doubting you,” he replied. “I really am looking forward to it.”

John brought his hand up to Randy’s face, cupping his cheek before tapping it gently a couple times. “Good to know.” He dropped his hand and turned to look at Mark. “Now, were you shown where your room will be? Because there will be _no_ teamwork exercises until everyone’s bathed,” John said. 

“Yes, I was taken to my room this morning… but honestly, I’m not too sure how to get there from here,” he said. 

“Well, it’s a good thing we’ve got the Head Boy with us, as he knows his way all around the school.”

The three of them began walking up to the school and Mark then asked, “So, would you say that I made the team, or not?”

John raised a brow at that. “ _Your_ tryouts haven’t ended yet. Not until we do our exercise later on. And even if your skills at working with a team had been better, I wouldn’t have told you, anyway. You can find out tomorrow along with everyone else when I post results.”

“All right, I’ll accept that… fair’s fair.”

They didn’t really talk much until they got back inside, and that’s when Randy asked, “So, what’s your room number?” Mark told him, and Randy nodded. “Ok, just pay attention and follow me.”

Randy showed him to his room, pointing out different other rooms along the way to help him better remember. It was as though he was showing some first year student around… it must be so strange to transfer schools just into the final year… 

“Thank you, Randy.”

“You’re welcome. My room is down this hallway,” he said, pointing to his left down a different corridor. “And John’s room is further along down that way,” he added, pointing down the hall in which Mark’s room was.

“Good to know.”

“So, are we all meeting for dinner?” John asked, looking between Mark and Randy.

“Yeah,” Mark responded instantaneously whereas Randy remained quiet, seemingly a bit puzzled.

“Problem?” John asked him lightly.

“Why would it need to be during dinner when you and I meet up?” he asked.

Randy had a valid point, John acknowledged; generally they were together all of the time anyway, but this time he was going to have to put his foot down a little bit. “You and I shall part ways until dinner as well.” Seeming to forget Mark’s presence for the moment Randy’s eyes widened, “You’re using the public baths?”

“I am,” John responded, aware that that was rather unusual since he nearly always took part in Randy’s private bath privileges.

Though he was unhappy about that Randy knew John well enough to know that in the mood he was in he’d not be swayed.

John was taking control to ensure that the situation didn’t go too far, and he didn’t mind that one bit.

“I’ll show you where the baths are for the eldest students,” John said, “It’s just around the corner from here.” He then looked to Randy and said, “On second thoughts I think you’d best come for a bath as well.” He may be letting Mark touch soon but he wouldn’t touch where he’d touched already until it was clean.  
Randy nodded his head, “Very well.”

Motioning to Mark to go fetch a towel, John then headed after him to go to his own room and get his own. Randy appeared not long after him and the three made their way towards the bathroom.

It had been rather empty since the majority of people who had tried out had been in the years below unsurprisingly; many of the elders were either already on teams or had been told to cut back on sports to focus on their schooling before going into work...

John would like to see someone try to tell _him_ to give up sport; he’d have a few choice words for them. Moving to a bath John turned the taps on and then began stripping out of his gear without hesitation.

Randy had seen him naked countless times, and Mark would see it soon after all.

Why be shy now?

It was just silly to consider.

Mark watched every second of John stripping off his clothes. He had to see just what Randy got every night, and, well, he wanted to see what _he_ would be getting later on. 

John could feel both pairs of eyes upon him as he stepped out of his shorts and undergarments. A lot of boys wrapped towels around themselves, but John didn’t often bother with that, even when he was using the public baths on a regular basis in his younger years. Bending over just slightly, he checked the water temperature and adjusted it a little as he allowed the tub to fill a little longer. “Well, what are you two waiting for?” John asked, as they had yet to begin filling their own tubs. 

At John’s prompting, the other two moved to their own tubs and began filling them before stripping out of their own clothes. John had to admit, he was impressed with Mark’s physique. It did piss him off, though, when Mark made the comment, “It’s nice to actually see the _rest_ of you, Randy.”

“The same can be said about you,” Randy replied. 

John stepped into his tub after turning off the taps and muttered, “You’re something else, Randy.”

“What? Don’t say that you wouldn’t take him up on his offer… especially since you _are_.”

“I can still change my mind,” he said. “You’d only known the guy for, what? Two hours?”

“And you’ll have known him for less than twenty-four,” Randy countered. 

“To be fair, he did say you weren’t exclusive to one another,” Mark chimed in. While he did want them both, he didn’t want to break up some longterm couple. 

“He’s not lying,” John said. “But—”

“And don’t say we hadn’t discussed it beforehand, either,” Randy cut him off. 

“You talked about me before you even met me?” Mark asked, now getting into his own tub.

“A little bit,” Randy answered, lowering himself down into his tub, picking up the soap to begin washing himself off.

“Without meaning any sort of offence,” Mark mused, “You two are possibly the oddest couple that I have ever met.” Not that he’d met many boys who were serious about each other.

“We’ve been told,” Randy mused, recalling that indeed the people who knew about them being serious generally said the same thing, if not precisely in the same words they certainly alluded to it with what they _did_ say. John reached for his own soap, thoroughly rubbing the lather into his skin to remove the sweat and grime that he had accumulated from the field; it was drier after the rain the other day, but still a bit damper than he liked. He’d have to remember to put his kit in the hamper ASAP.

“If you don’t mind my asking,” Mark started, unsure what it was about these two in particular that peaked his interest, but finding himself wanting to know more about them, especially in light of what he was planning to do with them later, “How long have you two actually been _together_?” he looked between them.

Randy help up a finger, “Now, do you mean _together_ as in a couple or _together_ as in sexually involved?”

“Both,” Mark responded without a moment’s hesitation.

“We’ve known each other essentially since birth almost,” Randy mused, “So you can’t really define too clearly how long we’ve known each other,” he then paused.

He was well aware that Mark was eager for him to keep going, so he was teasing him, but he was also making sure John was listening in as well.

Which he was even if he was currently acting completely unaffected by it.

“We’ve been sexually involved for about seven years now, give or take a few months,” he finished.

Mark couldn’t help his jaw dropping slightly--- and he thought _he’d_ been a quick learner.

“Eleven?” he asked, “You were eleven?”

“Technically I was ten,” Randy pointed out with a nostalgic smile on his face.

John couldn’t help but smile a little himself as he rinsed the suds from his body; they had been so naïve then.

“You were fucking him when you were _ten_?” Mark asked.

“Well, no, we weren’t fucking then,” Randy told him. “But we were kissing and touching each other… and if I’m not mistaken, we were sucking each other. But I lost my virginity when I was twelve.” 

Again, Mark looked shocked. “You were _twelve_?”

“Yes. John was thirteen. Why? How old were you?” Randy asked. 

“Fourteen. Lost it to the girl that lived next door to me when her parents were hosting a party. Like you, we’d been touching and fooling around for _years_ and then we finally did the deed. The first time with a boy was when I went back to school later that same year.”

“My, my, you were a late starter,” Randy teased. 

“And I’ve never been as serious with anyone as you two are with each other,” he then added. “Earlier Randy said that you’re not exclusive to one another, but there are things you won’t do with others?”

John answered, “Well, we’ve never actually said that we won’t have sex with other people… I’ve only ever been with one other person before, and it was just one time and it was with a girl. Other than that… I’ve never actually _wanted_ to sleep with anyone other than Randy.”

“Same here. Well, ok, there are some people that I wouldn’t at all mind fucking, I just haven’t.”

“So, let me get this straight. You’ve only ever fucked one another, except for one time with a girl in your case,” he said looking at John. “Yet you’ll suck other guys and let them suck you?”

“Yes,” they replied at the same time. 

“You two are an interesting pair, indeed. I don’t think there was anyone at my old school that acted like you two… if there was, it didn’t stop them from fucking around.”

“What can we say?” John intoned drolly, “We’ve always been special.”

Of course that then begged the question which Mark next asked—and Randy had to admire the boy’s gall not to be too cowed by them in a more vulnerable situation such as bathing, and to keep the conversation going. “Why are you willing to indulge me then?” he asked.

“ _He_ is willing to indulge you,” John pointed out, “I am willing to indulge him.” And if that just seemed to suit his ends as well then so be it. “Speaking of which… what _exactly_ is it that you want?”

Mark paused a moment before looking directly at John.

Something about this boy made him want to gain approval, even though one might think that was a lost cause considering that he was intending to fuck his lover. “I want to fuck Randy,” he said, licking his lips.

“I thought so,” John said, glancing at Randy who grinned unabashedly.

“I have no qualms with that,” he admitted easily.

Mark fought a triumphant grin; he had to admit he had thought it would have taken much longer to reach this point, or that John would have put his foot down. Before he could get too jubilant though John held up a hand in clear indication that they should both hold on.

“Ground-rules,” John said in all seriousness and Mark wanted to whine; he had never liked rules.

However, he respectfully nodded in acknowledgement.

“First and foremost--- you’re _clean_ right?” John’s eyes narrowed and Mark nodded fervently; he was completely and utterly healthy in _that_ respect. John’s gaze remained suspicious for a moment before he relaxed.

“And second, most importantly, you _do not_ come inside of him.” That was something that _only John_ got to do, the situation applying in the reverse as well of course.

“That sounds fair,” Mark said, eyeing up Randy (at least what he could see of him from above the rim of the tub). 

“You’re sure you’re ok with this?” Randy then asked. He had to admit, the thought of getting fucked by someone else other than John after never having fucked another person was somewhat thrilling, but completely and utterly nerve-wracking. 

“I…” he paused for a moment, then started over, “I think so.”

“Because if you’re not sure about this, we don’t have to do it,” Randy told him. “At least not so soon,” he added. Because he really _did_ want to be with Mark. 

As reluctant as he was, Mark nodded his agreement. There was no denying that he wanted Randy, and he certainly wouldn’t complain if John joined in the fun, but if John wasn’t completely sure, then he didn’t know if he could get Randy at all, aside from maybe another blowjob or two. 

“No… I’m good,” he said. After all, they were planning on (well, were hoping to, anyway) having sex with DiBiase and Runnels at some point in the near future. Besides, Randy hadn’t ever had sex with anyone else whereas he had. It seemed fair. 

“You’re sure, John?” Randy asked. 

“Yes.”

“Ok… ok,” Randy said. “And what are you going to do while this is happening?” he asked, still looking to John.

“I’m not too sure yet,” he answered. Someone else was going to be fucking the man he loved… there was no way he could sit out on the sidelines and simply watch that happen. No, if it was going to happen, he was going to be right there… he just wasn’t sure how he was going to get involved.

Before too long the three of them were draining their bath-tubs and exiting them, drying with their towels briefly before then wrapping them around their hips as they made their way towards their rooms. “I’ll see you both during dinner,” Mark said.

“Until then,” Randy nodded, waving him off. He then glanced to John, “You not coming back to my room?” he asked.

“I don’t think I have any clean clothes left in your room,” John said.  
Randy pouted but then nodded before saying, “Come to my room as soon as you get dressed,” John nodded in return before going to his own room, finding no Phil.

He would have thought this was unusual but since there was no stack of books on the other’s bedside table he immediately assumed that the other had merely sequestered himself in the library as he sorted out tomes that he had yet to read… though John doubted they even existed, he had to have read everything.

Once he had changed into his uniform John made his way across to Randy’s room; they had some time before dinner and he had told the other that he would go along after all. Knocking he then let himself in, finding Randy dressed as well.

“Are you really Ok with it John?” Randy asked after John had made himself comfortable on his bed as usual.

“If I didn’t know better I’d think you were having second thoughts.”

“I’m not… I just don’t want you getting pissed at me afterwards.”

“I’m not… I’m just still trying to figure out how I can be involved, that’s all.” He found Mark attractive, but not to the degree that Randy apparently did, and so he wasn’t too sure he’d do that much to _him_ per se, but maybe if he focused his attention on Randy… He was startled from his thoughts when lips suddenly pressed into his own.

Pulling back from the kiss, when Randy decided that John was well and truly shocked into silence, he said, “Stop thinking so much. I think we’re all a bit nervous here, but you seem uncharacteristically nervous.”

“Well… I don’t want to just sit around and do nothing but watch while someone else fucks you,” he mumbled. 

“No one’s saying that’s what you’re going to do. You won’t be able to predict how this is going to happen, can you? So… just wait until it happens and then, once it’s actually happening, do whatever it is your body tells you to do.”

“What if he starts fucking you and I realize too late that I don’t want to see it happen?” John asked. 

“I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out before then if you’re not going to enjoy it,” Randy told him. “You know, you both could fuck me,” he suggested. 

“I don’t know if I’d want to take turns like that.”

“You don’t have to take turns,” he said. At John’s quirked eyebrow, he elaborated, “You could both do it at once.”

John’s eyes grew wide. “Both of us _at once_?” he asked. He’d heard tell of boys doing that before, some of the older boys when he’d been a few years younger, but he didn’t really know if he believed them, or not. He’d also heard them talking about being with girls who took one up the ass and one in the pussy and that he found a bit more believable. 

“It’s just a suggestion,” Randy said. “I don’t know if it’d make you feel more comfortable about things, or…” he trailed off, shrugging. 

“I can’t imagine _you’d_ be very comfortable if that happened,” John told him. “Though I’d probably do that to Mark with you,” he then admitted. 

“You would?”

It was John’s turn to shrug. “I think… I just don’t want to hurt you doing something like that.”

“Well, remember, it was just a suggestion. Doesn’t mean you _have_ to do it.” He paused for a moment, then said, “You could always fuck me once he’s pulled out… that way someone could come inside me.”


	46. Chapter 46

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their intellects. A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies. ~ Oscar Wilde

Unable to help himself John couldn’t help the playful chuckle of, “You’re such a cum-slut.” Randy smirked back and poked John’s chin with his index finger and chided, “Says the boy with the mouth made for blow-jobs.”

“I don’t swallow for just anyone,” John reminded and Randy nodded, stroking John’s cheek, “I know that,” he assured.

It was the little things like not swallowing for many people respectively, or not letting anyone else cum inside of them respectively, that further cemented the feelings they had for one another and the strength of their (rather unusual) relationship.

“We’ll see what happens,” John eventually conceded. Maybe his problem really _was_ that he was overthinking it...

And it wasn’t often he got accused of overthinking things.

“Exactly,” Randy nodded.

“I was serious about the you-fucking-me-after bit though,” Randy said pointedly and John wrapped his arms around the other’s middle as he kissed him.

“I know baby, and I won’t leave you wanting, I promise…” when he came inside Randy it was a sure-fire way to draw a second climax from him.

“Thanks for being alright with this,” Randy said. And, despite John’s hostility he knew his lover was really alright with it.

“It’s fine,” John said, thinking it was fair to even their number of sexual partners up, even if one of his was a female and so therefore somewhat different.

“I’ll make it up to you,” Randy said, knowing John wasn’t getting as much out of this as him.

“You don’t need to do that, silly…” John said, thinking that it would probably be a potential situation concerning himself and the young DiBiase if he and Randy succeeded in their double-seduction; the younger man topping he meant. He didn’t hold much stock by gossip but it was safe to assume that the blonde was still a virgin in the _back-door_ respect.

And he’d never force the younger to give up _that_ to him; he might be a sporty, no-nonsense guy, but even he understood how much trust, and how special the moment should be when you give _that_ part of yourself to another.

“Hey, you look like you’re thinking again… you always look pained when you start thinking too much,” Randy teased. 

“Oh… well, I wasn’t thinking about Mark, actually… but I _was_ thinking about Runnels and DiBiase,” he told him. 

“What about them? We’re working on them, right? I mean… it looks like it won’t be an issue. We’ll just keep moving slow, though. Especially with Ted.”

“I know… I know that. I was just thinking about what would happen if, no, _when_ our plan comes through.”

“Easy. We fuck them. Maybe teach them a thing or two,” Randy said. 

“For some reason, though, I doubt Ted would be ok with me fucking him… since I don’t think Cody’s even had that chance,” John told him. He knew that Randy felt the same way about losing his virginity. Hell, Randy was potentially the most sought after boy in the school and he’d never actually slept with anyone else aside from John. 

“Well, just stop thinking about it. First, you don’t know that for sure,” Randy said, though he thought the same thing. “And secondly, maybe by the time we actually succeed, Cody _will_ have had that chance.”

“Would you be ok with bottoming to Cody?” John asked.

He hesitated with that one for a moment. “I don’t think I’d feel right about it if he hadn’t fucked Ted first.”

“Would you be ok with me bottoming to Ted?”

“Yes,” Randy answered. “Though, damn, I would love to see what you look like while you’re fucking someone else,” he then told him. “I see your face all the time, but I’d love to be able to look at your body while you’re fucking somebody.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “I think it’d be a very attractive sight, indeed.”

John chuckled, then said, “We could both fuck Cody if that’s still the case.”

“We’ll just have to wait and see.”

~~~

The sneeze Cody gave echoed around the bathroom, drawing the attention of their friends--- those in tubs and out.

“Someone’s talking about you,” Heath pointed out even as he subtly seemed to be scoping as much of Joe in the bath-tub as he could without being caught by Windham.

Windham was currently washing his hair though and so wasn’t seeing what the redhead was currently attempting.

“Sad thing is that’s probably true,” Cody muttered, glancing down to the smooth muscle of Ted’s back which he had insisted on scrubbing for him.

The cat-calls they received had Ted blushing but Cody merely smirked.

“Are your ears burning?” Cody asked; generally when people were talking about him Ted ended up being in the conversation somewhere. Of course they were all just making jokes regarding the superstition and didn’t genuinely believe that they were being spoken about… though as Cody had said there was every chance this was true.

“No,” Ted yawned slightly, still a little embarrassed that Cody was doing something so intimate before their group of friends as a whole (at least with Justin they could expect discretion and a blind-eye being turned if needed) but also quite contented.

He was so damned _tired_ now that the adrenaline from before had worked away that even if someone had been playing a tuneless trumpet in his ears he probably wouldn’t have batted so much as an eyelash regarding the noise.

Clucking his tongue slightly Cody then rinsed Ted’s back off.

“Is everyone finished now?” Justin asked, thinking that Joe, Ted and Windham had to take the longest baths known to man.

“Jeez, what’s your hurry?”

“He’s just hoping to see Wade with that bedroom hairstyle…”

“How do you know what his bedroom hair looks like?” Justin’s eyes narrowed.

“Easy tiger,” Heath held his hands up, “It’s just a guess.”

Justin looked away with a blush, realising he’d been rather obvious there.

“I bet Justin _loves_ being the one to get Wade’s hair looking like that,” Cody chimed in, earning himself a glare. 

“I think we can stop talking about Wade now,” Justin then said. 

“Oh, but it’s so much fun talking about it,” Joe said. “It gets you so wound up.”

Cody butted in yet again when he said, “Maybe we should talk about Win and Heath to get _you_ all wound up.”

“How about we talk about you and Ted?” Joe asked. 

“You can talk about us all you’d like.”

“No! No, they can’t do that!” Ted protested. “At least not while I’m still here… I can’t listen to that.”

“How about we just not talk about any of our sex lives?” Justin suggested. “I think that sounds like a brilliant idea! Let’s do that!”

“You’re such a party pooper,” Heath muttered. 

“Look, I’m just going to leave if you’re still not ready and out of your damn baths,” Justin said. 

“I, for one, am quite content in taking my time,” Cody said, continuing to wash Ted, even though it was most assuredly already clean. 

“Fine. I’ll just meet you all back in the common room, or something…”

“Why not just go see Wade now?” Heath asked him. 

“It’s a school day and it’s still during his office hours. One of our rules is that I don’t go see him when someone could still have or make an appointment to see him,” Justin told them. “It just lessens our chances of being discovered.”

“That’s pretty shitty,” Windham said, giving his hair one last rinse to make sure he got all the shampoo out.

“You’re telling me,” Justin replied. “Hopefully I’ll see him later, though…” As much as he didn’t want to admit that Heath was right… he had to admit that Heath was right.

“You should just go and see him sometime after dinner,” Cody prompted, finally stopping washing Ted’s back with reluctance.

Ted mumbled a shy thanks as he accepted his towel from Cody and stood.

“We’ll just have to see,” Justin repeated.

The group split up to their respective threes to go back to their rooms and get ready, saying they’d meet up again before dinner.

As Cody watched Ted dress (shamelessly doing so and ignoring the slight eye-roll he noticed Justin send him out of the corner of his eye) he found himself thinking back to earlier on the pitch when Randy had been speaking to him about... _that_.

It was probably the most amount of words he had exchanged with the Head Boy _ever_ , but something in Randy’s tone had had him thinking...

He sounded almost as though he were _inviting him_ to seek him out again.

And he’d do it--- so long as Ted was alright with it, and he figured it’d take a bit more than straightforward asking to assure that happening.

That thought though had him thinking back to the way John had been with _Ted_ before--- that was more than a causal touch.

And _he_ should know; he’d been using touches like that on Ted for years in the hope of spurring him into doing _something_. It was definitely worth thinking about.

“You look like you’re in pain Cody,” said a voice suddenly, pulling the actor from his thoughts abruptly.

“That’s the expression he gets when he’s thinking hard,” Justin snipped with a cheeky grin. Cody stuck his tongue out.

“Oh hush the pair of you,” he waved their comments off.

Justin let the matter go, getting one of his books to do some homework before dinner.

Ted, however, couldn’t shake the matter off so easy.

He didn’t see _that_ thoughtful look on Cody’s face often.

Once Ted was dressed completely, he sat down on his bed, keeping his eyes on Cody as he took out one of his books to attempt to do some work. He had something in mind, of that he was certain. He just didn’t know _what_. There were a lot of things that Cody could get that look over, and Ted didn’t know if that was a good thing, or not. 

“Ted, what are you working on?” Justin asked. 

“Hmm? Oh, math,” he answered. “Why?”

“Just wondering. Have you done question two yet?”

“No, still working out one,” he said. It wasn’t often that Justin had to ask for help in math… though Ted was sure that if Justin couldn’t figure it out, he sure as hell wasn’t going to be able to. 

“Ok. Well, once you finish it, let me know what you got. I just want to see if I did this right.”

“My answer won’t be anything to go by, though, that’s for sure.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine… I think I’ve got this figured out, but I’m not completely sure on it. That’s why I needed to check.”

“I don’t know why you two put yourself through that math class,” Cody said from his own desk. 

“I do like to challenge myself,” Justin told him.

“Please, I’d much rather challenge myself in the theatre than in the classroom… taking on a role that truly pushes me as opposed to figuring out the square root of pi divided by the nth power,” Cody said. “There are far more interesting things in life than a math course.”

“That doesn’t stop me from liking to challenge my own mind… I’d probably pass out if I ever ended up on stage,” Justin replied. “I’m much more suited towards classroom work.”

“I think you’d be good on stage,” Cody commented from where he was flicking through what Ted assumed to be his latest script, “I mean, you’re so _exotic_ compared to the rest of us.” Justin blinked and blushed, having that same confused look on his face that he always had whenever someone mentioned his race, albeit genially and not negatively.

“What has that got to do with acting ability?” he asked.

“It doesn’t,” Cody looked amused, “But you’d make a convincing concubine if we put you in the right outfit… Here, that may be a good thing to try and see; I’m sure that Wade would like to see it.”

Justin’s face exploded in a blush, “You--!”

Cody didn’t look contrite in the slightest as per usual.

Sighing, Ted shook his head a little, “Cody, really?” he asked and Cody sent him an innocent look as though asking ‘what?’

“I’m just stating fact,” Cody said in protest of Ted’s look, “Really, you two are so uptight sometimes.”

“On the contrary,” Justin said dryly, “You theatre types are just too free.”

Ted nodded his head; he couldn’t deny he’d thought the same.

“Peons,” Cody tutted, the three then falling into silence as they eventually got into their work.

Even as they met up with Joe, Heath and Windham before heading down to dinner Ted found himself still wondering about what Cody was thinking about. He didn’t know why it was bothering him so much but… he really couldn’t be at ease with the matter until he knew.

However, there was no chance to ask him since they weren’t alone and he’d rather not have such a conversation in the open—sometimes they as friends were all too open with each other.

“Ted, you look wound up,” Windham said from across the table, shoving a forkeful of food into his mouth. Those tryouts had been quite the workout and he was _starved_. 

“Huh?” Ted turned to Windham, realizing that he’d been spoken to, and, knowing that he couldn’t say what he was so wound up about, simply said, “Can’t stop thinking about the tryouts.”

“Weren’t you the one who wasn’t even going to tryout?” Cody asked him, nudging his arm gently. 

“Yeah, well… now that I _have_ tried out, I’d like to know if I met people’s expectations,” he said.

“Oh, I’m sure you did,” Cody said, giving him a quick wink. 

Joe and Windham nodded, missing the wink Cody gave. “You heard what they said about Orton saying that Cena’s looking for us young guys! We’ve got this in the bag,” Joe said with confidence. 

Ted smiled at him and tried to get himself to stop thinking about Cody and whatever it was he could possibly have on his mind.

Looking from Ted then towards the door, Cody saw John, Randy and that hulking man of a new student behind them. Cody refused to believe that there wasn’t some sexual undertones to their chat in the bleachers. Even Justin could see that there was _something_ happening there. Were Cena and Orton actually the ones that were pursuing them?

Seeing the three upperclassmen entering the dining hall, Justin asked, “How’d that big guy do in tryouts?”

“He seemed pretty impressive, actually,” Joe answered. 

“I thought I heard him say that he used to play for our rival school,” Windham added. 

“Oh, really?” Justin asked. He’d have to ask Wade to try and learn a little more about him. 

“Yeah. They’ve got a good team… or they _had_ a good team, but if he makes it onto our team with the three of us? I think we’ll be golden,” Joe said. 

Cody hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of the trio.

~~~

Though Mark seemed as composed and at ease on the outside as his companions did, internally he was beyond excited. Neither John nor Randy had told him they’d changed their minds upon them meeting up again, and so he was sure that that meant he was going to be getting what he wanted… and very soon indeed. He had to fight the urge to smirk.

“I’m so hungry,” John commented ruefully and Randy looked amused; how many times a day did he hear John say that? “John, you’re _always_ hungry,” he inputted with a grin.

“I’m a growing boy,” John retorted without any heat and a slight smile working his own lips. Mark noted that this must be a bit of banter that they had between them quite often, since it seemed automatic between them.

“Are you a big eater, Mark?” Randy asked, and though the question was innocent the look in his eyes was _not_.

“Oh yes,” he swallowed, licking his lips slightly as he held Randy’s eyes, “I’ve been told I have quite the appetite.”

The three of them picked up trays and joined the line, the hall having already begun to get full it seemed; try-outs increased appetites and thus everyone was attempting to get in to eat as soon as possible.

He could only imagine how much the school’s food bill amounted to.

When they had gotten their food they made their way across to an empty table, sitting down. It was pure coincidence that that table happened to be in the line of view of Cody and Ted.

John made sure to send Ted an encouraging and warm smile when he caught the blonde’s eyes, whereas Randy slipped Cody a subtle wink.

Just because they had acquired a momentary partner didn’t mean that they could slack off on their main objective.

They didn’t have long left in school after all, time was running out.

Ted seemed surprised to be acknowledged, but offered a tentative smile back alongside a nod.

Cody recovered much quicker, sending Randy was of his most charming smiles albeit swiftly.

Every other one of their friends missed the exchange totally.

“Cody, after dinner, do you think you and I could have that little chat?” Justin asked, leaning over to speak into Cody’s ear so no one else could hear him.

Of course, that had to be the time that Heath looked up at them. “What are you two whispering about over there?” 

“Nothing important,” Justin answered. 

“Yes, he was just telling me how he can’t wait to get together with Wade later tonight and muss up his hair even further,” Cody said.

Justin blushed bright red, but had to be thankful that Cody didn’t tell them all that they were going to talk. Their friends were terribly nosey and loved hearing everyone else’s business. Of course, he didn’t always appreciate them talking about him and Wade all the time, either. 

“Yeah, well, I think we all had that one figured out already,” Heath said, returning his attention back to his dinner. 

“Hey, umm, when’s your next concert?” Justin asked, ready to change the subject.

“Not for a little while. It should be the week before we break for our winter holiday,” he told him. 

“And what instrument will we get to hear you play this time around?”

“I’m working on a few different instruments for several pieces,” Heath said. “I’ll definitely be playing flute and clarinet and I’m hoping to have learned the French horn by then, as well.”

“Wow. That’s quite impressive,” Justin said. “When did you start playing the French horn?” He hadn’t heard Heath talking much about picking up another instrument. 

“Earlier this month. My instructor said he wanted to see if his most gifted student was interested in learning to play his favorite instrument.”

“And when he said no, your instructor asked you?” Cody teased.

“Hey, watch it Mr. Leading Female Roles in Every School Play.”

“At least it’s the leading female role,” Cody replied. 

Heath ignored him as he went on, “So, of course, I said yes and I’ve been working with the horn for the last few weeks.”

“Impressive,” Windham commented absently; he had never really been very musical, though part-and-parcel like those of his generation he had been forced to try.

His hands were too clumsy for the piano but perfect for rugby and football goalie, though his parents’ disappointment had been paramount.

“I try,” Heath said with a mock incline of the head. Of course he didn’t have the same flare that Cody did for the gesture.

They fell quiet as they finished their meals, all getting up as one to take their trays back and then head out of the hall.

“I’m knackered,” Joe yawned, stretching.

“I’m not surprised,” Heath patted him on the back and grinned as he leant into him, “You only had your first rogering the other night; the first is always the most tiring.”

As expected Joe’s face flushed bright crimson and he swiped a hand at the other, Heath dodging aside nimbly since the athletes were now pretty tired from their earlier activities showing their prowess off on the field. On their way upstairs Justin shot Cody a pointed look.

He actually _meant_ that he wanted to talk to him about… _that_ situation. It was just… something about it didn’t sit right with him.

_He was mildly concerned that if Cody was targeted by someone else then Ted wouldn’t take it well._

Little did he know that _Ted_ was in someone’s sights in his own right.

In the common room Windham ended up breaking out his pack of cards, setting up a game. They still had some time before curfew but none of them wanted to be doing any homework.

Except for Justin and Ted that was but that was to be expected.

“Shouldn’t you be heading off to you know where soon?” Heath asked Justin after a little while and Justin sighed, “If you would all take _less_ interest I’d be so happy.”

“We just want to make sure our little Jus-Jus is Ok,” Heath simpered.

The name was one a girl from their sister-school had pegged him with when she met him.

“I could so hate you all sometimes,” Justin sighed.

“You could, but you don’t,” Heath said with a grin. 

“Most of the time I don’t,” Justin muttered. He looked back to Cody, having no idea how to get him out of the room so they could have that talk that Cody promised him earlier in the day. 

“I’ll take it,” Heath told him. 

“You know, I can’t work in here like this,” Justin said suddenly, shutting his book. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Windham asked from across the room at one of the tables. 

“There’s just too much going on right now.”

“Well, that’s the perfect excuse to go see… you know who,” Joe teased. 

“And this is why I want to get out of here. Cody,” he said, turning to his roommate, “will you come with me to the library?” he asked. 

Cody’s face sunk a bit. “What? Why?”

“Did you already forget that you were asking for my help in your homework?” Justin raised an eyebrow at him, hoping that he got the hint. 

“Oh… right… I did forget about that,” he said, pouting. As he grabbed his books, he asked, “Do we have to do this now?”

“Yes, because your homework’s due tomorrow.”

“Fine,” Cody said, huffing a bit in protest as he followed Justin out of the common room. “Was I convincing enough?” he asked once the door was shut and they were down the hall a bit. 

“Yes, Cody, you were,” he said. 

“I take it this is about everything that happened earlier?” They were down a quiet hall, but there was nowhere for them to really stop and talk yet, so he continued in a low voice, “Me saying I’d sleep with other people… Then the tryouts?”

“You are a smart boy, aren’t you?”

“You should know by now sarcasm doesn’t work on me.”

After all Cody was a master of utilising it.

“Point taken,” Justin said glibly, not put off by Cody’s response. Noticing an empty classroom Justin tried the door, found in unlocked and then motion for Cody to follow him inside. He perched on a nearby desk.

“So, let’s start with the ‘sleeping with other people’ part,” Justin said pointedly.

“It’s nothing that complicated…”

Seeing Justin’s look Cody then sighed and said, “Really, Ted and I were talking about it, and I just said that of two boys I’d want to sleep with other than Ted, it’d be Orton and Cena.” He shrugged.

“And you _told_ Ted this?” Justin asked incredulously, jaw hanging open for a moment.

“Yeah,” Cody said, “He didn’t kick off if that’s what you’re thinking. In fact, I have the feeling that Ted feels the same way that I do,” he said.

“Ted wouldn’t let someone that wasn’t you sleep with him,” Justin protested after a long pause to let the information sink in for him.

“Maybe not to top him, no—“ Cody wouldn’t allow someone else to get there before him, “But you saw the way he was around Cena.”

Justin had to admit he was struggling to understand Cody’s reaction, “So what was it Orton said to you?”

Cody gave him a run-down of the conversation.

Justin’s eyes widened, “That sounds…”

“Exactly,” Cody responded with a nod.

“So you’d sleep with Orton and you think Ted’d sleep with Cena?”

When Cody nodded Justin asked, “But would you be OK with seeing that? Would Ted be OK with it?” Cody looked contemplative for a moment from where he was casually swinging his legs perched on his own desk, “I _really_ want to see Ted and Cena together.”

“You do?” Justin asked, really surprised to hear that. “How… how could you want to see him doing that with another person?”

“I know it sounds strange, but I really _do_ want to see it.”

“And how do you think Ted would feel about all this? You sleeping with someone else and knowing that you’d like _him_ to sleep with someone else, too?”

“That I’m a bit more unsure on… But you _saw_ him and John. And you saw the way that he reacted… I think he wants it, too, even if he can’t just admit it right now,” Cody said. 

“It’s taken you this long to actually get him to sleep with _you_ , though,” Justin said, knowing how long Cody had been pining after Ted.

“I know, I know… but now that he _has_ slept with me, maybe he’ll be a bit more open to being with other people,” Cody said, but he didn’t sound all that convincing, even to himself.

“Do you really think that?” Justin asked. 

“I don’t know… but I can hope it, at least, right?” 

“I can promise you, after being with Wade, I wouldn’t want anyone else… and I certainly don’t want to see him with anyone else. It’s bad enough knowing that he’s been with so many others before me…”

“They were all women, though, so it’s different… isn’t it?”

“I guess… but I sure as hell don’t want to see him with another man,” Justin told him. “And Wade would be so mad if I was with another man or woman. I really don’t know if Ted would be as ok with you both being with others as you are.”

“Doesn’t it seem like Cena and Orton are actually targeting us, though? I mean… from what I told you Randy was saying to me?” Cody asked. 

“It does… but I doubt even they get everyone that they want.”

“You reckon?” Cody hadn’t heard of many instances where the pair hadn’t turned people down, or when people had rejected them.

Sighing softly Cody then looked with some uncertainty across to Justin.

“Do you think I’m a bad person?” he asked. Already he got the feeling that many would assume he didn’t deserve Ted, and Justin was probably the same after what he’d confessed.

“No, no,” Justin responded immediately, genuinely meaning it; he didn’t think Cody was a bad person he just, had never been in that situation he supposed.

“I guess I’m just saying that you should be careful about the matter. You know how Ted reacts when he’s under pressure, especially when it comes to intimate matters.”

“Yes,” Cody sighed softly, “I’m well aware.”

“Just because I’m interested in other people physically doesn’t mean that Ted isn’t the one I don’t love the most,” Cody said, wanting to _really_ make sure that Justin didn’t misunderstand. Justin held up a hand, “I get it Cody.”

He didn’t doubt that Cody was wholly adoring of Ted.

“I’ll be careful,” Cody said after a few moments of silence had passed between them. He then looked to Justin, “Have you _really_ never been attracted to anyone else?” he asked him.

“Really,” Justin said honestly. It might seem unbelievable but it was true. He’d never had much interest in girls, and no boys in school had ever appealed to him. He supposed in some people’s eyes that would make him weird.

“If it’s about whether you’d appeal to other people…”

“That’s not what concerns me,” Justin responded back. He didn’t care if everyone in the world found him ugly as long as Wade wasn’t one of them.

“I really admire the depth of your love, Justin, really I do,” Cody said.

“Thank you,” Justin replied. He smiled as he thought of Wade. “He and I… we were meant to be with one another. How could I not love him so deeply and completely after all the things he’s done for me?”

“I know… you’re not lying to me when you say that you don’t think I’m a horrible person? I took Ted’s virginity days ago and I’m already talking about us sleeping with other people!”

“Cody. I wouldn’t lie to you. I know you love Ted more than anything. And, if I were to look at things from a different mindset, I think I can see where you’re coming from,” Justin told him. 

“Really?”

“Yes, really. It’s a bit like Joe with Heath and Windham… they just needed to get a few things out of their system before… settling down with one another, I suppose, for lack of a better term.”

Cody still looked guilty. “But I was fooling around before I got Ted, too… And now, here I am, still wanting to be with other people.”

“Maybe you’re not done getting it out of your system…” he suggested. 

“Well… why not? You’ve never done anything with anyone else, neither has Ted… and then there’s me.”

“Stop blaming yourself. You’ve just got this whole… I don’t know… this whole feel about you that’s so free and you have this sense of adventure… which is why I’m guessing you like being on the stage so much… but it’s a part of who you are.”

“So, what? Are you saying that I’ll never want to settle down? Or that I’ll never be happy with what I have?”

“I’m not saying that. Not at all… at least not for your entire life. But for right now? Yeah. You are only fifteen, you know. I don’t think anyone can blame you really for seeing what else is out there.”

“But what if I _am_ like this my whole life? And I’m never content in life and always end up looking for something else…” He supposed that was also part of the appeal of the theatre.

“Even if that’s the case… don’t you think Ted will be a constant in your life?” Justin asked him, giving him a serious look that said he firmly believed that.

“Well, yes, but…” if something happened to ruin this aspect of their relationship then something told him that they would never again retain the same sense of closeness between them that they’d had for forever.

“I’m such a horrible person,” Cody mumbled, drawing his legs to his chest as he scooted back on the desk a bit, resting his forehead on his knees. Justin sighed and stood up, moving towards him.

“You are not and you know it,” he said, gently but firmly, “Stop being silly.” He hopped up onto the desk beside Cody and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, “It’s not so bad, really.”

Cody leant into Justin on reflex when he felt the comforting arm; Justin had always had something of a soothing presence to him that was very hard to ignore, “You would say that.”

“I never say things for the sake of it,” Justin insisted.

He then continued, “Anyone with eyes can see how much Ted means to you, how much he’s always meant to you--- and you’re the one’s always insisted that sex and love are different.”

“They are different,” Cody responded immediately, “There’d be no feelings in it the way there are with Ted if I was to sleep with Orton!”

It was only that he admired and desired him, nothing more than that.

“Well, at least you understand that there’s some semblance of a line to draw between the two,” Justin nodded.

Sighing, Cody shrugged his shoulders; he couldn’t change who he was and how he felt, and if he was going to mess up then it was going to happen regardless of any efforts made by him to stop it. “We’ll just have to see, won’t we?” he asked.

As they made to exit the classroom Justin then nudged Cody, “You better not be this depressed when you come over to my house,” he was teasing of course.

A small smile came back to Cody’s face, “I can assure you I will be the epitome of charm, the most perfect house guest.”

Despite his reservations Justin had to admit he was looking forward to it… and for the chance for someone else to actually see how he and Wade truly acted around one another privately.

“I hope so. I will not have you moping around my house, debating whether you’re a bad person, when, clearly, you’re not,” Justin said. 

“Aye, aye, Sir,” Cody replied teasingly. 

“Well… I’m going to… go,” Justin then told him. “Do you think you could at least go to the library for a little bit and do some of your homework? At least up until the point where you’d get frustrated with me leaning over your shoulder and telling you how to do things. Then you can leave.”

Cody chuckled. He had lost count of the number of times he’d asked if Justin could help him, only to get frustrated with Justin telling him the steps when he didn’t do it fast enough. “That’d be the first question.”

“Ok, so… maybe do one more than that. Then just say you got fed up and left and that I went to go see…” he trailed off, because even though they couldn’t see anyone, they didn’t want to chance someone else hearing him.

“I can do that,” Cody said. 

“Thank you,” Justin said with a smile at him. 

They walked a little way together, since the library wasn’t that far off, and it was on the way to Wade’s office, anyway. “We talked for a while, remember that. So just do what you can. I’ll check it for you in the morning and see if you’ve got the answers right,” he offered. 

“Sounds good. Oh, and Justin?”

“Hmm?”

“Have fun,” he said, slipping him a wink before going into the library. 

Justin flushed slightly, but knew that he would, indeed, be having fun when he finally got to see Wade. 

“Going to tell me off for coming to see you again?”

“Since you’re out of my office hours, no.”

Justin laughed softly and approached Wade, settling on the headmaster’s lap the way he had been invited to. Instinctively he curled into the older man’s strong chest as he began to lightly comb his fingers through Wade’s curls, “Did you enjoy the try-outs today?” he asked.

“I did indeed; we seem to get better offerings every year. John will be hard-pressed to pick for definite.”

Justin just held back a snort; somehow he didn’t think it’d be _that_ hard.

“Your friends did very well, didn’t they?”

“Oh, yes, yes they did.”

“Do you think all three of them will make it?” Wade asked. He knew that they knew it was just a sport… but it was a highly competitive sport at an academy with a very good sports record, so if the three of them all didn’t make the team, he didn’t know how he’d be around the ones that did. 

“I think so,” Justin replied with confidence. “But then, it all depends on how many people John’s looking for.”

“You haven’t heard how many spots John’s looking to fill on the team?” 

“No. Why, have you heard?”

“No. I’m just the Headmaster, I don’t know anything,” Wade told him. Justin laughed a little and he went on, “You may laugh, but it’s true.”

“At least you know you can trust John to do what’s right for the sports teams,” Justin said, to which Wade nodded.

“Now then…” the headmaster looked mildly amused, “Though you show much support to your friends in their sporting endeavours I know that you personally don’t share in their interest, and as such I can deduce from that that you really didn’t just come and talk to me about their try-outs, correct?”

“Is that so bad?” Justin asked and Wade shook his head, offering him an immediate reassurance, “Of course not.”

“I know I’ve been visiting too often recently…”

And he couldn’t even explain _why_ to himself, but more and more recently the need to just _be_ with Wade was growing stronger and stronger.

“Angel, you know I love when you come to see me,” Wade murmured gently.

“But it’ll cause you some problems if someone takes notice of it…” Justin conceded reluctantly to his guardian and lover.

~~~

John, Randy and Mark had lingered behind in the dining hall for a while. Most people had already left and they did finish their food a little while ago, so their trays before them were empty. 

Mark looked between his two tablemates and asked, “So, John, when are we having our teamwork exercise?”

“Soon enough,” he answered. 

“This isn’t how you welcome everyone into the school, is it?” 

“No,” John said. 

“Though it’s not often we _do_ get someone new to the school. Especially when it’s partway into their final year,” Randy added. 

“You just happened along at the right time, I suppose,” John told him. 

Mark smirked. At his old school, he could (and did) have anyone he wanted. Now, somehow, in his very first day at his new school, he was going to have the one man he’d wanted since he first laid eyes upon him. 

Randy was tapping his finger impatiently against one of his football honed thighs, looking between John and Mark subtly. John was deliberately making them wait, and though it was frustrating it also added to the excitement.

It was probably something of a warning too; that John was the one who was existentially calling the shots here, and if Mark so much as put a toe out of line then he could halt everything.

“Shall we go then?” John asked with a deliberately innocent amicability once he felt his tea had settled enough for movement.

Rushing after a meal was bad for you, he insisted, and even told the teams the same.

“Yes,” Mark said, much too quickly to be anything but eager.

“Certainly,” Randy responded, as composed as ever.

“Come on then.”

John led the way out and then up towards the stairs. For a moment he hesitated; did he really want this taking place in _Randy’s_ room?

~~~

“How much did you get done?” Heath asked the split-second that Cody walked back into the common-room, pausing mid-game with Windham.

“Enough,” Cody responded with a shrug.

“Let me copy?” Heath asked, not looking the least bit surprised when Cody said no, “Worth a shot,” he grinned and then returned back to the game. Joe was on an arm-chair just away from them by the fire, fast-asleep it appeared.

Amused, Cody indicated him to Ted, “How long has he been out?” he asked in a low voice, though he wasn’t sure why given Heath had addressed him at his normal voice level and the sleeping boy hadn’t so much as stirred. Ted chuckled slightly, looking up from his book, “About half an hour.”

“Poor baby,” Cody cooed jokingly as he dropped onto the settee beside Ted, cushioning his head on the blonde’s shoulder without a moment’s hesitation, suddenly, more so than before just wanting to be close to him.

“You that tired, too?” Cody asked.

Without even thinking about it, Ted brought his hand up and began threading his fingers through Cody’s hair. “Close to it. But I’m not about to pass out completely. Still, if I laid down in bed, I think I could easily fall asleep.”

“Were your cricket tryouts that hard?” Cody asked him. 

“Not that I recall. Granted, cricket isn’t as physical, you know? And there weren’t as many people trying out,” he said, thinking back to two years ago when he tried out for and made the cricket team. 

“Think you’ll be this exhausted after the games?”

“Probably not right after, but a while after, yeah…”

Cody tilted his head up and whispered, “Well, that’s good, because Orton told me that they like to… _celebrate_ … after a big win.”

Ted, for a moment, didn’t react to his words.

And then, suddenly, as though he’d received a static electricity shock, Ted jumped and turned to look at him. The emotions available in the blonde’s eyes were momentarily rather difficult to discern from one another, even sat this close.

Confusion, disbelief, surprise… and was that jealousy? Intrigue?

“O-Oh,” Ted’s voice wavered slightly, low, but coming out a little bit higher than his usual timbre, “Is that right?” he asked and Cody nodded.

The ravenette nodded, still watching his expressions carefully.

“Apparently the _whole team_ celebrates together…”

This time panic was definitely at the forefront and Cody smiled slightly to himself; he probably shouldn’t have teased Ted like that but he couldn’t help it. “Personally I’d like something of a more _private_ celebration.” 

“Although Orton did also say that they _do_ have the occasional _private celebration_ ,” Cody went on. 

Ted swallowed hard, nervously. “I think you and I need to talk. Alone.”

“If you say so.” 

“Well, I hardly think that this is the place to be talking about…” Ted trailed off, trying to hide his blush. 

“About…?”

“About… what you’re implying.”

“Fine, then we’ll take this to our room. Is that better for you?” They both stood up, Cody following behind. When he figured they were far enough out of earshot, he said, “You know, orgies aren’t unheard of between sports teams. I’ve heard they’re pretty common, actually.”

“Cody!” Ted exclaimed before they’d even reached the door to their room.


	47. Chapter 47

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing ~ Oscar Wilde

“I’m your guardian, Justin. If you’re here, it’s no different than a student and his family.”

“Except that it _is_! It’s completely different! At least I should hope that no one’s sleeping with members of their own family,” Justin said. 

“But to the general public, I am your guardian, not your lover.”

“Well, people will always assume things… and though they’re _right_ … they’d assume it anyway, even if they were wrong.”

“Don’t let anyone else’s thoughts change this,” Wade said, running the back of his hand down Justin’s face. “I love seeing you here and having you here with me… I want you here with my whenever you decide to come here.”

“But I’m always here after hours, at night…”

“And I’m still your guardian and could need to speak to you about personal matters,” Wade reasoned, hoping to bring Justin a bit more comfort in coming to visit.

Justin still looked uncertain and Wade adjusted his grip on Justin to embrace him properly.

“I just don’t want to make unnecessary complications for you,” Justin whispered into Wade’s shoulder, feeling Wade’s strong arms squeeze his middle.

“The only way you’d do that is if you stopped coming to see me.”  
Justin knew that that was probably just a sweet embellishment to soothe him but he couldn’t help but feel pleased with it all the same.

“If you’re sure…” he said with some uncertainty.

“Absolutely,” Wade said, gently easing Justin back to see the younger man’s face, “Now are you going to give me a kiss and stop worrying?” he asked with a roguish grin and Justin giggled softly, brushing their lips together.

“Everyone likes your hair like this by the way,” Justin said, “And though I do to… I might have to ask you to go back to your gel when you’re going around school...”

Wade quirked his head to the side and smirked. “Weren’t you the on who _asked_ me to wear my hair like this in the first place?” he asked.

“Yes… but I wasn’t thinking that it’d cause such a huge stir amongst the student body.”

“Did it, really?”

“ _Yes_!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t think people would really pay that much attention… but they did.” He pulled at one of the loose curls before letting it go. 

“So you don’t like the fact that I get attention if I wear my hair this way?”

“It’s not so much that… well… I heard a lot of people saying that they imagine that’s your bedroom hair. And I don’t want them all knowing that they’re right.”

“I thought you did want everyone to see me like this.”

“I changed my mind. You did it once… now _please_ don’t do it again.”

Unable to help himself (because he _so_ loved Justin’s face when he pouted and looked insecure) Wade pretended to think on the request for a few seconds.

“Wade!” Justin protested, shaking his lover’s shoulder a little bit, “Wade, please, promise me.”

Laughing and catching the wrist of the hand that had been shaking his shoulder Wade then held it up to his lips and pressed a kiss to his wrist.

“Angel, Angel, please, calm down before you do yourself an injury,” he joked.

At Justin’s look he took the point to stop teasing him.

“I promise Angel; I won’t _not_ wear hair-gel now unless it is just you and I alone.”

“Thanks,” Justin said meekly.

Looking at his wrist-watch Justin then sighed, beginning to get off of Wade’s lap. “I should be heading back to my dorm…” curfew was rapidly approaching after all. 

“If you must,” Wade said, standing up with his young lover. 

“I’ll be back to see you again soon,” Justin promised him. “I can’t stand being away from you for so long.”

“You know you’re always welcome here.”

“As long as it’s after hours or I have an appointment time set up with you,” Justin added.

“Yes, well… that still leaves quite a bit of time for us.”

“I wish we could have more time,” Justin said, knowing Wade felt the same way. Yet again, he pulled gently on a loose curl, watching it bounce back up into shape when he let it go. “But at least I suppose I got to see you with bedroom hair today.”

Wade grinned his little crooked grin. “This is true, Angel. Next time, though, I want _you_ to be the reason my hair looks like this.”

“It’s a promise,” Justin said, waving to Wade before vanishing through the door, closing it securely behind him.

Leaning against the polished wood Justin sighed deeply.

No matter how much older he got he still hated leaving Wade’s rooms on a night, alone.

The trip back to the dorm was without incident he was pleased to report, though he was sure he had spotted Bryan Danielson patrolling down a corridor that was not usually his to look over. He’d shrugged it off though; he could have been asked to fill in.

It wasn’t unheard of for Prefects to get sick and have others cover their shifts, Justin thought to himself as he walked into the common-room.

Heath and Windham were there and Joe was still asleep.

“Don’t even start,” he warned the two as he moved to sit with them. 

~~~

He didn’t know where else it _could_ take place, though. He had a roommate and he was sure that Mark did, too. And the last thing he needed was for Phil to walk in on the three of them, or for Mark’s roommate walking in on the new student fucking Randy. It didn’t hurt to ask, though. “You have roommates?”

“There were two beds made up in my room, so I would assume so, but I haven’t met them,” Mark answered. 

Great. Mark hadn’t even _met_ his roommates. It had to be Randy’s room… in the bed which they shared nearly every night… He didn’t know if he could sleep on those same sheets knowing that someone else fucked Randy on them. There _had_ to be somewhere else this could take place. 

“John? Are you ok? Are you sure you’re ok _with this_?” Randy asked, noticing the look of uncertainty. He didn’t want to back out of this, but if John truly didn’t want it to happen, he wouldn’t do it… at least not yet. 

“No… I mean, yes, I’m sure I’m ok with this.”

Moving up beside John, Randy leant into his ear and whispered, “What’s wrong with you?” Mark lingered back, praying fervently that John wasn’t about to change his mind. He couldn’t imagine a worse cock-block than that right then. “I just…” John flushed slightly and then looked away, clearing his throat slightly.

“I don’t know if I would feel comfortable about sleeping in your bed again if someone else has fucked you on the same sheets.” Randy’s eyes widened slightly at the whispered admission but then he paused, thinking.

“Hang on a minute, I have an idea,” he said.

John and Mark were both equally confused as Randy suddenly headed off around the corner not returning for several long minutes.

“All sorted,” Randy announced when he returned, slightly breathless since he had been rushing, “Come on though, we need to hurry.” John and Mark looked at him but then fell into step with him, Mark the one to ask, “What exactly have you sorted out?” Randy tapped his nose, “You’ll both see.”

“Voila!” Randy said as they stood in front of a door. 

“Ok. Is this… the place?” John asked. 

“Yes. Remember at the beginning of the year, we were told someone had moved before the school year started? The kid that was supposed to be his roommate decided he didn’t want to live alone, for some godforsaken, unknown reason, so he was moved into another room with two of his friends. Which means… this room is empty. We’re not supposed to be here, though,” Randy said, unlocking the door. 

“How often do you think this room’s been broken into and used for some quick fuck?” Mark asked, looking around the bare room.

“Probably quite a bit,” Randy answered, shutting and locking the door. “I’ve never seen anyone using it, though, and whenever I’m on patrol, I always come by here and check. I always want to walk in on someone fucking in here.”

“You would, Randy,” John muttered, double checking to make sure the door was locked.

“Don’t pretend that you don’t harbour your own deviant side John,” Randy then returned.

“Nothing wrong with a little deviance,” Mark added in.

John moved away from the door when secure.

“Right, so…” John motioned to the bed and then moved to sit on the one adjoining it. Randy looked from John, to the bed, to Mark and then back again. Sure, John hadn’t known exactly _what_ he was going to be doing but he had thought it had been established between them that he was going to join in _somewhere_ along the line. John shrugged out of his blazer and then loosened his tie, sitting back in the chair.

“Are you not joining in?” Mark asked and John looked at Randy before then glancing to their momentary partner, “I will when I deem it time.”

Meeting John’s eyes Randy knew that he had permission to act as he wanted, and he knew that should something happen that crossed their boundaries regarding a third-party everything would be stopped. Ready to get started he pulled Mark into a kiss.

~~~

“What?” he asked as he opened the door. Ted fought the urge to groan; Cody _really_ could be _so frustrating_ sometimes.

“You…” Ted shook his head and followed him into their room, closing the door securely behind him.

“Do you not have any concept of time and place for a discussion, Cody?”

Cody rolled his eyes and dropped down onto his bed, looking at Ted expectantly.

“You’re so uptight.”

“I’m not getting involved in any orgies!”

“Not without me you’re not.”

Ted groaned and slumped onto his own bed. Cody got up after a few moments and moved to join Ted. “Teddy, seriously, what’s the big deal? It’s just a bit of fun, not serious…” Ted didn’t respond but Cody was well aware that he was listening to everything that he was saying.

“I know you remember that I’ve told you before that I’d fuck Orton… and Cena,” he added. “And that I told you, if I were ever to do that, it wouldn’t mean anything. I swear, Ted, after making love to you, how could anything even touch that?”

“I still don’t understand, though… how you’d even want to try,” Ted muttered. 

“I bet you do understand.”

Ted tensed up a little and said, “No.”

“I’m the last person that you should be lying to. I was watching you with Cena,” Cody told him. “And if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that _he_ was looking to have some fun with _you_.”

“I don’t—”

“Don’t say he wasn’t, Teddy… because he was. He was all over you.”

Ted’s lips pursed together stubbornly as he looked away from Cody. Cody, however, refused to be ignored for long and draped an arm over Ted’s middle and then shifted his weight over the other a little more, “Theodore,” he started, “Look at me.”

For a moment Ted managed to resist and then slowly his eyes met Cody’s again.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of; if anything you should be _flattered_.”

Ted snorted softly, “You’re just over-thinking things,” he insisted. Deep down though there was a small part of him that _was_ really flattered. Sure he had been approached a fair few times by many women, but this was different.

Cody was _the one_ for him, of course.

But Cena? Well… he _was_ attractive.

“I’m not. I know. I _saw_.” 

“Well… don’t you think that maybe you were… imagining some of these things that you saw?” Ted asked.

“No. I didn’t imagine _anything_. I know exactly what I saw… and Randy and Justin saw it, too. Ted, I swear to you, Randy and John… they know what they’re doing.”

“And, what, you’re saying that… that John’s _interested_ in me?” Ted asked him, sounding very nervous. 

“Yes! That’s exactly what I’m saying! John’s interested in you… he _wants_ you.”

“But what if I don’t _want_ any of that? Can’t I just… be with you?”

“Of course you can. If that’s _really_ what you want. But can I tell you something, Teddy?” he asked. When Ted nodded, he went on, “I wouldn’t at all mind if you got together with him… in fact… I… I rather like the thought of watching you two together.” He had no idea how Ted would react to that, he just hoped it wouldn’t be _too_ bad of a reaction.

Ted’s face went scarily blank and Cody mentally prepared himself for one of Ted’s stringent tongue-lashings.

After a moment though a little bit of life seemed to return to his statuesque lover and Cody watched as Ted took a breath and then held up a finger to silence Cody.

“I… Even _if_ Cena is interested in me, and I _might_ find him attractive, what makes you think I could do _that_ with him?”

Especially with Cody _watching_ , that just seemed so… so wrong in his mind.

“How can you want to see us _together_?” Ted asked his tone incredulous over all.

“Well, have you seen _you_?” Cody returned, “Have you seen _him_? You two would look magnificent together I’m sure.” Cocking his head to the side Cody then asked, “Have you not considered what I might look like with Orton?” He was sure that they would look rather fetching together indeed even if it was different in the way he appeared attractive with Ted. 

~~~

“Did I say anything?” Heath asked him. 

“Well, I’m cutting you off before you do.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Windham asked.

“God, it’s disgusting how nosey you people are. Doesn’t anyone mind their own business?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Windham repeated. 

Justin just rolled his eyes. “Is this some serious game you have going on? Can I join in?”

“I suppose. Even though you won’t let us say anything about your little visit with your little Wadey-kins.”

“Don’t ever call him that again,” Justin said, though he was rather amused himself. Changing the subject, he then asked, “What happened with him over there?” pointing to Joe on the couch.

“He crashed out. Adorable isn’t he?” Heath grinned.  
Windham’s cheek twitched lightly but otherwise he merely laid his next set of cards down.

“I win,” he announced and Heath’s attention shot towards the cards on the table in shock.

“The fuck?!” he yelped, “That’s impossible!”

He had been having winning hands all game long.

The sound of Heath going high pitch made Joe startle, jerking awake and almost falling out of his chair.

“Welcome back,” Justin mused as he watched Windham gathering the cards up, mixing them skillfully before beginning to deal to the three of them, Heath still throwing a wobbler about his sudden loss.

“I fell asleep?” asked a sleepy and confused Joe.

“You’ve been out for a while now,” Windham informed him. 

“And you just let me sleep here?” Joe asked, rubbing at his eyes. 

“What did you want me to do? Carry your ass into your bed? I don’t think so,” he said, looking back to his cards. 

“Some friend you are.” He groaned as he stood, stretching out his limbs that had cramped up from falling asleep where and how he had. 

“If we’d woken you up, you’d have bitched about that, too,” Heath told him, earning a snort of laughter from Justin and Windham. 

“That’s not true,” Joe protested. 

“Yes, it is,” all three of them found themselves saying at once. 

“I hate you all,” Joe muttered. 

“How can you hate anything after refreshing and rejuvenating yourself after a nice long nap?” Heath asked, which earned him a glare from Joe.

“You won’t sleep tonight now,” Justin pointed out lightly to him.  
Heath and Windham snorted lightly, though for two different reasons.

“Joe can get back to sleep no trouble at all,” Windham pointed out to Justin, “Trust me, I know that much about him.”

Heath however had a much more wicked smile on his face as he said, “I’m sure that Windham could do something to wear him out again.”

Justin fought laughter by masking it into a cough and hiding behind the cards he had in front of him. Windham and Joe both turned bright red.

“Is our sex life that interesting to you?”

“You are two of my best friends,” Heath returned innocently.

“I hate you all,” Joe mumbled again.

The banter was natural and easy between them, a few arguments breaking out now and again but nothing outside of their usual interaction limits. 

~~~

John watched as Randy engaged Mark in a kiss, watched as his lover’s hands tangled in another man’s hair… and while he watched he found himself getting turned on. He’d seen Randy kiss others before, though, especially when they were younger and were still under the older students’ wings. 

Mark’s hands were on Randy’s waist, beginning to pull the shirt out from where it had been tucked into his pants. At the first touch of his hand on Randy’s skin, both the other boys in the room heard the little hiss of breath he let out. When their first kiss broke off, Mark asked of John, “Are you sure you don’t want to join in now?” 

“I’m quite content right now, thank you,” John answered. 

“Does he enjoy watching the show more than performing in it?” Mark whispered into Randy’s ear before biting down on the lobe. 

“Mmm, no, I assure you, he’s an _excellent_ performer… he’s just waiting for his moment to join in.” He released his grip on Mark’s hair and began pulling Mark’s shirt out of his own pants, leaning in for another kiss while he did so. 

They were soon shirtless, shoes and socks being removed alongside belts. Even though it wasn’t his body Randy was touching John knew his lover’s modus operandi in this situation so well the phantom touch was attempting to inflame his own skin. The sight of another man’s hands on Randy was also rousing his jealousy as well as arousal.

But, he was holding that back; he knew how much Randy wanted this and he was a sucker for giving Randy what he wanted. Seeing that Mark seemed to be angling for Randy to get on his knees for him _again_ John felt like he should cut in.

“Get on your knees, Mark,” John instructed, the other male turning to look at him with a confused expression, as though he’d forgotten about him. John was completely unsurprised by this; Randy had that effect on people. “Fair’s fair, besides… You need to prepare him don’t you?” his brow arched.

Mark then nodded, “Yeah,” he directed Randy backwards to the bed and then removed his school pants, letting them pile on the floor.  
Randy met John’s eyes as Mark moved down his body and John quirked a smile.

Mark didn’t seem to be one to waste time in anything that he did. As soon as he was on his knees, he took Randy’s cock in his hand, stroking a couple times before his mouth opened and he began lowering himself down on Randy’s cock. “Oh, shit,” Randy groaned, bringing his hands back to Mark’s hair.

He continued his eye contact with John as best he could, though he had to admit it was difficult, because Mark really did have a talented mouth. John watched the little flashes of pleasure cross Randy’s face and he found himself even more aroused. 

“Goddamn, you know what you’re doing, don’t you?” Randy asked, fingers tightening further into his hair. 

“Mmhmm,” Mark said around his cock. He pulled off briefly and replied, “That’s what they tell me.” After a brief pause to slip his fingers into his mouth to coat them with saliva, he then went right back to work on Randy’s cock. Only now he reached between Randy’s legs with his saliva slicked fingers, feeling for his hole.

John could tell from the expression on Randy’s face when Mark had finally managed to press a slickened digit into Randy’s entrance. However, he knew what Randy wanted at that moment in time… and it wasn’t a slow and thorough preparation. “Go straight in with two,” John directed, knowing Mark could hear him.

“Fuck!” Randy hissed in pleasure as Mark heeded John’s advice and started to immediately stretch him as he allowed Randy to continue fucking his mouth. Randy did so like a man who could take directions. His hooded eyes alighted on John, begging without realising it but once again John shook his head.

Too soon to join in, but the second he sensed it he would be on that bed like a whippet and they all knew it.

When Mark added a third finger he finally found Randy’s prostate and Randy offered little warning at all before crying out as he shot his load right down Mark’s throat. John watched the other boy swallowing eagerly and smirked; Randy did taste good.

Mark rose to his feet, smirking at Randy before meeting him in a kiss, Randy able to taste himself on someone that was distinctly _not John_. When they broke apart, Randy said, “You really do know what you’re doing… even if you did start behind the curve,” he added as a little jab. 

“Mmm, I assure you, I know _exactly_ what I’m doing… I may have started later, but I’ve certainly fucked more people than you have.”

“That’s not too hard a feat to have accomplished,” Randy said. 

“What’s with all this chit-chat?” John asked from across the room. “We didn’t come in here to converse with one another, did we? No, I do believe we came in here so that you could fuck him.”

“You saying you want me to fuck him now?” Mark asked. 

John raised an eyebrow. “Well, I wasn’t saying I want you to cook him dinner, was I? Take your clothes off first, though,” he directed towards Mark, who still had his trousers on. 

Eying John slightly Mark then did as he was told and shrugged out of his pants; it would have been counter-productive not to in the end. His undergarments went down alongside them and soon Mark stood there as naked as Randy. Well, John supposed he could see the attraction physically.

Much like Randy and himself Mark didn’t have much to be ashamed of endowment wise… but John was still internally pleased that he was bigger.

“Get on your hands and knees, Randy,” John then ordered, “Facing me.”

Randy didn’t mind that position at all, and facing John (and the implications of what John might do before him if he did) was also no problem. He figured he knew the reason John had actually picked it though.

_Mark taking him from behind further minimised any intimacy beyond the sexual._

“Well?” John asked as Mark remained stood there, almost as though he was next waiting for orders. “He won’t wait there forever--- fuck him.” Mark almost scrambled to get behind Randy.

Once behind Randy, Mark gave his cock a couple quick strokes, though with Randy before him, naked and waiting, he knew he hadn’t softened a bit. He grabbed Randy’s hip with one hand, aligning his cock to Randy’s hole with the other. 

John and Randy looked at one another, a silent conversation passing between them. ‘ _Are you sure you still want this?_ ’ Randy gave a brief nod. _Are you sure you’re still ok with this?_ ’ John nodded. 

He didn’t look away from Randy’s face for a split second, not even blinking as he watched Mark enter him. He’d seen Randy’s face before, the way it would tense up, only relaxing once John was fully inside him… but to be watching it from head on, seeing Randy’s _entire body_ reacting to being taken was something new entirely. And he had to admit, it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. Mark wasn’t trying to claim possession over Randy, nor was he attempting to become competition for John… he was just fucking Randy. 

Between the thoughts of how good it felt to have Mark’s cock in him, Randy did have little flashes, thinking how odd it was to _not_ have John inside him. But he was watching John, could see the tenting in his pants and how his hand went to undo his trousers so he could pull himself out. He saw just how hard John was from the sight alone and _damn_ did he want that cock in his mouth. But instead, John sat there, watching and stroking his cock.

Seeing the way that Randy licked his lips as his eyes focused on his cock made John’s lips quirk into a slight smile. It was probably an odd time to be thinking such a sentimental thing, but he didn’t care: he really did love Randal Keith Orton.

The sound of flesh slapping against flesh started up quickly and John spread his legs a little wider to give himself more room to work as he watched Randy’s body beginning to rock back and forth with the force.

Mark’s hands were tight on Randy’s hips as he thrust into him, biting his bottom lip and groaning low in his throat; even if he didn’t know the true extent of these two’s relationship he wouldn’t have blamed John for coming back for more on the sheer factor of the tightness of Randy’s ass alone. It was almost impossible to believe that these two fucked as often as they apparently did because of it. When his eyes opened though he too found himself watching as John luxuriously stroked his swollen cock, eyes still on his lover.

When Mark finally thrust into Randy’s prostate Randy made the keening noise he always did in the back of his throat and that was when John stood up, beginning to kick off his trousers and boxers, shoes following alongside them as he approached Randy. Mark slowed just enough to make it possible when he realised John’s intentions, and Randy wasted little time in attempting to speed the process up by parting his lips wide in a wanton invitation. He wanted John’s cock in his mouth and he wanted it _now_.

~~~

“What? No! I’ve… I’ve never thought of you two together!” Ted told him. 

“That’s bullshit. When I told you before that I’d sleep with them, there’s no way that you weren’t thinking of us together then.”

“Well it certainly wasn’t in some favourable sense! I mean… how could… how could you want to be with me after being with him?”

“Ted! Won’t you ever get it through your head that _I love you_? I love you so much and I want you in my life forever because I couldn’t imagine a life without you. All I want with Cena and Orton is a little bit of fun. And you _saw_ them together. They obviously love each other, too.”

“How do you know it wouldn’t mean anything?”

“You know what I did before I finally got with you,” Cody said with some reluctance, though he wasn’t ashamed of it. “None of that meant a thing to me. You’re it for me, Teddy. And a night of fun won’t change that.”

Ted’s lips compressed together again and Cody knew that they couldn’t keep on like this; Ted repressing himself so unrelentingly was going to end up backfiring one day, and he couldn’t keep feeling guilty about perfectly natural feelings. It wasn’t fair to either of them, or to the relationship they had together.

“Theodore, look at me,” Cody said in his firm voice.

Despite himself Ted obeyed the command, startling just a little when Cody’s hands suddenly cupped his cheeks, keeping him in place.

“I love you. I’d love to be fucked in front of you and I’d love to see you fucking someone else in front of me.” He knew that there was no chance Ted would let someone fuck him, and considering he hadn’t even gotten to yet Cody wouldn’t let it either.

“It would mean _nothing_ ,” he stressed again, “If anything I think it would make us stronger as a couple,” he admitted thoughtfully.

“Come again?” Ted asked, speaking for the first time in several minutes. 

“I said I think it’d make us stronger as a couple,” Cody repeated. 

“I’m still not following,” Ted told him, still in a bit of shock from this whole conversation. 

“Well, think about it, Teddy… if we’re with other people and _still_ come back to and love only one another? Don’t you think that would make us stronger?”

“No, not really,” he answered. “I thought last week I asked if you would stop seeing other people if we got together, and you said you would,” he reminded him. 

“But this would be seeing other people _with_ one another! Or at least with one another’s consent. I would _never_ go behind your back. _Ever_ ,” he said, emphasizing the word as he held Ted’s gaze. “You know that, right?” he then asked, tilting his head just slightly, hoping that Ted knew that to be the truth.

The silence between them seemed to last for just a second too long apparently in Cody’s opinion. The ravenette’s eyes widened and he stared at Ted, stunned.

“Oh my god—“ he said, ignoring the way Ted’s mouth opened automatically to tell him not to use the Lord’s name in vain, “—you don’t believe me. You don’t believe me?!”

Knowing that Cody was working for one of his moods Ted had to act fast to stop it happening. He grabbed Cody’s upper arms and pulled him back to the bed where he had started to rise, pinning Cody underneath his body so that he couldn’t try and hide behind physical distance, “I did _not_ say that, Cody!”

Cody froze underneath him, recognising the tone of Ted’s voice then.

“Did I say that to you? No, you just started going off on one. Of _course_ I trust you!” 

“So… you will let me get fucked by Orton?” Cody asked. 

“Now, I didn’t say that, either.” Ted took a deep breath and eased himself off Cody, sitting back upright. “But I _do_ trust you… and I know that you’d never go behind my back with someone.”

“Good,” Cody said, still lying down. “So… why _can’t_ I get fucked by Orton?”

“Cody, we’ve made love less than ten times and you’re already talking about being with other people?”

“Well… to be fair, I’d been thinking about it longer than we’ve been sleeping together,” Cody told him. 

“And that’s supposed to make it better?” Ted asked, looking down at Cody, who shrugged. “Just… give me a little time, ok?”

“But how much is a little time? This is their last year here. What if you just keep waiting and waiting and then we do _nothing_ and it’s too late and then you end up regretting never have done anything?”

“You’re the one who once said I don’t use forethought enough,” Cody pointed out.

“When do you normally listen to me when I say things like that?” Ted asked but even he knew that was a pathetic rebuke; Cody genuinely _did_ seem to listen to him. Most of them time that was.

“Just... seriously,” Cody said, pushing himself upright on his elbows but making no further move to get up, “Just think about it.”

A slightly suspicious expression crossed Ted’s face, “I only have to think about it?” he repeated.

Cody nodded; Ted was a logical person, if ruled by his tender-heart sometimes. He just needed to think on it.

“Fine. Fine,” Ted finally conceded, holding a finger of warning up before Cody could get too excited about it, “I’ll _think_ about it. However, that does _not_ mean I will be making any promises on the matter, Cody.”

“That’s fair enough,” Cody said. “But if John continues to pursue you… are you going to try and deny him?” he asked. 

“I… don’t think he’s pursuing me, Cody. He was helping me get my positioning right,” Ted told him. 

“God, Teddy, he was doing _far_ more than helping you! He was practically fucking you on the field!”

“ _What_?! He was _not_ fucking me on the field!” Ted protested. 

“That’s certainly what it looked like! He and Orton want us as badly as I want them!” Cody said. 

“I really don’t know about all that.”

“Teddy… take some time and think on it… think about everything I’ve said and what I told you Randy told me and all that John was doing… ok? Let all the pieces come together.”

“Can we go to bed now?” Ted asked, his previous physical tiredness now being supplemented by an emotional and mental tiredness. Cody wanted to say they could so something _else_...

But he figured he had already said enough and that he should allow Ted the rest that he so obviously needed.

“I’ll go and tell Justin he can come up,” Cody said, knowing that that would probably be a good idea given past experience, “And then I’ll join you.”

Ted was so tired that he didn’t even give his reflexive blushing protest to his insinuation he’d be in bed with him.

“Definitely tired,” Cody muttered to himself.

Walking downstairs Cody indicated to Justin when he caught the other boy’s attention and then went back upstairs.

Before too long he was dressed and in bed alongside his dazing blonde lover. 

~~~

“Did you want to join in?” Windham asked after a little while, glancing to Joe, who had sat back down on the couch. 

“Huh? Oh, no… I think I’m gonna go back to the room, change… go to bed,” he said. “I never win, anyway.”

“You’re such a party pooper,” Heath told him. “It’s barely even dark out and you’re already going to bed? Win and Ted tried out, too, ya know, and they’re not headed to bed.”

“Good for them.”

“And they also didn’t fall asleep for two hours, either,” Heath added. 

“I wasn’t asleep for two hours! Was I?” he asked, looking to Windham. 

“You were out for quite a while. Maybe more like an hour? But… it has been a while. You sure you want to head to bed now, though? We’ve got a pretty good game going on.” Heath glared at him, still unable to get over that nasty loss from a couple hands ago.

“Yeah,” Joe shrugged, “I’m saving my lot for the tourneys anyway,” he yawned and waved before vanishing off upstairs.

“Is he ill do you think?”

“Nah,” Justin’s question was refuted by Heath, “You know him; he probably wore himself out psyching himself up.”

For all Joe liked to give the appearance of a rebel who didn’t give a shit most of the time he was actually one of the most perfection-seeking, self-demanding boys that they knew.

“He’ll be fine by tomorrow,” Windham said, privately reassuring himself too.

They fell back into their game for a while, Justin glancing at the clock.

“You won’t be getting to bed for a while,” Heath teased, “Cody’s probably already got Ted into his bed again. He’ll wear the poor bloke out for sure!” he yipped as Justin kicked him underneath the table, Windham’s laughter cut short when he received a kick too.

“That was totally unnecessary!” Windham said, rubbing his leg. 

“Yes, it was… I think Ted was too tired out to even _think_ about doing anything with Cody, anyway.”

“You’re just saying that to give yourself some glimmer of hope that you won’t be locked out of your own room for the rest of the night,” Windham said. 

“Well… that’s part of it,” Justin had to agree. “They just better not be up there doing anything.”

“It’s not like you’re in there, though.”

“I’d like to be in there soon,” Justin said. “I do have some last minute work to finish up and I didn’t bring all my books down here.”

“Good luck with that,” Heath said with a smirk. 

Heath and Windham chuckled when Cody appeared –still dressed to boot- and bid Justin goodnight verbally as they waved to Cody.

“You wanting to go to bed soon?” Heath couldn’t resist the sly dig.

Windham, however, didn’t rise to bait as quickly as Joe did when it came to such matters, “No thanks, I’m fine.”

In the end they played until most people had gone to bed and then decided that they should go to bed themselves; they did have classes tomorrow after all.

“He’s so cute when he sleeps,” Windham mused and Heath chuckled and nodded his head as he paused in changing to look at Joe.

Despite his earlier nap the boy seemed dead to the world.

“Makes you want to take advantage of him, huh?” Heath grinned.

“What?” Windham asked. 

“I mean… go over to him and curl up with him… kiss him… maybe play with his cock a little bit,” Heath said. 

“Are you saying that you want to do that with him?”

“I thought that was already common knowledge,” Heath answered. “Just because you’re with him now doesn’t mean I don’t want to do those things with him anymore.”

“Really?”

Heath quirked a brow. “Yes, really… I mean, what if he’d chosen me over you, would you have stopped having feelings for him?”

“Well, no… but isn’t it a bit different? I mean, you’ve got your… _other friends_ , whereas all I’ve got is Joe.”

“I know I’ve got _other friends_ , but I can’t just stop wanting Joe. He’s my friend, too, one of the closest I have, and… I simply enjoyed fooling around with him and I do care about him.”

“So… when I said that I didn’t want to share Joe after all… that must have really hurt,” Windham said with a bit of a sigh. 

“Well…” Heath’s brow furrowed.

He didn’t know if he’d say it _hurt_ , it was more _unfortunate_ than anything else, and he told him as much.

“It’s like I told you: I know _exactly_ what I want from him, and you both seemed to want _more than that_ from each other, and I would never have stood in the way of that,” he pointed out.

“But…” Windham started and Heath rolled his eyes lightly and then arched a brow at the other before he got underneath his covers and settled himself down comfortably.

“Are we really going to need to have this conversation again?”

Windham chuckled, “You have no sense of tact do you?” he mused and Heath snorted lightly before shrugging. Windham sighed.

“No, we don’t need to have it again.”

He couldn’t shake off the idea though that maybe deep down Joe did resent the fact that Windham had put his foot down.

“You think too much big chap,” Heath pointed out, “Now get in bed with him. If you won’t take advantage just take the op for the best bed.”

“So you’re ok with that? I mean… me sharing a bed with him every night?” Windham asked. 

“Yes! I’m perfectly ok with it. Go on. And if you don’t, I will.”

Windham narrowed his eyes at Heath and said, “Watch it, Red.” 

“You’re so threatening,” Heath snarked back with a grin, going over to his own side of the room to grab his pajamas from the closet. 

“If I go to do my teeth and take a piss, you’re not gonna end up in bed with him when I get back, are you?” Windham asked. 

“No. Because I need to wash up and take a piss, too. But, if I get back to the room first, I don’t think I can make any promises.”

While Heath was still changing, Windham left the room and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and use the facilities. He was just finishing his teeth when Heath came in. “You weren’t serious, were you?”

“Was I?” Heath asked, still with that grin on his face. 

“You’re such a bastard,” Windham rolled his eyes and chuckled after spitting and rinsing his mouth in the sink, getting his wash-cloth.

“My parents were together at the time of my conception, thanks,” he threw back and Windham snorted, “You stole that line off of Joe.”

“It is possibly one of the only good ones he’s had over the years,” the redhead joked fondly.

“I’ll make sure to tell him that,” Windham said as he scrubbed his face clean before then rinsing and wringing the cloth out once again.

“Looking forward to Christmas?” Heath asked, clearly using the conversation change since he’d be able to tease Windham regarding Joe whenever he liked. “Yeah, kind of,” Windham nodded, “Are you?” he returned.

Heath winked playfully, “I’ll get to see David when I go home.”

Windham laughed ruefully, “Don’t distract the man from his work.”

“Me?” Heath fluttered his lashes, “I’m not _that_ bad.”

~~~

Randy reached a hand out, his fingers gripping John’s hip when he got close enough. With a hand around his own cock, John brought it to Randy’s mouth, who swallowed it down eagerly. 

Mark continued his slightly slowed down rhythm, which aided in his mouth moving up and down on John’s cock. This wasn’t the first time that they’d done this, but it had been quite some time, and it had always been John fucking him, or him fucking John, while someone else had been in their mouth. “Are you hard again, Randy?” John asked, looking down at his lover. 

Randy’s head tilted up, John’s cock still in his mouth as they made eye contact. “Mmm.”

“Mark, stroke his cock,” John ordered. 

Doing as he was told, Mark released his grip on Randy’s hip with his right hand to bring it to Randy’s cock, stroking him as he thrust into his body. 

Mark was the one who felt his orgasm approaching first thanks to the tight heat of Randy’s body and he was _so_ very reluctant to pull himself from his placement before it hit him fully.

He had promised though, and despite his apparently unscrupulous nature he would keep his word… even if it really was just so this could maybe happen again.

Pulling from Randy, Mark groaned and stroked himself to completion, coming over Randy’s back. The sensation made Randy moan and whine at once, hips undulating reflexively as they sought something to fill him again. John pulled himself from Randy’s mouth, gripping the base of his cock to keep from coming so soon. Moving behind Randy he then pulled his lover so Randy was seated, legs akimbo and facing Mark, on his cock.

Randy mewed happily as he was filled again.

“Suck him off,” John ordered Mark, beginning to thrust into his lover firmly after moments.

Nodding quickly, Mark laid himself down on his side, taking Randy’s cock in his mouth for a _third_ time that day. It was different this time, as Randy’s cock was thrust into his mouth solely from the force of John’s thrusts into him. 

“Oh sweet _fuck_!” Randy cried at the duel sensation of a hot, wet mouth around his cock and a big, thick cock up his ass. 

John nipped at the juncture of Randy’s neck and shoulder before pressing kisses up along Randy’s neck, then his jaw line. Finally, Randy turned his head and they met for a sloppy, but highly passionate kiss. 

Pulling his mouth away from John’s, Randy made a few incoherent sounds before forcing himself to say, “I’m gonna come.” 

Mark wasn’t about to pull away. No, not when he knew just how good Randy tasted, and he had no idea if he’d ever be able to taste it again. When Randy began to come, his muscles clenched together, though he continued to ride John’s cock, wanting to feel his lover come inside him.

Several clenches and a handful of thrusts later John was also tumbling over the precipice of pleasure, the muscles in his neck and shoulders chording as he thrust his hips up as hard as he could, spilling himself deep inside of his lover’s body.

Slumping forward, John’s softening cock still buried within him, Randy groaned lightly in bliss from the back of his throat lowly.

Almost falling onto the bed Randy settled down there for a rest, John laid behind him. After a few moments to get his own breath back Mark began to get up, causing both John and Randy to look confused.

When he noticed their looks Mark seemed almost embarrassed, “I expected that you’d want me to clear off,” he explained sheepishly.

“Lay down you soft fuck,” John said without heat, eyes closing, “You can barely stand up, don’t be stupid,” Mark wanted to quip about how romantic that invite was but decided it wasn’t the time for it. Instead he merely settled down on Randy’s other side, taking the time to calm down.

“So,” John asked after a while of the three of them lying there in silence, “how was it?”

“It was incredible,” Randy answered. “I… thank you, John, for letting that happen.”

“Anything to make you happy,” John said, pressing his lips to Randy’s neck. 

“How was it for you, John?” Randy asked, his finger running between two freckles on Mark’s back. “I mean… watching me getting fucked by someone else.”

“It was… for lack of a better word… incredible.”

“Was it really?”

John nodded, even though Randy’s back was to him, he knew. “I got to see you… I mean, every bit of you while you were getting fucked. You really are a magnificent sight. Did you enjoy yourself, Mark?” 

“Do you really need to ask?” Mark asked as he turned his head towards John, body undulating just gently at the tickling touch of Randy’s fingers.

“Enough that maybe we could do this again?” Randy asked, addressing both of them together.

“Well, I would be very amenable to a repeat,” Mark said with total honesty. And that was somewhat surprising even to himself; he could count on two fingers the number of boys he had been with more than once.

Generally once he’d got what he’d wanted he ended up losing interest in them.

“Work hard if you make the team and I’ll consider it,” John said, but he was smiling.

“Maybe next time I can see Mark fuck _you_ , John.”

He paused and then added, “Or John could fuck _you_ Mark.”


	48. Chapter 48

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying ~ Oscar Wilde

“Why don’t I buy that for even a second?” Windham asked. 

“What? It’s never like I’ve dragged him away from his work for a quick fuck… I always waited until it was his break time.”

Windham snorted. “You know, you’re lucky no one’s caught you sneaking around like that.”

“Oh, I know. We’re always careful about who’s around… it’s not like he start fucking each other in the dining room with other servants around,” he said. 

“How do you get away with one another?” Windham asked him. 

“Honestly? We just go wherever we can… my room, his room once in a rare while… we fucked in the greenhouse once.”

“No, really?”

“Yes, really.”

“So… all it is with you two is fucking?”

“Yeah. It’s a bit of fun for the both of us… something to pass the time… and to see what we can get away with.”

“You really are something else, Red,” Windham shook his head.

“Damn right,” Heath responded, trying his hair back as he washed his face and brushed his teeth, brushing the flaming locks through afterwards like always.

Windham had never understood Heath’s insistence that he had to brush his hair twice a day but he didn’t ask him anymore.

The first time he’d started to explain he had ended up tuning out.

Packing his things up Windham then said, “See you back in the room,” before heading towards the bathroom door.

“Give him a fondle for me!” Heath called in a mock sweet voice and Windham snorted lightly before shaking his head.

“Fucking nonce,” he said affectionately.

Back in the room he got into bed alongside his boyfriend, hoping Joe wouldn’t freak out.

It could be a bit of a shock for him to awaken and find someone next to him.

Heath returned to find Windham already asleep. 

~~~

“Hold on, John fuck _me_?” Mark asked. 

“What? You’ve been fucked before, right?” Randy asked in return. 

“It’s been a long time.”

“How long?” John asked. 

“About three years,” he answered. “Only bottomed for two guys before.”

“That is quite a while, isn’t it? Mark, you’d be in for such a treat if you let John fuck you. Or if I fucked you.”

“I don’t know…”

“Are you nervous?” Randy asked, to which Mark shrugged. “There’s no reason to be… with either of us, you’re in good hands. And with the both of us? What could possibly go wrong?”

“Let’s just see what happens, aye?” Mark asked.

Fucking a guy had never been a problem for him, but it really took _something_ to get him to give up his dominance.

John shrugged and nodded, “Sounds alright to me,” spontaneity was fine and dandy.

“Think on it,” Randy winked.

Mark chuckled slightly despite himself.

Before too long the three finally roused themselves and dressed. “I think we could all do with a bath again,” Randy mused as he locked the door up behind them all, key going into his pocket.

He’d return it later.

“I’ll get one in the morning,” John yawned, “Can’t be arsed to do it now.”

“Don’t blame you there,” Mark said. “Honestly, I didn’t even know I had that in me after the hell of a tryout you put me though.”

“Oh, now, it wasn’t that bad,” John replied. 

“Are you joking? You ran every one of us through the ringer,” Mark told him. “And you know it, too.”

“Well, I promise you, that’s what all my tryouts are like. I need to weed out the weak and find out who really wants to be there and who can push through all the pain to keep on going.”

“And you still won’t tell me if I made the cut, or not?” Mark asked, finding that they had stopped walking. They were standing in front of a door and he was wondering if it was either John or Randy’s.

“Not until everyone else finds out,” John answered. “Be on the lookout tomorrow morning.”

“Will do.”

“Well… can you find your way to your room from here?” John then asked him. 

“Point me in the right direction. Is this your room, or your room?”

“Mine,” Randy answered. “You’d need to go down that way… and maybe finally meet those roommates of yours,” he said. 

“Got it,” he said. “Where’s your room from here?” 

John pointed, “Back that way. But I sleep here most of the time.”

“Really now?” Mark asked. “I hold by what I said earlier… you two really are the oddest couple that I’ve ever met.”

Randy just shrugged and said, “We like it that way.”

Mark grinned back at him. “If it works for you… well, I’ll head off now. Shall I meet you for breakfast tomorrow?”

“You’re more than welcome to… we’ll be meeting up with a few of our other friends, though… one of them being his cousin,” John told him. “But, yes, you’re welcome to come to breakfast with us. We’ll either meet here or by the stairs.”

“Will do. Goodnight. Oh, and thank you again for the warm welcome.”

“You’re most welcome,” Randy smirked, throwing him a wink before letting himself into his room. John gave his custom light-hearted salute and vanished through the door after Randy.

He was surprised though, the second that he closed the door behind him Randy’s arms were around his neck and lips were pressed against his own. It was a sweeter, more involved kiss, quite unlike before.

Returning the kiss, John then pulled back after a few moments and leveled Randy with an amused look, “What was that for?”

“For being brilliant enough to allow me what I wanted,” Randy said, “I know you weren’t comfortable all of the time, but you still did it for me.”

John chuckled, “I thought we’d established by now that there isn’t much that I won’t do for you, Randy.”

“I know,” Randy mused, “But still.” His sentimentality might not seem completely _correct_ in some ways but that was how Randy had always been. Besides, he didn’t need to explain himself anymore to John; his lover always knew what he was trying to say.

“Let’s go to bed, aye?” John asked, starting to undress. As he got into bed though he paused.

“Rand, can you set the alarm a little earlier for me?”

Randy looked as though John had just announced that he was really a woman.

Nudging him, John rolled his eyes and said, “I need to write out my list of accepted new team-members, remember?”

And he’d need to take that down early and get it up before breakfast.

“If I must,” Randy said with a long-suffering sigh that was mainly for show.

As Randy got into bed alongside John he asked, “Is Mark on the team?”

John nodded, shrugging, “Well, it’s his last time like myself…”

But he’d arranged who’d be filling in his spot when they left until the new captain got around to setting up new try-outs.

“And DiBiase?”

This time John merely smiled innocently, “You’ll have to wait for the list tomorrow.”

“Oh, come on, John! You can’t keep that from me.”

“I can and I will,” John said. 

“He made it, right? He had to have made it. You’d never get into his pants if you didn’t put him on the team.”

“Randy! I would _not_ simply put a person on the team because I wanted to sleep with them! If DiBiase worked hard and performed to my expectations, then and only then would he earn a spot on the team,” John told him. 

“And he worked hard and performed to your expectations, didn’t he?”

“I’m not telling you. You’ll find out who made the team when I make out my list.”

“That’s just not fair. Who exactly am I going to tell between now and tomorrow when you post the list?”

“It’s not that. You’re already going to know before everyone anyway, since I know you’ll be hanging over my shoulder watching me write out the list. You also know Mark will be on the team. And that’s all I’m going to give you for now.”

John said nothing further that night aside from saying goodnight to Randy, and Randy gave up soon, knowing that John was just as stubborn as he was and he really wouldn’t give him anymore information.

The next morning, the alarm went off earlier than usual and both of the teens in the bed groaned. However, John sat up and switched off the alarm, forcing himself out of bed. Randy opened his eyes and watched John walk naked to his desk and pull out a piece of paper and a pen. “Will you tell me whose names you’re writing down?” Randy asked, having still not moved from the bed. 

“Absolutely not. If you want to see, you can come here,” John said, bent over slightly as he began writing down the names of the students that had made the cut, and a few who he would be using as second string players.

“That’s not fair. You’re in my room, using my paper and my pen, and you still won’t tell me who’s made the team?”

“That’d be correct. What are you gonna do about it, Head Boy? Write me up?” 

“I should you know,” Randy grumbled.

“You wouldn’t,” John said, shifting his weight to his other leg as he finished his list with a flourish, signing the bottom.

It was school policy that captains etc. had to sign any ‘official’ document that they would be circulating so that there could be no contentions made regarding its authenticity and such. There had been a big scandal some years back over it.

The captain had been caught selling placements on the rugby team and attempting to fix games for bets.

Despite being pissed at John’s determination to get him out of bed it seemed, Randy couldn’t help admiring the way that his naked lover was bending over his desk like that. He was sure he’d never view a desk the same way ever again after before.

_He wondered if Cole had found out what they’d done in his classroom yet._

“Finished,” John proclaimed, straightening up suddenly.

“Can I see now?” Randy asked, more impatient about the matter just because John had told him ‘no’ so much beforehand.

And, again, the brunette didn’t disappoint him. “No, Randal,” John chided him lightly.

Randy growled slightly, watching as John folded the paper up and then tucked it into his trousers pocket as he gathered his clothes together. He then turned towards his lover in bed and asked, “Are you coming for a bath or not?”

Huffing lightly Randy shoved the covers back and reached for his robe, gathering his own uniform up. “Let me see the list,” he said again as they made their way into Randy’s bathroom and John started the bath.

“Shan’t,” John said, leaning back enough to see as Randy approached the pile of clothes that was his uniform and cleared his throat firmly, causing the Head Boy to jump a little with obvious guilt. “And if you carry on with _that_ endeavour then I shan’t sleep with you for a fortnight.” Randy arched a brow in a manner that asked whether John _truly_ believed he could hold out for that long.

“I’ll do it,” John warned, adjusting the water, “Now hurry up and get in here will you?”

“I don’t think you could,” Randy said, even as he stepped into the tub. 

“If you keep that up, you’ll find out just how long I can go without sleeping with you,” John replied, beginning to wash Randy.

“It damn sure won’t be two weeks, I can promise you that much,” Randy told him, sounding confident. 

“You seem sure of yourself. Don’t forget that I’ve got my own room. Which I could spend my nights in.”

“Oh, that’s bullshit. We both know that.”

“I can go elsewhere to get my dick sucked, you know,” John then came back with. 

“Would you really? Didn’t we say just Runnels, DiBiase and one more person each?” Randy asked. 

“I do believe that’s correct… and I haven’t had my one more person, whereas you have,” John said.

“I don’t think Mark should count as my one more person… not if you’re going to end up fucking him, too.”

“What if he’s both our one more person?”

“As in if you actually held out on me for two weeks, you’d go to him to get your cock sucked?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you didn’t like him?” 

“If I didn’t like him, would I have let him stick his cock in you? I don’t think so… I just think he’s a cocky, arrogant bastard… but he reminded me too much of you for me to not like him.”

Randy chuckled. “Well… thank you for that. I’m serious. It means a lot that you were there and…”

“I already told you that I’d do just about anything for you.”

“You’ll let someone else fuck me but you won’t tell me who’s made the rugby team… I don’t get you sometimes, Cena.”

“What can I say? I’m just a unique bloke,” John said as he reached for the soap, beginning to massage the suds into his lover’s skin.

“That’s one way of putting it,” Randy teased, almost purring as John’s thumbs kneaded the sensitive spot at the base of his neck.

“I’m still not going to tell you,” John mused as he held the other rinse off and handed the soap over.  
Pouting, Randy returned the favour of washing John, “I hate it when you hold out on me, John,” he mewed.

“Oh please… Like you’ve been adamantly maintaining: it’s not as if it happens all that often does it?”

When they finished in the bath the two men dried and dressed, preparing to head down to pin the list up and then go through to breakfast.

“Wonder how many of them will come by first thing,” John mused and Randy snorted.

“I remember when _you_ first tried out for the team,” he shook his head, “You tried to drag me down here at the crack of dawn to see the list.”

“I was excited,” John protested, “I came with you to see the football one anyway.”

“That was at an acceptable time though.”

“Quit whining,” John said, shouldering his school bag and getting the list back out of his pocket in preparation. Randy tried to sneak a look once again but John was quick to snatch the list away.

“Let me see it!” Randy huffed again and John shook his head.

“You may as well wait now,” John chided him.

They made their way downstairs and John tacked the list into its usual placement on the notice board.

Randy immediately took a look then, shoving John hard in the side as he tutted at him, “I knew he’d made it!”

“DiBiase and his friends were three of the best of the field.”

“But DiBiase was the most fuckable, hm?”

“You could say that,” John said with a smirk. “But just because he’s the most fuckable, if he’d had no talent on the field, he wouldn’t have made the team.”

“Well, I guess it’s good that he’s quite the athlete then. Oh, speak of the devil,” Randy whispered, catching movement out of the corner of his eye. 

John turned his head and saw a group of six students walking their way. He smiled at them. “Just hung the list up, boys, if you want to take a look.”

Ted, Windham and Joe all gathered around the list while Cody, Justin and Heath hung back a bit. “I knew we’d make it!” Joe was the first to exclaim. 

“You all made it?” Cody asked, a grin spreading across his face. Ted turned to him and nodded, and Cody said, “Not too bad for someone who didn’t even want to tryout!” He headed towards Ted and wrapped his arms around him before kissing Ted on the cheek. 

Ted blushed, but returned the hug. When Cody kissed him, he muttered, “Codes there are people…”

“I don’t really care. You made the team, Teddy!” 

“Congratulations, boys,” John said. “You all did a great job yesterday and I can’t wait until our first practice together.”

“When will practices start?” Windham asked.

“Monday. Right after classes end for the day. You’re to meet out on the field _with_ your practice uniforms, and from there we’ll go to the locker rooms to change before going back to the field to begin.”

“Ok. We’ll be there,” Joe said, unable to keep the smile off his face. 

“Good. I guess we’ll see you later, then. Again, congrats,” John told them, nodding to them before he and Randy headed out, going back upstairs so they could meet Chris, Evan and possibly Mark.

“Well, now that we’re here, want to go get breakfast?” Heath asked. 

“You guys can go… I think I’m gonna go tell my dad,” Joe said to them.

Pausing mid-step at that Windham asked, “Would you like one of us to go with you?” It wouldn’t have been the first time one of them had stepped in as moral support and as a way to try and mediate between Joe and his father if things started to get heated between them.

The grateful, but dismissive smile that he was sent told Windham the answer to his question even before Joe came out and said, “No thanks; I can manage this time.”

In truth he just wanted to keep his friends from seeing yet _another_ domestic incident between himself and his father… it was likely to happen even though this was supposed to be good, celebratory news.

“Buck up,” Heath tried to bolster him, clapping him heartily on the shoulder, “He’ll probably be pleased as punch that you’ve made the team, right lads?”

Murmurs of ascent sounded from his friends and Joe allowed himself a small smile; trust them all to try and bring him up when he felt like it’d all go wrong.

“I’ll catch up with you all in a bit,” Joe said, adjusting his bag on his shoulder before turning on his heel and heading towards his father’s living quarters.

Even though his father could afford, and had the owned means to travel home every night if he wished he rarely bothered because the journey in accumulative terms would be arduous for he’d have to set off _very_ early to be back in time.

~~~

Joe knocked on the door to his father’s room, and a few moments later, the door was opened for him. His father looked at him, wondering if his son had done something wrong, before stepping aside to allow him inside. “What brings you over here?” he asked.

“Well… you know I tried out for the rugby team, right?” When his father nodded, he went on, “The results were posted this morning… and I made the team.”

Curt’s eyes lit up. “You did?” One of the biggest problems he had with his son was that he felt that he never directed his energy to the right place. It was either fighting or some random fling with one girl or another. But this could give him the opportunity to focus that energy into something beneficial. 

“I did,” Joe replied, grinning back. “Ran into Cena this morning, too, since he’d just hung the list when we showed up, and he said that the three of us, me, Teddy and Win were some of the best players on the field.”

For a moment Curt seemed to hesitate, but then he clapped a hand down heartily onto his son’s shoulder and squeezed it, “That’s excellent news; I’ll be sure to tell your mother when I write home next. Make sure that you put good effort in for it aye, make me proud.”

Some inner part of Joe wanted to rebel the sentiment –he hadn’t tried out for the team because of his father, or to please him- but he managed to hold back.

Possibly for the first time ever Joe just took the compliment as it had been given and nodded his head, “I’m really looking forward to it,” he responded. And even though his mother had little interest in sports he knew that she would probably be gushing about his achievement to all of her friends when they came over for tea.

“Cena’s a hard boy to please,” Curt nodded, serious, “It’s no small measure that you received a compliment like that from him; he might be a nice lad but he doesn’t give out the praise willy-nilly, you need to earn it. Good lad. I knew you had it in you.”

Joe was… surprised by his father’s words. It had seemed as though nothing he’d ever done before had been good enough for him. He’d always fallen short of his expectations no matter how hard he tried. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me for praising you for something that you earned, Joe… You… you’d know better than anyone that it’s not easy to earn my praise,” Curt said, “but I want you to know that you’ve earned all this.”

“Dad… I only just made the team; it’s not like we’ve had any games, or anything…” he muttered. 

“How many people tried out? And then think about how many of you made the team. You showed Cena something special out there on the field, and with his and my help in practices, you’ll be winning all your games.”

“Wait… did you say your help at practices?”

“Yes. Remember, I’m a coach on the rugby and football teams?” he asked.

~~~

“Speaking of telling fathers,” Cody started, sending Windham and Ted firm looks, “You both need to tell yours.”

“Surely we can leave it a little bit?” Windham asked.

“Do you really want them to find out from someone else first?” Cody arched a brow and Windham and Ted shook their heads immediately.

They’d _never_ hear the end of it if they left it long enough for someone else to tell first.

“We can do it during lunch,” Ted said, “I’ll have to wait for the evening post though.”

They only got deliveries and collections first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

“Splendid idea,” Cody said with a nod of his head.

“I should probably just go and see him, too,” Windham then said. “After breakfast.”

“There you go. Problem solved.” Cody smiled. “I’m sure your dad’ll be pleased to hear the news,” he went on. 

“I’m sure he will be,” Windham agreed. “I just hope that Joe’s dad is as pleased as my dad.”

“I’m sure he will be,” Heath said, repeating his friend’s words. They entered the dining hall and found that they were some of the first people there, not even having to wait in line all that long. Once they had their trays and sat down, they began talking once more. 

“I just hope Joe doesn’t end up saying something stupid to end up pissing his dad off,” Windham told them. 

“He does have a habit of that, doesn’t he?” Cody asked. 

“You could say that,” Windham muttered. 

“You can stop worrying,” Cody chided his friend lightly after a moment, “He’s a big boy, he can handle himself.”

Windham glanced up from where he had been staring contemplatively down at his breakfast and pulled a face at Cody.

The younger man didn’t seem especially phased by this, merely resuming his own breakfast.

“I could tell you _how_ big of a boy he is, if you’re interested?”

“Heath!” Ted reprimanded the other fervently.

“What?” the redhead asked innocently, “We’re all blokes, and friends, we can talk about this sort of thing.” Cody seemed to be inclined to agree before Ted cut across them both, shaking his head, “We may be friends but we don’t need to talk about _every_ little thing!”

“Speak for yourself,” Heath threw back at him, smirking, “I sure don’t have a _little_ thing.” 

“Oh, like hell you don’t,” Windham said. “You talk about it far too much; I’d say you were overcompensating.”

“We could always just ask Joe,” Heath retorted.

Cody tried to hide his smirk at Windham’s face at that comment from Heath. His smirk only grew when Windham replied, “I’m sure he’d tell you that I’m bigger, anyway.”

“Well, unless you ask, you’ll never know for sure, will you?”

“I’m perfectly fine with that.”

“I bet you’re really not,” Cody chimed in. “I bet you’re dead curious now as to whether or not you’re bigger than him.”

Windham’s lips compressed together in a thin line but it was clear that Cody’s words had hit home with the other.

“Must all our group conversations revolve around this now?”

“What’s wrong Teddy-boy,” Heath asked with a grin, “You been feeling neglected? Never would have thought you’d be slacking in your duties as a lover, Cody,” he teased.

“Slacking? Moi? How dare thee?”

“Hey, look, there’s Joe now,” Justin indicated their friend and he waved back a little distractedly before heading to get breakfast.

The group exchanged puzzled looks with one another.

“Well…” Heath even seemed distracted momentarily by trying to guess how Joe’s meeting with his father went, “He doesn’t look angry so chances are that they haven’t rowed, but at the same time he doesn’t look too pleased.”

“Maybe they did row?” Justin pointed out, “He doesn’t just get angry every time after all,” he pointed out.

“Everything OK?” Ted asked as Joe sat down.

“You know when you realise you’ve made a serious error,” Joe said without preamble as he sat down, staring at his sunny-side eggs, bacon and bread-and-butter as though he wasn’t even seeing them there before him.

“Yes?” Cody prompted, leaning forward with obvious curiosity for Joe’s answer.

“How the fuck could I forget that my dad helps coach the rugby team?” Joe moaned and dropped his head into his hand, shaking it from side to side. For a moment there was silence and then Cody, predictably, burst into laughter.

“It’s not funny, Cody!” Joe exclaimed. 

“Yes, actually, it is! That’s brilliant, Joe, just brilliant… how could you forget something like _that_?! He _is_ the athletic department head, right?”

“Yes…” Joe answered. 

“Joe… you are an idiot,” Cody said. 

“Hey, it won’t be that bad,” Windham said. “I think it might be good for you.”

“How exactly do you figure that?” Joe asked. 

“I mean, you two working together… he’ll only be there to help… you know what you’re doing on the field, and so does he. If you actually _let_ him help you, then you’ll be unstoppable.”

“You’re asking for the impossible,” Joe muttered. 

“But there’s no reason you two _shouldn’t_ get along. You’re both going out there to win, right? Just… listen to him. Even if it’s just for the length of the game and during practices. I bet you might see that you two really can get along.”

Joe grumbled; he hated when Windham used his unfaultable reasoning on him; it was much harder to refute him when he was all level-headed and mature.

Besides, out of _all_ of their friends he probably knew Joe’s situation with his dad the best. “Alright,” he grumbled, beginning to cut his eggs up into little pieces in a manner that completely contradicted the way he placed his sausages whole into a sandwich.

“Well done, you’ve seen sense,” Windham chuckled.

For a moment silence fell, everyone merely focusing on their breakfasts; especially the three who’d had the try-outs the day before; they were really hungry even though they had a big meal afterwards.

But then, of course, Heath had to spoil the tranquility.

“Joe—who’s bigger, me or Windham?”

Joe choked on a piece of his sausage sandwich and Justin clapped his back hard.

“W-What?” he sputtered.

“Just tell this lot who’s the biggest.” 

“I… I can’t do that!” Joe exclaimed. 

“Oh, why not? Don’t want to embarrass anyone?” Heath asked. “C’mon, I’m curious now.”

“Why don’t you two just have a jerkoff contest and find out for yourselves,” Joe muttered.

“But where’s the fun in that?” 

“In that you get to jerkoff,” Joe replied. 

“No, I think I’d much rather you just spill. You’re the only one here that knows… so just say it.”

“I’m _not_.”

“I really don’t care to know anyway,” Justin said, and Ted nodded along in agreement. 

“Oh, come on, Joe,” Cody encouraged, which earned him an eyeroll from his lover.

“No!” Joe muttered, looking down steadfast at his plate and refusing to look up again.

“You’re such a spoilsport,” Cody huffed.

“Fine then,” Joe shot back, suddenly looking up, “You know how big Ted and Justin both are.”

Of course he didn’t mean when Justin was _excited_ but in general and he was just reaching for a segue.

“Don’t you dare!” Justin sputtered.

Ted immediately seconded Justin’s words.

“God, you’re all so bloody boring!”

Heath looked amused, “If Wade finds out we know he might come after us,” he joked.

“Windham, Heath, why don’t you both just tell us?” he asked as he looked at them. 

“No!” Windham said. “Good god, do you lot have no privacy whatsoever?” he asked.

“They’d probably lie, anyway,” Cody chimed in. “Say that they’re bigger than they really are.”

“Joe could always refute it,” Heath said. “If we were lying, that is.”

“Why do you even care?” Justin asked. “A dick’s a dick.”

“Would you be saying that if Wade’s was small?” Heath quipped back. 

“How do you know his isn’t?”

“Because if he was, you wouldn’t come back from his office with such a limp in your walk.”

Justin could feel his face burning. “I hate you, I hope you know that.”

Heath just grinned and went about holding up his hands to gesture to everyone how big he was.

~~~

In their usual spot by the stairwell, John and Randy stood around for a while, knowing that they were out rather early and normally met at a later time. Soon the usual time approached and they spotted Evan and Chris leaving their room, heading towards them. “Morning,” John and Randy greeted at the same time.

“Morning,” the two of them replied. 

“Ready to go?” Chris asked once they met up. 

“Not quite,” John said. “We’re waiting for one more person.” He ruined to his left and saw that Mark was headed towards them. “And there he is now.” Chris and Evan looked to the large man now with their group. “Were you two not introduced to him yesterday?” 

They both shook their heads no, and Chris said, “Not properly anyway.” 

“Randy knows a thing or two about proper introductions,” Mark muttered. Randy smirked. John ignored them both.

“Chris, Evan, this is Mark. Mark, this is Chris, and Randy’s cousin, Evan.”

“Randy’s cousin?” Mark’s brow arched a little, naturally intrigued. He was only mildly surprised when the blonde boy next to the small ravenette shifted just slightly, arching a brow and sending him a clear look of, ‘And just _what_ are you thinking of?’ obviously attempting to warn him off. The small teen looked clueless.

Randy watched the interaction and smirked a little; he wouldn’t have allowed Mark to pursue Evan even if there was a chance the boy was interested, but it was good to see that Chris was taking his role as Evan’s lover seriously, as he’d demanded he do, protecting his honour.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Evan smiled in a friendly fashion, shaking Mark’s hand.

“Yeah,” Chris murmured somewhat dismissively.

John rolled his eyes as Randy continued smirking.

“Can we go for breakfast now?” Evan asked and John nodded, beginning to lead the way back downstairs again.

“You might want to check out the list, Mark,” Randy said casually as he could.

“Oh, yeah?” Mark asked, quirking an eyebrow. 

“What list?” Evan asked of Randy.

“That list,” Randy answered, pointing towards where it was hanging. Mark walked over and Randy went on, “Rugby. The list of the students that made the team.”

“But… he tried out? He only just got here, didn’t he?”

“Yes, but he played for our rival school,” John said. “So he’s got a good deal of experience.”

Mark turned from the list after spotting his name. “I improved on my teamwork, then?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Well… it still needs some work, but… it’s a start,” John answered.

Chris looked to John, then Mark, then Randy and wondered what the hell went on between the three of them… and wondered if he actually wanted to know… 

“Chris,” he felt a small tug on his sleeve and glanced down to Evan, expression softening from his suspicious, contemplative look, “Shall we get some breakfast now?”

“Sure,” Chris nodded, heading towards the hall with Evan.

Randy and John began to follow and Mark hastened to catch up with them both before murmuring, “So what’s blondie’s deal?”

“Chris is in love with Evan,” John said without preamble.

“And Evan is in love with Chris, and no he’s not like myself and John, so don’t even think about it,” he added lightly with an arched brow. Mark smirked a little.

“Alright, consider me warned,” he mused.

“It’s good if you get to know Evan though, in a friendly capacity,” John then said after a moment.

“He’s on the rugby team too,” Randy elaborated at Mark’s puzzled look.

“Really? That little guy’s on the rugby team?” Mark asked. 

“Yes, he’s quite the wily little bugger. If he gets possession of the ball, he can weasel his way through the opposing team’s defense like no one else,” John told him. “He’s also on the cricket team.”

“He’s far more athletic than I’d have given him credit for,” Mark said, following as John and Randy headed into the dining hall to have breakfast. 

“It does surprise a lot of people,” Randy agreed. 

Soon they were sitting down with Chris and Evan. “Can I ask you something?” Mark asked of Chris.

Chris gave him a suspicious look, but said, “Ok.”

“Are you from the states, or something?”

“Canada. But I’m planning on staying here for University, too… and, who knows, if I can find work, maybe even longer than that.”

Mark noticed Evan’s lips twitch into a gentle smile at that.

 _Hell,_ he thought to himself somewhat bemusedly, _what is it about this place spawning loving couples?_ It was mindboggling.

“You sure you don’t want to go back to Canada?”

“Pretty damn sure,” Chris responded immediately.

Nodding curiously Mark then watched as Randy bit into his breakfast sausage. Fuck, but that mouth was even more distracting now.

Randy noticed his attention and smirked; Mark was definitely going to be a continued ego-boost for him, wasn’t he? Chris shook his head somewhat as his suspicions were confirmed by that interaction.

“What’s up?” Evan asked Chris, seeing the way that his lover abandoned a forkful of egg halfway to his mouth and took a deep drink instead...

As though hoping the juice would suddenly kick in like alcohol.

“Chris? Are you ok?”

“Yeah…” he said once he set his juice cup down. “I just… I cannot believe you two,” he went on, addressing John and Randy.

“What?” Randy asked. 

“You and him!” he pointed to Mark as he spoke. 

“And?”

“I thought you two said that you were going to be exclusive to one another,” Chris whispered. 

Mark simply sat there smirking alongside Randy, who had a smirk of his own on his face. “Once we get to Uni,” John answered. “As of now, though… so long as I give my approval—”

“And agree to watch,” Randy added.

“And agree to watch… and maybe join in myself,” he said, trying to hide his grin, “Randy’s free to fuck whomever he pleases. The same, of course, goes for me.”

“Oh my god…” Evan mewed, dropping his head into his arms as he realised what was going on, “I give up, I really, really do.”

“I take it you’re not as freely hospitable as your cousin?” Mark asked, though Randy had warned him as such out in the hallway before. Evan went dark red.

“No he damn well isn’t,” Chris almost growled at him.

“Easy mate, no offence meant.”

Evan looked a bit flustered by it though and Randy acknowledged Mark really _was_ like him.

No wonder Evan looked so unnerved.

“John,” Chris said simply.

John looked at him.

After a moment of silent consideration John shrugged, “I don’t know, it may happen again and it may not. And, no, he did _not_ get a free pass onto the team because of it, thank you.”

“So you’d actually let…? I thought you two didn’t… with other people?” Evan found himself asking.

“I hadn’t… with anyone else, I mean,” Randy said. “But there was just something about Mark here that had me reconsider… and when John gave the ok, well…”

Evan shook his head. “I don’t understand it, though.”

“Are you still a virgin?” Mark asked, looking to Evan.

“What?” Evan gasped in return. 

“Are you still a virgin?” he asked again.

Evan paused a moment then shook his head. “No.”

“Then you know how good sex feels, yeah? Well, some people are just looking for that rush. We’re not all in it for… love. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve realized how they are about each other, and I’m not looking to come between that at all. I’m just looking for a good time and if they’re willing to provide it, well…” Mark shrugged.


	49. Chapter 49

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself ~ Oscar Wilde

Joe found himself sneaking a peak despite himself just to see how truthful Heath was being.

“Not bad,” Cody acquiesced with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

“Not bad!” Heath snorted, hands dropping.

Cody looked at Windham expectantly and the larger boy frowned, arms folding over his chest.

But, in the end though, he didn’t want to seem a coward and so held his hands up.

“Not that much difference between you then,” Cody mused before turning to Joe, “Say, Joe, is that true?”

“What?” Joe said, scowling slightly as he knew he’d been caught out.

“Is Windham a little bit smaller than Heath in length?” Cody repeated.

Reflexively Joe answered, “Yeah a bit, but Win’s a bit thicker.”

“Well, they say that thickness is what really counts,” Cody said, grinning.

“Do they now? How’d you say Ted stacks up against them?” Joe then asked. 

“Don’t you _dare_ , Cody,” Ted told him. “Don’t even _think_ about it, for that matter.”

“What? I’ve told you before that you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of!” Cody said.

“It’s not that I’m ashamed. I just don’t want my business broadcast to everyone.”

“They’re not everyone, though. They’re our friends. And since you and I are the only two that actually know how big you are, they’re naturally curious.”

“I don’t really care _how_ curious they are. They’re not going to find out how big I am, are they?”

“Oh, come on, Ted. It’s not like you’re actually showing them, jeez. You’re just telling. It’s completely different.”

“Cody. Garret. Runnels,” uh-oh, Cody was _in trouble_ now; Ted was middle-naming him, and that never happened unless he was getting truly ticked-off.

“If you don’t stop _right now_ ,” Ted said, lips turned down into an unimpressed, unmoving frown of annoyance.

“Fine!” Cody huffed and scowled, leaning back in his seat, clearly readying himself to sulk.

Heath caught Cody’s eyes and made a motion with his head towards his wrist.

It took Cody mere moments to get what he was getting to: _tell me later?_

Ensuring that Ted wasn’t looking Cody nodded, making a small motion towards his chest pocket with his hand.

That was their code for intending to go for a cigarette--- using Joe’s habit of storing his cigarette tin as the example.

Nodding, Cody then returned his attention to sulking; he’d get Ted back for telling him off by having a cig later.

“So, change of subject, then?” Justin suggested. “How’re everyone’s classes going?” he asked.

His response was a collective groan. “Really, we’re eating. There’s no need to talk about classes,” Joe said, to which Heath nodded. 

“I was just trying to make conversation,” he huffed. “Is this any better… now that you lot have made the rugby team, any idea when, where and who against your first game will be?”

“That is a much better question,” Joe told him. “But I don’t actually know the answer.”

“Why don’t you just go ask your dad? I bet he knows,” Heath teased. 

“Fuck. You,” Joe said, putting his head in his hands. “I still can’t… _how_ did I forget something like that?!”

“I really don’t think it’ll be that bad,” Ted said to him. “I mean, you know that he’ll be on you, but he’s only doing it to make you a better player.”

“Yes… that’s what I’ll be telling myself in my head,” Joe muttered with a long-suffering sigh.

“Was he pleased when he found out you’d made the team though?” Justin prompted, “Surely he was?” he added.

“Yeah,” Joe cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. Because he and his father were so often at odds with one another it was strange for any reference of his dad to be positive.

“Well that’s something at least,” Justin said supportively and with a smile.

Joe grunted slightly in acknowledgement and the assembled boys rolled their eyes in fond exasperation; he always blew thing out of proportion.

Even more so than Cody could and that was saying something as their resident drama-queen could get _really_ over the top when he wanted.

“When do you get your uniform?” he asked Ted. He couldn’t wait to see his lover in the kit. 

“I have no idea. But you’ll be the first one to know,” he answered. 

“And I bet he’ll be the first to take it off, right?” Heath teased. 

Ted blushed and Cody smirked. “I hope so. Will I be, Teddy?”

“I dunno… I mean…”

“What are you so unsure about? You have someone else on the side that’ll be undressing you anytime soon?” Cody asked. 

“No! I just mean what if I have to try it on and then I have to take it off myself and…”

“Teddy… quit worrying yourself up for no reason,” Cody said, grinning. “Aside from yourself, though… I will be the first person to take it off, won’t I?”

“I suppose,” he muttered. Cody looked triumphant.

“Is that all you think about?” Justin sighed to his friend and Cody arched a brow slightly in return, “You’ve seen Wade naked and you’re telling me you don’t?”

Justin blushed darkly and sighed, looking away. Again, Cody’s expression turned triumphant. Windham, however, tried to piss on his bonfire.

“We’re not on about the headmaster though, we’re on about our Ted.”

“I can assure you,” Cody said without hesitating, “If you’ve seen Ted the ways I have—” 

“Enough!” Ted sighed.

“You’re all so boring,” Cody stuck his tongue out.

Heath grinned cattishly at Windham, “You don’t think about Joe naked?”

Joe squeaked, “What’re you bringing me into it for?” he asked. 

“You’re here, right? You didn’t think that you’d get off that easy, did you?”

“But you were already giving me shit earlier! I think that’s enough, don’t you?” Joe asked. 

“Not at all. Anyway, your answer, Whinny? You think about Joe naked?”

“And what if I do?” Windham retorted. 

“Then good for you,” Heath said. 

“Amway,” Justin said before Heath could go on. “I think it’s almost time for us to go to our first classes.”

“Yes, I think that sounds about right,” Ted agreed. 

Cody rolled his eyes. “You know, for being so… _adventurous_ in your nocturnal activities, you sure are a dud.”

Justin blushed yet again. “Yes, I do think it’s time for class.”

Heath looked to Cody, knowing that they’d need to find a good time to duck out for their cigarettes.

Cody caught his eye and then held up two fingers quickly, signaling that they could sneak off during the break between second and third lessons.

Nodding, Heath winked before heading out after Windham and Joe—undoubtedly to tease them both.  
Justin meanwhile hung back to walk alongside Ted and Cody as per usual.

“I see Wade has his hair back in its usual style today,” Cody grinned slyly at their friend.

“Yes he does,” Justin said without hesitation and a rather surprising amount of firmness in his tone suddenly.

“Got a bit jealous did we?” Cody grinned, but his grin soon slipped.

“Not as jealous as you when Ted wore those riding trousers that time—”

“What about the riding trousers?” Ted asked, confused.

“Everyone was staring at your bum,” Justin smirked.

“—and Cody nearly got into a fight over it.” 

“Wait… are you serious?” Ted asked. “How come you never told me?”

“What? Tell you that people were ogling your backside? How well do you think _that_ would have gone over?” Cody asked in return. Ted shrugged. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“But you really almost got into a fight because of it?”

“You’re no better!” Cody exclaimed, not really answering the question. “You… you’re all over people if you see someone even _looking_ at me!”

“Well… I just don’t like people looking at you like they want to see you… like how I’ve seen you.”

“That’s _not_ going to happen, Teddy. Not at all. None of these other boys could even compare to you… and your backside really did look incredible in those riding trousers,” he added. 

“I… had no idea.”

“And now you do,” Cody said with a smirk. 

~~~

Evan rubbed his temples somewhat, shaking his head; his cousin’s sex-life never failed to provide him with a headache for attempting to understand it at all.

“Well, at least you respect the fact that they are a couple together,” he finally said, nodding his head.

“You could try it for yourself and see,” Mark grinned, teasing Evan.

Blushing bright red Evan responded with as much dignity as possible, “No thank you.”

“Besides,” Randy smirked at Chris slowly, “You’d have to get through Chris first.”

Mark might be bigger than him but if Evan’s honour was involved Chris would take him down.

“Can we talk about something else, please?” Evan pleaded slightly as he saw the way Chris’ eyes had slitted somewhat and his jaw had set; sure signs that his temper was beginning to mount even though usually he made a conscious effort to keep calm. Not that his acid-tongue didn’t make an appearance even when he was mellow.

“Sure,” John said, taking pity on him, “What’s everyone’s plans for the hols?”

“Well, I know that I’m expecting a visitor,” Randy said

“Oh, are you?” John asked. “Who is it?”

“This big bloke. Little shorter than me, yeah, but he’s nice and broad in the chest and shoulders… been fucking him for years. You might know him. Name’s John.”

John grinned. “Yeah, think I know him. How ‘bout you, Mark? Any big plans?”

“Not really. My family just moved and all, and I’ve hardly spent any time in the new house, so I guess I’ll be acclimating to my new home. I think my parents will also be throwing a house warming party or some bullshit like that… Maybe I’ll be able to christen my new bedroom; at least then I’d get _some_ enjoyment out of the party,” he said. 

“I wish you all the best with that,” Randy told him, smirking. “Chris, you still coming over to stay with Evan and christen _his_ bedroom?”

“Well, if I’m still invited,” Chris responded with the utmost casualness as Evan made a sound in the back of his throat in obvious embarrassment of Randy’s bluntness.

“Shy little thing aren’t you?” Mark asked and Evan opened his mouth to protest before closing it; he supposed he was _pretty_ shy, but he liked to consider it as having composure and dignity. “I’m reserved,” Evan said with an impressive level of lightness, though it was clear from the blush on his cheeks that he was still flustered by Randy’s words.

“I know,” Randy grinned impishly, “Shocking isn’t it? I mean, he is related to me, and not bad in looks and physique… to think he was a virgin not long ago.”

“You were still a virgin not too long ago?” Mark asked.

“Randy, for goodness’ sake!” Evan flustered.

“Randal, lay off the boy a little,” John chided lightly and Randy pouted at him.

“Where’s the fun in that? He needs to learn how to take a bit of teasing from his dear cousin, right?” Randy asked. 

“Does that mean that Chris here was your first and only?” Mark asked of Evan, John and Randy eyeing the new student warily, hoping he wouldn’t say something to upset any of them. When Evan nodded, Mark whistled. “I never knew anyone back at my old school that was like you all are.”

“Same here,” Chris told him. “Anyone I wanted to fool around with, I did, and I never knew of any two people being in some committed relationship sort of thing, if that’s what you want to call it. But then… I met Evan here and, well…”

“And he’s the reason that you don’t plan on going back to Canada? That’s mighty serious. I can’t see myself ever settling down with anyone. I’m sure I’ll get married some day, yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be settling down.”

“Can I ask you something?” Randy then asked. 

“Yeah.”

“You’ve been with guys and girls… which do you like better?”

“Honestly… each has their own plus sides… I don’t know if I could choose.”

“You’re as bad as this lot,” Randy clucked his tongue and Mark arched a brow at him in question, “How am I?” he returned.

“Easy,” Randy said, “Because you avoided an outright and honest answer.”

“Well I don’t prefer one over the other!” he insisted seriously.

“I know which I prefer,” Randy grinned wickedly at John. The only thing good about sleeping with a woman, he supposed in the long run, was the fact that she could bear a child for you. And allow you to assert your dominance with very little fight. However, he found that boring and didn’t want children for a while yet.

“Don’t mind him,” Evan said, “He’s messing with you.”

“What about you?” Mark asked John and John shrugged, looking contemplative for a moment. “Well, it’s not bad with a woman…” he said slowly, clearly considering, “But I don’t like it as much as sleeping with-“ he glanced at Randy pointedly.

“So I’d say men.”

Evan looked to Chris, the question on the tip of his tongue. He’d never really asked Chris about past dalliances before in detail, unsure whether he could stand to hear the facts, but he was curious as to if he’d been with women before too.

“I like fucking a woman up the arse,” Mark then told them. “Then you can still feel her breasts while you’re fucking her, which is something you obviously can’t do when you’re with a man, and you’re still fucking a tight arse.” 

“You’ve thought of it all, haven’t you?” John asked. 

Finally, before Mark could even answer, aside from a nod, Evan worked up the nerve to ask Chris, “Did you ever… do anything like that? With women, I mean…”

“Me? Do you… really want to know?”

“I wouldn’t be asking otherwise,” Evan told him. 

“Well… just remember that everything was before I met you, right? You know that I’ve never slept with another man… but…”

“You have been with women before?” Evan finished for him, questioningly. 

Chris nodded. “Not a lot of women, or anything. But… yes, I have been.” 

“Oh.” Evan nodded slowly, but was otherwise quiet.

“Evan?” Chris prompted gently, unsure how to take the other’s response.

“Give the boy chance,” Randy chided.

“It’s not easy finding out about a partner’s past dalliances,” John added.

“Like you could comment on that,” Mark said, amused.

“We can actually,” John said pleasantly, “We haven’t always been a hundred percent aware of each other’s dealings as they happen.” Of course, it was a long time ago but that didn’t matter. “Now though, yes, we know much more.”

Mark looked curious but didn’t press, instead looking to Evan, “Would you ever want to be with a woman? I think you’re cutting off a plausible avenue if not.”

Before Evan could answer Randy slyly inputted, “He might not look it, but our Evan is rather popular with some of the ladies.”

“Oh, is he?” Mark asked, grinning at the smaller teen. 

“He is,” Randy said. “He always has girls coming up to him whenever our school and our sister school holds dances.”

“And you only just lost your virginity? How is that even possible?”

“I— Well I…” Evan mumbled, clearly taken off guard as to how the conversation had seemed to stay on him. 

“You really don’t have to be shy around me,” Mark told him. “I know we only just met, but I’d like to consider myself a friendly, personable guy.”

“I wanted to wait until marriage,” Evan finally answered. 

“So… does that mean that you do want to get married one day?” Mark asked. “If you’re someone that wanted to wait til marriage, you must be the type that wants a family.”

“But Chris…”

“I would understand if you wanted a family one day,” Chris then said to him. Evan looked at him, surprise written all over his face. They hadn’t talked about this sort of thing before, and he was amazed that some person they’d only just met was the one to spurn on this conversation.

~~~

“If you’re both finished flirting with each other?” Justin asked a little dryly as the pair seemed to all but slow down, making ridiculously sappy faces at one another, “I’d like to ensure my perfect attendance record.”

Ted’s face burned with a blush whereas Cody looked unsurprisingly unmoved, “I wasn’t finished, but God-forbid you get into trouble, aye Justin?”

“Why?” Justin said, eying Cody with uneasy wariness.

“Because Wade would have you bend you over his knee and spank you like the bad little boy that you are.”

“You’re such a pervert, Cody!” the dark-skinned boy blushed.

“I’m just _not_ a prude.”

“I’m _not_ a prude!” Justin huffed in irritation, the trio continuing walking.

It was funny really, because Justin was always so morally serious and quite adult, but when Cody got him going the other boy lit up just as easily as their resident theatrical diva did. 

“Oh, please, yes you are. You’re _almost_ as bad as Theodore,” Cody said.

“I’m certainly not as bad as him,” Justin replied. 

“You guys do know that I’m right here, don’t you?” Ted asked. 

“What? Are you trying to claim that you’re not a prude now? Teddy, I love you but… let’s be honest here.”

“Well… I’m not as bad as I was…” he muttered. 

“This is true,” Cody had to admit. “And now that you _have_ actually fucked someone, you wanna keep doing it, right?”

Ted blushed. “I…” he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t really want to admit that Cody was correct in that, even though… he was. Being with Cody felt so good in so many different ways.

“That’d be a yes,” Cody said, grinning.

“I bet you’re not _that_ good,” Justin grumbled as he sat down in his usual seat, “He’s just arse-struck at the moment.” Cody wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be shocked that Justin actually said that.

“You kiss your guardian with that mouth?” he asked, recovering himself with admirable aplomb whereas Ted was just plain flustered.

“Often,” Justin muttered, turning from Cody in a manner that said he was finished with the conversation.

“Well, what do you know?” Cody mused to Ted, “He got the last word for once.”

“About time you gave someone else the chance,” Ted responded.

“Theodore!” Cody stared at him and then pouted.

“Sorry…” Ted bit his lip, “I didn’t mean to—“ he stopped.

“You git,” he pushed Cody’s shoulder lightly.

Cody smirked before he bent over to grab his notebook and pen from out of his bag. Ted and Justin were doing the same, and just after they’d all arranged their things on their desks, their professor walked in. All of them stood for a short while until he told them all to sit again. 

Ted and Justin jotted down everything the professor wrote on the board. Cody wrote down a few things here and there, but quite a bit of his time during the lecture was spent doodling on his notebook instead of writing in it. That was par for the course though where Cody was concerned. 

The professor then began an in class discussion about what they just learned about, getting a few questions here and there about a few different topics. That ended up spurning a heated debate between another student and Justin. 

That little debate actually managed to get Cody’s attention. He listened to everything the two of them were saying. For every point the one student made, Justin had a counter to it as to why his take on the subject was the correct view. To be honest, Cody hadn’t even understood what they were going over, but as he listened to Justin, he had to agree with him on the points he was making, as the subject was beginning to make more sense in his head the more they went on. 

Cody would have to tell Justin that Wade would have been proud of him if he were there to watch what was happening. 

“What?” Justin asked him afterwards when he noticed Cody looking at him in a manner that he couldn’t quite place. Cody merely grinned as he placed his notebook into his bag alongside his pen and textbook. “I was just thinking that you’d make a really good teacher one day.”

That caused Justin’s eyebrows to almost vanish into his hairline, looking from Cody, to Ted, as though thinking that he could assess whether Cody was making fun of him or not judging from the blonde’s expression. Ted however looked as surprised as he did, though nodded his head in agreement.

“Are you teasing me?” Justin asked suspiciously as they walked out of the classroom together and Cody rolled his eyes before huffing lightly. “I pay you a compliment and all you do is treat me with suspicion--- what did I do to deserve this?”

“I didn’t—“ Justin started, and then realised that Cody was messing with him and shoved the other, “You’re such a berk, Cody!”

“You love me really,” Cody said, batting his eyelashes at Justin and blowing him a kiss. Justin snorted and rolled his eyes as Ted merely shook his head in fond exasperation at them both. Sometimes, save for obvious physical discrepancies, one might think that Cody and Justin were related. “He wasn’t wrong though, Justin,” Ted added as they walked to their next class, “You are really concise and good at reiterating your main points and such. You’d probably be a good public speaker.” 

“Well… thank you,” Justin said. “A little while back Wade asked what I wanted to do for a living and, umm… I told him I thought I’d like to be a teacher,” he told his friends.

“Did you really?” Cody asked. “Then why did you seem so offended when I told you you’d make a good teacher?”

“I don’t know… I couldn’t tell if you were being serious, or not.”

“Of course I was being serious! I could so easily see you standing at the head of the classroom, teaching bright young minds about… well… anything, really. It’s not fair how you don’t seem to struggle with any subjects.”

“Oh, please, I’m definitely not the best when it comes to math.”

“You are, too, you liar,” Cody said. 

“Anyway,” Ted cut in before the two of them continued their bickering, “you’d be a great teacher.”

“If you taught here, you could go right from your classroom back to Wade’s,” Cody then whispered.

“You say it like I hadn’t thought of that already.”

“Thank goodness… if it hadn’t crossed your mind then I was going to have to hurt you,” Cody chuckled before shaking his head as they walked along. Justin chuckled along with him.

“Oh please—you couldn’t hurt a fly,” Justin teased and Cody grinned slightly before waving a hand flamboyantly at him.

“I’m a lover, not a fighter,” he announced grandly and then winked.

“What do you two want to do when you leave school?” Justin asked them both. It was something that they had discussed before, but it seemed as though Cody’s answer was forever changing whereas Ted seemed a bit unsure.

But, sadly, he had the feeling his uncertainty wouldn’t matter anyway; his parents would be choosing for him.

“I still think I belong in the theatre.”

Ted rolled his eyes; that was an _old_ announcement from Cody.

“You can carry it on as a weekend hobby,” Ted said.

“Seriously though,” Justin prompted and Cody cocked his head, looking somewhat contemplative.

“Seriously, though, I can’t see myself _not_ continuing on in the theatre,” Cody answered. 

“Really?” Ted asked. “I just… how much of a life would that be?”

“What? Would you rather I become an accountant like your dear ol’ dad? Like you’ll be doing once you graduate?”

“I never said that I’d follow in my father’s footsteps,” Ted replied. 

“We all know you will, though. Look… the theatre makes me happy… it’s my passion; I bare my soul whenever I’m up on stage.”

“Is that really how you’d want to live, though?” Justin asked. “I mean, how could you make a living doing theatre? Can you see yourself, day in and day out, travelling around with some theatre troupe while you grow old and gray?”

“I’m only fifteen, how am I supposed to know what I’ll want to do when I’m sixty-something? I really don’t know what I want to do, but I do know that the theatre needs to be a part of my life.”

Justin looked amused, “Maybe, if you ask Ted nicely enough he’ll buy you a theatre for your nest birthday, Cody.”

“It’s not like he couldn’t afford it,” Cody nodded looking thoughtful.

“I am stood _right here_ ,” Ted said, addressing both boys wryly.

“We’re aware of that,” Justin responded with a smile before sobering just a little bit, “You know you have the chance to do what you want, Cody. I mean, there’s no way Virgil’s going to make you do something you don’t want to.”

But even Cody’s liberal-minded father probably wouldn’t be overly enthused by the thought of his son spending life in the theatre.

“I know,” Cody said, adjusting his collar and tie absently, “But at the same time that’s the problem,” he said. When Ted and Justin looked confused he elaborated, “Aside from the theatre there’s nothing I’m good at.”

“Come now, that’s not true,” Ted protested, “There are a lot of things that you’re good at.” 

~~~ 

“I—I but that—“ Evan sputtered slightly, completely at a loss for how he was supposed to handle such a conversation, let alone there in the open and before an audience.

“You don’t need to look so panicked, Evan,” John said, slightly concerned by how pale Evan had turned so very suddenly.

“I’m not—“ Evan said weakly, though he tried to mean it.

It was more the shock of such a sudden topic than anything.

“I’d never begrudge you that,” Chris said softly, in all seriousness, clearly not as bothered by their audience as Evan, “Although…” he trailed off.

“Although?” Evan repeated, looking apprehensive.

“Whether I could ever truly give you up to a woman, mother of your child and your wife or not, I don’t know.”

Mark had to admire the balls of such a declaration; most blokes would probably shy away from such commitment. Indeed, the words looked as though they had quite the effect upon Evan as well, the boy looking as dazed as though he had been fouled out on the pitch and smashed his head.

“What about you two?” Mark addressed John and Randy, “Want kids?”

“Yeah, one day,” John answered. “I already know who I’d be marrying and, yeah, I could start a family with her.”

“That the girl you—?”

John cut him off. “No. Different girl. She claims she wants to wait until marriage, but I don’t know if that’s just because she’s fucking around with other guys right now. I’m not about to ask, though.”

“Same with mine,” Randy said. “She wants us both to wait until we’re married, so I’ve just told her ‘yes, of course I’ll wait for you,’ and come right back to fucking John. But, to answer your questions, yeah, I want kids some day. Though if they turn out to be as much of a handful as I can be, I might be regretting that decision later,” he said with a grin.

“And how about you, Mark?” John asked. 

“I don’t even want to _think_ about having kids right now. I always thought that… well, back when I was younger, you remember I was telling you about that girl next door to me? Well, when we were kids, we’d always talk about how we’d get married and have a bunch of kids one day.”

“And this was the first person you ever slept with?” Mark nodded in confirmation. “Do you still… have feelings for her?” Randy asked. 

Mark shrugged and glanced down at the table. 

“So that’s a yes then?”

“I don’t know,” Mark responded verbally, though there was an uncertainty there all the same. “I mean, it’d be weird now, I’ve not seen her for years.” When Randy suddenly started snickering Mark looked mildly irritated, “What’s so funny?” he asked, and even John looked rather amused.

“Are we missing something here?” Chris asked.

“It’s amusing really, but I don’t blame you for being naïve…” Randy sighed and leant back in his chair a little before then standing, “Come on, we have class to get to.” Mark looked startled as John stood too.

“Aren’t you going to explain what you mean?”

“Hm?” Randy shouldered his bag and then shrugged, “Oh, just that your parents have probably arranged a marriage contract between you and her already, but they aren’t planning to tell you about it just yet. Chances are they’ve kept in contact all this time. You know what parents are like.” They got attached to those they deemed suitable for their children.

“They wouldn’t do that!” Mark insisted as he followed Randy and John out, Chris and Evan following behind them.

“You sure about that?” John asked the other boy as he glanced at him over his shoulder, arching a brow when Mark hesitated, “Exactly.”

“You really think they’d do that?” Mark asked. 

“Yeah, I do,” Randy answered. “Parents just have a way about them… they do that sort of thing. Did you only fuck her that one time?”

“God no. After that first time, any time we could find to get together, we would be.”

“Does she know about all your other fucks?” John then asked him. 

“A little bit,” he answered. “I don’t think she knows _how many_ there have been, but I’d mentioned to her once or twice about being with others. And she’s been with others, too.”

Randy grinned. “Mark… now more than before I think your first crush is going to become your wife.”

“I… don’t know.”

“All signs point to yes.”

“But from the sound of it you wouldn’t mind that even so, would you?” John asked.

“He has a point,” Evan piped up, not wanting to intrude but also not entirely understanding why Mark seemed so adamant that there was no chance he could marry this girl in question.

“Don’t bother trying to ask them though,” Randy said cheerfully then.

“You what?” Mark blinked.

“Asking them will be pointless because unless the arrangement is already secure they won’t want you doing anything to prevent it from being.”

“So you’re saying they’ll lie to me then?” he frowned.

“Don’t see it as lying.”

Their conversation was forced to a premature end when they reached their classroom, filing in one after another.

As they walked into the room, Randy asked, “Will you need help finding your classes today?”

“I should be all set,” Mark replied. “If I get lost, I’ll ask someone where I need to go. Unless you want to help me out after third period again…?” he muttered quietly, not wanting anyone already in the room to hear.

“We’ll see,” Randy said with a smirk and a quick wink his way before taking his seat.

John had to roll his eyes, though. He had a feeling he knew _exactly_ what was going on. “You’re not propositioning him again are you?” he asked once Randy sat down next to him. 

“And what if I am?” 

“You’re… you’re ridiculous, Randy. You had sex with him last night and you still want more?”

“If you want me to be honest here, what I really want is to see him with you,” Randy replied.

John looked uncertain, but he couldn’t say anything as the professor walked into the room. They all stood, waiting for the professor to signal them to sit. Once he did, class was in session.

In retrospect John should have expected, however, that Randy wouldn’t be put off that easy.

 _It’d be hot to watch you fuck him,_ the note of Randy’s flawless script appeared in front of him not mere moments after the lecture had started, _Or watching him fuck you. I’d like to see that from another perspective._

For a moment John almost felt embarrassed--- and that wasn’t easy with regards to him.

 _Well, I dunno if I fancy that really_ , he slipped the note back across to his waiting lover.

It was one thing to be involved when Randy wanted it, but with Mark being solely focused on him (at least for a little while) John didn’t know how to feel about that. It was… well, unusual.

 _You didn’t seem to mind him yesterday_ , Randy wrote back, pouting slightly at the other.

 _I’m trying to focus_.

It wasn’t that John much cared about this class per se but any excuse he could use to get Randy to drop the issue for the moment was helpful. Besides… he knew he really _should_ pay attention.

 _Come off it, John. You’re the last person I believe when you say you’re trying to focus in class_ was Randy’s next note to him. 

So, instead of arguing with him, he simply jotted down _We’ll talk about this later. Now pay attention_ and handed the note over. 

Randy gave a slight frown, but figured he was getting nowhere with John and he was falling behind on his class notes, so it wasn’t even worth it anymore. He would have started a note back and forth with Mark, but he was too many seats away that he wouldn’t trust that no one would look at it before it reached its destination. Plus he didn’t want to risk the professor seeing a note passed around. No, they had a tendency to read notes aloud to the entire class, and that would _not_ be good. 

So, for the rest of the class, he was forced to sit quietly and take notes like the good student everyone thought him to be. 

The second the dismissal bell went and everyone was packing away though, Randy leveled a pout at John, “You know I hate being ignored.”

“You’re the one always telling me that I need to put more effort into my schoolwork,” John said evasively as he packed his own bag.

Leaning in towards John, though their fellow students were noisy enough that no one would be able to hear their conversation lest they were literally on top of them both--- which he was sure most boys of the school would love to happen. “Won’t you consider it for me?” he asked, batting his lashes. John’s brows rose somewhat, eyeing the other boy as though he had just asked him to recite the lyrics to the French National Anthem. “For you,” he repeated and Randy nodded again. “Yes, for me, John.”

“And how exactly would it be for you? Aside from the obvious,” he quirked an individual brow this time, referring subtly to sexual fantasy.

“I think it’d be just as good for me as it was for you,” Randy answered. 

“So you think it was good for me?” John asked. 

“Obviously.”

“And you think me being with him in one way or another will also be enjoyable for me?” John went onto ask.

“Obviously. I know that you were feeling… possessive… and I want to be able to see what you saw and feel what you felt,” Randy whispered to him. 

“You really want it to happen, don’t you? And it can’t wait for DiBiase?” John asked.

“Well… I suppose it could… but we’ve got a willing and able participant and I don’t see why we should turn him away.” 

“It’s going to be such a shock to your system when you begin to lose your sex-drive,” John said to him lightly.

“Which will happen when I’m a very ripe, very old age. So, until that time…”

“I’ll see,” John sighed.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about letting another boy fuck him, and he’d sort of worked himself into the mind-set that DiBiase was the only other one he’d have.

At least that was the theoretical ideal behind it anyway.

“Fine,” Randy relented, because he knew that that meant he was swaying John to his way of thinking. He’d push it a bit more later.

“We have a free after next, don’t we?” John asked and Randy nodded his head in response.


	50. Chapter 50

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes ~ Oscar Wilde

“Oh, yeah? Like what? Go on, Teddy, list for me all the things that I’m good at.”

“Well, if you actually _applied_ yourself, you’d see yourself that you’re good at lots of stuff.”

“You still haven’t actually answered my question,” Cody told him. 

Ted sighed. “You’re good in English and our literature classes,” he answered. 

“Really, Ted? That’s all you’ve got? I bet Oscar Wilde was good in his English classes, too. Besides, I’m only good at that _because_ of the theatre.”

“Oh, come off it. Honestly, you just don’t apply yourself in your classes. If you actually worked towards becoming an accountant, you could become one.”

“Well, I don’t _want_ to be an accountant. I don’t think there could be anything more _boring_.”

“It’s really not as boring as you make it out to be. It can be challenging when you really get involved.”

Cody raised an eyebrow at his lover. “Yeah, I’d much rather live my life with a travelling theatre troupe.

The look on Ted’s face said what he thought of _that_ idea from his lover.

Even Justin looked rather concerned, “You hear all sorts about travelling theatre groups…” he trailed off.

“Like the fact that they’re disease-ridden, immoral criminal vagabonds,” Ted said.

The venom in his voice clearly startled both Cody and Justin at once.

Cody seemed upset by Ted’s sudden anger, and also personally offended by the verbal slight that he had just ‘given his fellow actors’ with no real proof.

“Are you saying that’s what I am?” he asked, his voice unnervingly low and Justin felt something prickle in the back of his mind in undeniable warning.

“No,” Ted said, either ignoring or not caring about Cody’s sudden dip in mood, “But you _will_ become that if you carry on--!”

For a moment Justin thought Cody might actually _strike_ Ted, but then he merely turned and fled down the hallway.

He looked at Ted but, surprisingly, the blonde merely turned his back on him and walked in the opposite direction.

“Ted, _what_ are you doing?!” Justin exclaimed after watching everything, following after Ted. 

“Giving my opinion,” Ted replied.

“You didn’t even try and stop him running off!”

“And? Maybe he needs to stop and _think_ and _listen_.”

~~~

“Any plans?” John asked.

“Nope. Wanna make some?” Randy asked in response.

“Maybe,” John replied. “What kinda plans did you have in mind?”

“Well… I was thinking maybe getting a head start on homework could be in order,” Randy said. 

“Really, Randy?”

“Really.”

“You know, you think more with your dick than I do… you really expect me to believe that during our free period all you want to do is homework,” John said.

“Hey, you asked for ideas, I gave you one.”

“Well… do you have any _other_ ideas as to what to do during our free period?” John asked again.

Before Randy could respond there was the sudden sound of pounding footsteps nearby them, and naturally curious Randy moved to glance around the corner to the hall.

Seeing what appeared to be a sobbing Cody stumbling into the boys’ bathroom immediately had his interest peaked.

“I think you need to do a captain’s duty and go and find Ted DiBiase,” Randy said without turning.

“What?” John asked, clueless as to where that had come from suddenly.

“I’ll meet you before the lesson--- hurry along now John.”

And then he was gone around the corner.

Still confused, John remained still.

But then he found himself moving.

_Moving to find Ted._

“Ted!” John called when he spotted the younger man down the hall. 

Justin and Ted both stopped and turned their heads to look at him. “John?” They both were clearly confused as to why he was there.

“Yeah, uh, Justin, would you mind if I talked to him alone?” John asked. “You go to class… we won’t be long. If he’s late, I’ll make sure he gets a pass.” John flashed his smile, which, quite honestly, had no affect on Justin, but he let the two have their little chat. 

“What’s all this about?” Ted asked. 

“Randy told me to come after you… he found Cody crying in some bathroom.”

Those words made Ted feel like the lowest scum on the face of the earth and his face crumpled.

Why Randy would have told John to come after him though Ted didn’t know.

“Do you think I’m a bad friend?” the blonde whispered suddenly.

He might know about John but he was sure John didn’t know about him so he couldn’t exactly ask if John thought him a bad lover.

“Of course not,” John soothed, his hand going to the spot between Ted’s shoulder-blades. Oddly Ted was usually reticent of anyone touching him so freely, unless they were Cody, but John… he didn’t mind John touching him. “What happened between you both anyway?”

Ted wasn’t one who liked to air his problems, but _this_ time he _did_.

“He just,” Ted raked his hands through his hair.

“He just doesn’t take his future seriously and—”

“And the thought of him leaving you behind frightens you?”

Ted looked into John’s eyes, somewhat surprised at how easily he’d know what it was that was bothering him. He nodded. “Yes. He’s been saying for a long time now that he wants the theatre to be part of his life… and, well…”

“And you don’t want him travelling around, leaving you behind, maybe… being with other lovers?” John asked, keeping his voice soothing. 

“What?” Ted was sure he misheard that. 

“I mean, those theatre troupes don’t have the best of reputation when it comes to that sort of thing, does it?”

“No… no, it doesn’t… but what do you mean by… _other lovers_?” Ted asked.

“I mean lovers other than you,” John said. 

“No, I know, but… you _know_. About he and I?” Ted asked softly.

“Well, I hadn’t known for sure, but I could assume it as truth by the way you two are together.”

“Oh…” Ted said, suddenly feeling incredibly drained and unsure how to react both to that, and to the news that he had made Cody cry. He could bet all of their friends would be on his case about it later if they found out.

“You don’t seem to be expecting me to say anything bad about it,” John then mused and Ted’s cheeks went red despite himself, looking down.

“I’m not surprised; I mean, I doubt there’s hardly anyone in the school who doesn’t suspect Randy and I.”

“How do you do it?” Ted asked suddenly.

John momentarily found himself distracted by the way Ted bit his bottom lip, his eyes so open and vulnerable.

Shaking himself mentally he cleared his throat softly and forced himself to focus.

“Do what?” he asked and Ted gave a somewhat bitter smile, head shaking.

“How do you be with the one you love and not fight?”

“You think Randy and I never fight?” John asked, grinning a bit. He heard the bell ring and damned it for cutting their conversation shorter than what it should have been. Not that he was letting Ted go just yet, but he wanted them to be able to talk even longer. “He and I fight all the time.”

“It doesn’t appear that way,” Ted muttered. 

“Believe me, we do. He and I have known each other for nearly our whole lives, we roomed together every year that we’ve been in school and we’ve been… together in _that_ sense since we ten.” Ted’s eyes grew wide, but John carried on. “You can trust me when I say we’ve had our fights in the past.”

“Well… ever since Cody and I…” he paused, unable to bring himself to tell someone else what he and Cody had done, but he knew that John would know what he was getting at, “we’ve been fighting a lot more.”

“That’s fairly normal, I’d say.”

“No one else seems to bicker as much as we do, though,” Ted told him. “And every time it happens, I’m worried that… that something stupid that I said will push him away for good.”

“Ted, if you love him and he loves you, then nothing is going to push him away,” John said, moving his hand to give Ted’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“I’m so sorry to be burdening you with this,” Ted said suddenly realising how much he had blurted out to his captain, cheeks reddening as he glanced down. “I don’t--- sometimes, when I get worked up, and I’m comfortable around someone I just babble like an idiot—“ he cut off, “I hope I haven’t made you uncomfortable.”

“You haven’t,” John assured, squeezing the younger boy’s shoulder and making him glance up again. “I like that you feel comfortable around me, and if I’ve been any help to you at all that makes me very happy.” John smiled, and though the dimples were present it was different than his usual grin.

It made Ted’s stomach give an alarming twist.

“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” John said, “Just talk it out with him, both of you should just sit down and listen to each other. Love is complicated, and unless you’re both there for each other… it just won’t work out.”

Ted gazed up at John, surprised.

Because John was always so cheerful it was rather difficult to picture him having a serious side. It was… strangely appealing, inappropriate as that was.

“Come on,” John’s super-watt dimples appeared next, “I’ll walk you to class. And, if you ever need someone to talk to feel free to come and find me,” he told him with total honesty.

~~~

Randy followed Cody into the bathroom, seeing one of the stall doors shut, a pair of feet planted on the floor and the sound of crying coming from it. “Hey, you ok?” Randy asked.

“Piss off, Ted” Cody managed to get out through his tears, not even noticing that it _wasn’t_ Ted out there. 

“I’m not Ted,” Randy then informed him. “It’s Randy.”

Cody’s crying stopped. He stood and opened the door, coming face to face with the one and only Head Boy. Wiping at his face, he said, “God, I’m sorry… I can’t… I can’t believe I’m crying in front of you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Randy told him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “But can I ask what got you so upset?” he asked, using his other hand to lift his chin up so he could look down into those beautiful blue eyes.

Cody felt his heart pound slightly, once again feeling oddly overwhelmed to be the sole focus of Randy’s attention. He’d bet most boys would kill to have Randy follow them, for him to be apparently concerned for them.

When tears rushed to those exotic eyes once more Randy had the strongest urge to lick them away. It was almost rather unfair; no boy should be able to look as beautiful smiling as he did when he was apparently hurting deeply.

“Stupid Ted!” Cody suddenly sobbed and though Randy knew Ted was the one thing people seemed to associate with Cody most he was surprised by the rather venomous declaration.

“What did he do?” the Head Boy murmured in his most soothing tone, still not releasing Cody’s chin. And Cody didn’t mind.

“He’s just such a--- such a bloody---!” he cut off with another sob.

“Hey, it’s ok,” Randy said. “What happened?”

“He’s— he’s such an inconsiderate idiot,” Cody told him, still trying to choke back tears, quite unsuccessfully. 

“What’d he do?” Randy asked again, tilting his head to the side a bit. He really was curious as to what happened to get him so upset. 

“He… he just _says_ things!” Cody exclaimed, wiping at his eyes. “He doesn’t ever think about how what he says might be taken by someone else.”

“Well, I’m here to listen if you want someone to talk to,” Randy told him, gently stroking his thumb on Cody’s chin. 

Cody wiped both eyes again, still feeling like an idiot for crying in front of Randy Orton, but there wasn’t much he could do about it now. He’d already been seen and he had the older teen right there, offering to listen to his side of the story. “He— he just can’t seem to get over the fact that I want to act. He doesn’t think it’s a real living and… he just doesn’t _care_ what I think!” 

Randy paused with a contemplative look, “I’m not so sure that’s correct,” he pointed out gently to the younger boy, who in turn looked quite startled.

“What?” he asked, then feeling himself blush when Randy’s hand gently wiped a few more tears off of his cheek.

“I’m not sure that it’s not that Ted doesn’t _care_ about what you think, it’s more… he’s jealous about the thought.”

“Jealous?” Cody repeated a little dumbly and Randy nodded.

“Jealous of the thought of you going off, seeing new places and meeting new people without him, finding lovers other than him,” he added.

Cody’s eyes widened at the final point but then he merely let it pass; it wasn’t as though he’d ever tried to keep his love of Ted a secret after all. “I think I can understand how he feels,” Randy said lightly, pressing a finger over Cody’s lips before he could interrupt, “I’m not saying he handled it well but I can understand. If there was a chance John would leave me behind I’d be insane with jealousy too.”

Randy dropped his finger from Cody’s lips to let him reply. “I don’t want to leave Ted behind, though. And I don’t _want_ to find lovers other than him.”

That little statement there threw Randy for a bit of a loop. He thought Cody was being receptive to his come ons and that there was a chance that he would want to find another lover in Randy. “Does he know that, though? Or does he just think that you’re going to go off with the theatre and leave him here?”

“I… I don’t know. I do want to join the theatre, but maybe somewhere local so that I could still be with him.”

“That’s not what he’s thinking, though. He’s thinking that you want to go off all over England, become loose with your morals and your body.”

“That’s not it at all!” Cody protested. He was about to go on, but Randy pressed two fingers to his lips to stop him. 

“Hey, just stop and think about it from his position for a moment. Can you see why he might be thinking such things?”

Cody’s cheeks hollowed as his lips formed into a pout, and Randy found his mind wandering to most inappropriate territory given their conversation topic.

At least the tears had stopped for the main now, and he was glad; Randy was never good when people cried, though outwardly he might seem it. “I guess…” he finally conceded and for a moment Randy completely blanked as to what the younger man was saying, but then focused hastily, “But… he should trust me.”

“He probably does,” Randy pointed out, “Most likely he does, but… love makes you behave irrationally, you know?”

Glancing up at Randy, Cody then gave a wry smile, “I think… Now you’ve mentioned it, that it might be something else I’ve said praying on his mind.”

“Oh?” Randy cocked his head to the side, vaguely hearing the bell for class but in no rush to heed it; he’d prevent Cody from getting in trouble for lateness too.

“I told him that I _physically_ desire another boy. That’s all it is but… well, I think it upset him. He has trouble separating lovemaking and sex.”

“Well, some people are like that,” Randy told him. “They believe that sex is only to be had with the person you love.”

“But I _don’t_ see it that way! I love Ted, of course I do, and I love being with him… but I still desire another boy. I don’t love them, but I’d want to be with them,” Cody said. 

Randy sighed. That situation could be tricky. “You’re not going to pursue him behind Ted’s back, are you?”

“No! I wouldn’t do anything like that behind Ted’s back! But I want him to be ok with everything… and, well… I think he himself might feel the same way I do about another boy, but he can’t bring himself to admit it.”

“Really?” Randy asked. 

“Really.”

“Do you mind if I ask which boy it is that you’re attracted to?” 

“I think you might have a very good idea exactly who that boy is,” Cody answered, meeting Randy’s eyes.

Randy had to admire the kid’s confidence; he reminded him of himself back when he had been so young, but not nearly as (sexually) naïve at that point in his –still- young life.

“I may have an idea,” he played innocently, “But I would so _hate_ to be wrong and ruin the burgeoning friendship we seem to be gaining.”

For some reason those words brought a small smile to Cody’s lips, “Won’t happen… so why don’t you hazard a guess?”

Pretending to think for a moment Randy then ducked his head down, brushing his lips across Cody’s in a mere whisper of a kiss, the pressure lighter than a feather across the appendages. “Am I right?” he asked the younger lowly.

Cody nodded, mildly dumbfounded.

_Randy Orton had just kissed him._

“Well,” Randy was saying when Cody came back to himself, “I wouldn’t want to cause a rift between you and Ted, but…”

He held Cody’s eyes, “I wouldn’t say no if you were to _approach_ me.”

“So… so yesterday at tryouts, you weren’t just saying that to get a rise?” Cody found himself asking. “You really meant it?”

“Do I look like the kind of person that would say something they didn’t mean?” Randy queried. Cody shook his head side to side. “Then I meant it.”

“But I’m just… and you’re so…” Cody began and cut himself off several times and he continued to look at Randy. 

“You’re just? I’m so? I mean it. If you were ever to come to me, there’d be no way I could turn you away.”

“Teddy would have to know… I couldn’t just…” He then realized that he’d probably end up telling Ted about the kiss. Despite it being feather light, it was still a kiss. 

“I’m not saying go behind Ted’s back… no, that’s not healthy… but maybe you need to let him know that John wouldn’t say no if he approached him,” Randy suggested lightly. “Not that John would say no to you, either,” he then added. “Nor would I say no to Ted…” He gave a quick wink. “Just something to consider.” 

“Really?” the wide-eyed look of surprise was one that Randy once again found endearing; it wasn’t as though either boy couldn’t be aware of their physical appeal, and yet Cody seemed so shocked that his desire, and that of his lover’s would be returned by those they had in mind. “Really,” Randy assured him with a nod.

Cody would _definitely_ need to tell Ted about this… when the other apologised that was, he amended in his mind.

“Come on,” Randy said, “Wash your face and then I’ll walk you to your class.” Cody looked at his watch, “Is it worth turning up now?”

Randy merely winked, “Trust me… you won’t get into trouble as long as you’re with me when you head back inside,” he promised.

Seeing no reason to doubt the Head Boy, Cody did as he was bid and then walked along to his classroom with Randy. Before he got inside though, Randy stopped him.

“Remember what I said,” he murmured softly, “Neither of you need to be afraid to _ever_ approach myself, or John.” Cody nodded his head.

“Thank you, Randy,” Cody replied and Randy smiled just before opening the door to the room, both of them walking inside. 

~~~

“Thank you,” Ted replied, completely sincere. He didn’t know if he’d ever actually take John up on his offer, but it was nice to know that it was there for him if he ever needed to.

“Hey, it’s what a friend does, right?” John asked.

“Uh… yeah… it is.”

John gave him yet another smile and Ted felt his stomach tighten up again. “Just let me know where your classroom is and I’ll talk to your professor really quick; I can talk my way out of anything,” he added, giving Ted a little wink.

That wink did the same things to him that John’s smile did. “Here’s my class,” Ted told him, pointing to his right a little bit later.

“Ok, let’s go,” John said, pushing Ted through the door with his hand on his back. John walked up to the professor, telling him that he was talking to a fellow student about some important personal issues in confidence. It was then that Ted had to agree that John really _could_ talk his way out of anything.

As the sports captain slipped out of the door he threw Ted the quickest wink, and Ted sent him a tiny smile back and gave a slight nod. Had it been for any other reason why he was late Ted was sure his professor wouldn’t have been so accepting of the matter… he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t glad he wouldn’t lose merit.

Seeing the look Justin shot him when he sat down Ted merely shook his head a fraction before quickly taking out of his exercise book and his pen, intending to catch up on the lesson notes that he had missed thus-far.

He knew that his friend wouldn’t let the matter go but he at least hoped that the professor talked long enough to forestall conversation and as such allow for him to compose himself.

In the end it seemed his wish was granted; the professor seemed very keen to hear the sound of his own voice that day, and talked a long time.

But, the second there was the chance to talk...

“What the hell, Ted?” 

“I just talked with him, that’s all,” Ted replied. 

“What the hell was there to talk about with Cena?” Justin asked him, pressing the issue. There was no way he was letting this one go. 

“Orton saw Cody crying… he sent Cena to find me and talk to me. I, um… we just talked, ok?”

“No, it’s not ok. There’s gotta be more to it than that.”

“Fine, fine… he knows about Cody and me,” he admitted. “I told him that I was the one that upset Cody and he said that he could understand where I was coming from… because he’d be jealous about Randy leaving him, travelling the world, finding other people…”

“He actually said that to you?” Justin asked. 

Ted nodded. “He did. And he told me that even though we might fight, and fight often, if we love each other, we’ll be able to get through it.”

“It’d probably help of Cody wasn’t a drama queen about everything,” Justin then added.

Ted sighed, “At least you don’t consider me completely at fault,” he murmured quietly to the other.

Justin shook his head, “You could have been a bit less forceful,” he said delicately, “But I understood how you felt about… that topic.”

“It’s not like we haven’t fought about it before,” Ted conceded.

“So… Cena was just concerned about you?” Justin asked.

He didn’t know what it was, but something about that just _didn’t_ sit right with him.

“Yes,” Ted nodded, “And he said I could go to him if there was ever a time I just needed someone to talk to. I’ll probably never take up the offer though.”

An unbiased ear was nice, but he was concerned about how John might see him if he approached him continually to complain or just generally take advantage of his offer. That reasoning he kept to himself; Justin would completely have a fit if he found out.

Ted was sure he would look hypocritical over it.

“You never know… I mean, you’re now on both the rugby and cricket teams with him, so maybe you will,” Justin said. 

“Maybe,” Ted agreed, though he really didn’t believe it. Though he may be seeing more of John, he didn’t know if he wanted John to know _everything_ that was going on in his life. It was enough that he now knew for sure that he and Cody were sleeping together. 

Justin shrugged. He found it strange how John had actually gone out looking for him, but on the other hand, he did find it nice that John was concerned for one of the newest athletes on his rugby team. Though, at the same time, he also couldn’t help but wonder if there was some ulterior motive, like what there appeared to be when Randy was sitting next to Cody at tryouts. “Maybe.”

“Think Cody’s any better now?” Ted found himself asking. He was glad he got his opinion out, but he really didn’t like knowing that he made Cody cry. 

“He’s probably told Orton what a big jerk you are,” Justin told him. 

Ted cringed at that. “Yeah, he probably did…” He then had this surge of jealousy, thinking of just _what_ Cody could possibly end up doing with Orton if he wanted to get back at him. 

“Um, Ted?” Justin inputted gingerly after a moment, “You’re going to _break_ that fountain pen if you hold it any tighter.”  
Blinking a few times Ted then looked down at his hand and loosened the grip he had on his pen. “Sorry,” he apologised, though he could tell that Justin was querying why Ted was apologising to him when it was his own pen that would be broken should he keep that up.

“What were you thinking about?” Justin asked, but then the teacher called their attention back to the front to go over the answers to the exercises as far as had been completed, the rest –unsurprisingly- being set for their homework. “What was that about before?” Justin asked as they packed away, no one necessarily hurrying now because they were on their morning break. Ted sighed.

“I _don’t want_ to think about what I was thinking about,” he replied.

Justin stared at him a moment before saying, “Come again?” since he had _no idea_ what on earth Ted was talking about. Ted merely gathered his things up.

“Do you think I should go and try to find him now?” the blonde asked, both wanting to get them back on good terms and also wanting him out of Orton’s clutches whilst he was alone and vulnerable. 

"Yes, that'd probably be the best idea," Justin said. He knew as well as Ted how irrational Cody could be at times.

Ted gave his friend a quick nod and then headed off to their room, thinking maybe Cody had gone back there. On his way to the room, though, he ran once more into John, this time with Randy. "Ted," John said in greeting, giving him a smile.

"Hi, John, Randy," Ted replied.

"Where are you off to?" John asked.

"Trying to find Cody... to apologize."

Randy gave Ted a little smile. "I think that's a good idea. He calmed down a lot though when I talked to him."

Ted had to fight to keep from glowering at Randy. He did not want Randy getting closer to Cody, especially when Cody was so emotional.

The tension in his body wasn’t missed by John though; he was very observant when it came to the human form after all.

“I don’t suppose you know where he headed off to?” Ted asked, careful to keep his voice polite and level. If Randy noticed anything about his demeanour he didn’t show it. “I don’t know,” the Head Boy said, “Have you tried the bike-sheds?”

Ted’s eyes widened in momentary panic.

“He might be smoking,” Randy said innocently.

Flushing at his own misunderstanding (and cursing that that was probably where Cody was) Ted muttered his excuses and left.

“That was cruel of you,” John mused.

Randy chuckled, “Those uptight sorts just need a little bit of a push is all… I was just nudging him a bit. Let’s go; I fancy a snack from the tuck-shop.”

“Randy!” Evan called, spotting his cousin as he, too, was heading to get himself a snack. Chris had to go meet up with someone from one of his other classes for a study group since he had an exam coming up in his next class. 

“Hey, Ev,” Randy greeted when he saw him, pausing so that he could catch up. “Where’s your other half?”

Evan glared at him, but replied, “Studying.”

“Sounds awful,” John muttered. 

“He wasn’t too fond of the idea but he wanted to pass, so… yeah, he’s studying.”

“Maybe you should try that more often, John,” Randy then said. “That whole studying thing.”

“I do just fine in my classes, thank you. I retain information quite well,” John told him.

Their conversation came to a pause, though, when they reached the shop, beginning to browse the selection for what they wanted.

Paying for their purchases John then led the way towards their next class; there was a communal area not far from it so it would be their best bet to spend their momentary break time there. John fell into a seat, sighing deeply.

“As if they didn’t have any left,” he bemoaned tragically and Evan giggled at his behaviour as he sat too.

“You’ll survive,” Randy mused, reclining in his own seat, opening the bottle of drink.

The glass bottles caused a lot of mess around the school, and anyone caught littering was severely punished. “They’ll get more soon.”

“But I like _those_ ones!” John insisted, “And this is the third week on the trot they’ve run out!”

“Probably because you eat so many,” Randy smirked and Evan choked on his own snack.

“Bite me,” John pouted, sticking his tongue out.

“Ask me again later on, hm?” Randy returned. 

“Oh, I’ll remember that,” John said.

“Really you two?” Evan asked, glancing between John and his cousin. “I thought we went over that I don’t actually want to know what you two get up to together. _Especially_ if…” he trailed off. 

“Especially if… what?” Randy asked. 

“Mark,” was all Evan said. 

“Oh, you picked up on that, did you?”

Evan gawked at him. “It was pretty hard not to! You didn’t really sleep with him did you?” Evan asked, dropping his voice low so no one around could hear. 

“And what if I did?”

“Did you go behind John’s back?”

“Of course not!” Randy told him. “I’d never sleep with anyone behind John’s back. But I’d do it right in front of him,” he said with a quick wink.

“Your mission in life is to drive me insane isn’t it?” Evan mewed, hands covering his face as he fought to block the image Randy had verbally created from his mind. He _really_ didn’t need to know.

“Ev, dear cousin, don’t be such a prude.”

“John, really, they’re called boundaries. Try implementing some of them now and again. Randy could do with being collared a little bit. Just a bit.”

“Did you just… a bloody _collar_?”

Evan barely flinched at Randy’s yelp.

John burst into laughter, head falling back.

“Stop laughing, John!” Randy chided.

“I--- I can’t!” John sputtered.

Randy pouted as Evan smiled; he knew that that would ruffle Randy’s feathers, but not anything too bad. His cousin could get a bit sensitive about some things.

~~~

Cody stood by Randy as the older teen gave the professor a line very similar to what John did to Ted’s professor, about being concerned about a student and doing his duties as Head Boy to talk to him and make sure that he was ok. 

The professor excused the incident and told Cody to go to his seat before sending Randy off. Cody took his usual seat next to Heath, who raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ll tell you after class,” Cody whispered as he sat. After this class, they were heading out for their smoke break, anyway, so they’d have a whole class period to talk.

Heath nodded his head, returning his attention back to the teacher as Cody got his things out so he could start catching up on notes. 

When the bell signaling the end of the lesson and the start of break sounded, Cody exhaled a sigh of relief, rubbing his forehead.

Speedy note catch-ups were never easy on the hand or on the mind. Heath was at his side almost immediately, though whether that was because he was gagging for a fag or eager to hear his story he had no idea. “Wait until we’re outside, OK?” he told the redhead, gathering his own things up and then leading the way out of the room.

Once they were at their usual smoking spot Heath barely waited for Cody to light them both a cigarette up before asking, “What the hell was _that_ about?”

Taking a deep drag of the fag Cody then exhaled the acid cloud of smoke and sighed, “Right, just shut up and listen OK? I don’t want to go over this a hundred times—“ he told Heath about the fight, and Randy finding him, but _not_ the proposition.

"So Randy was there as a shoulder to cry on?" Heath asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Cody answered. "It was nice to have him to talk to, though. It showed me that he really does care about other students, you know? That he's not just the hardass he's made out to be."

Heath gave a nod and puffed on his cigarette. "Anyway, now that's out of the way, should we continue our conversation from earlier?" Heath asked, completely satisfied with Cody's answer to his question about coming in late with Randy.

"You mean that one that my party pooper of a boyfriend wouldn't let me partake in?" Cody asked with a grin.

"One in the same," Heath replied.

“So you really want to know?” Cody played and Heath snickered.

“If only to embarrass our dear Teddy mercilessly, yes.”

“Is that all?” Cody asked and Heath seemed to think it over a moment before then shaking his head, “No… I want to see what it is he has that gets you so worked up.” He winked and Cody swatted at him.

If only to get Ted back a little for how he had upset him, Cody then held his hands up (cigarette perched neatly between his lips for the moment) and demonstrated how big Ted was--- both when he was aroused and when he wasn’t.

“Mhm,” Heath nodded, “Not bad…” Cody huffed lightly but then chuckled; Heath _wouldn’t_ act too impressed obviously.

“You ‘bout you, then?” Heath asked, giving him a little nudge with his elbow.

“Me?” Cody asked, cigarette now between his pointer and middle finger as he blew out some smoke and tapped off the ashes.

“Yes, you. I mean, something about you had to woo Ted.”

Cody rolled his eyes and smirked. “He was wooed by me _far_ before he ever saw my cock,” he said. “But, since you’re curious…” He once more put the cigarette to his lips as he held up his hands to demonstrate. 

“Oh, you lie!” Heath said. 

“You just wish I was lying,” Cody replied. 

“Cody?”

“Ted?” Cody asked, turning his head to find his lover there, watching them smoke. “What are you doing here?” Ted never came out here. 

“Randy said you might be here.”

Heath felt himself flushing guiltily even though he had _nothing_ to feel guilty about; he wasn’t the one hiding the fact that he was still smoking from his anti-cigarette believing boyfriend. “Hey Teddy!” he greeted.

“Heath,” Ted returned rather stoically.

Looking between the two the redhead rolled his eyes and said, “I’ll just be off then shall I?” he began to walk a little bit away from them.

Cody rather wished he hadn’t; a witness was probably necessary right about now.

Picking the cigarette from his mouth he looked from it to Ted, “Um…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Look, it’s just one and--- what?” Cody said, blinking rapidly a few times as he looked at the now blushing, still rather stoic, blonde.

“I said I’m sorry,” he muttered.

For a moment, Cody could do little more than stare.

The moment Cody’s jaw hit the ground was when Ted took the cigarette from his fingers and actually _took a drag_. Normally Ted tossed the cigarettes onto the ground and stomped them out, but Ted just needed to calm his nerves a little bit before continuing on with his apology. 

“Ted, you just… but you don’t…”

Ted coughed a few times from the smoke, not at all used to smoking himself, and then handed it back to Cody. “Look, what I said earlier… it was really stupid of me.”

“It was,” Cody agreed, coming back to his own, taking another puff.

“But I only said it because I care about you.”

“Randy told me that you only said what you did because you were upset at the thought of me leaving you behind and jealous of the thought of me being with other lovers,” Cody told him.

“That’s nearly the same thing that John told me,” Ted muttered. He then shook his head quickly and turned his focus back to what Cody had said. “Look, about Randy…” 

“Actually, there’s something I have to tell you about Randy,” Cody said, his brow furrowing slightly though when he noticed something that looked like panic on his face. “Uh, Teddy?” Cody said, tilting his head slightly as he moved closer to Ted, cigarette hanging forgotten in his other hand.

“W-What about Randy?” he asked. 

“I was just going to say that he told me something that I think you would find very interesting.” It clearly _wasn’t_ what Ted had been expecting to hear because the look on his face was comical.

“And what was it that he told you?” Ted asked, unsure he wanted to know.

The ravenette leant into Ted, even though there was no way that Heath could hear them considering that he was quite a distance away from them both still, though he’d finished his cig from the looks of it.

“Randy said that he, and John, would be interested in _helping us_ if we were ever to _seek them both out_ ,” his brows arched a little and Ted looked at him, unmoving.

“What are you talking about? _Seek them out?_ ”


	51. Chapter 51

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one ~ Oscar Wilde

“You’re both awful people,” Randy huffed as John continued to laugh and Evan continued to grin. 

“Randy, you should have _heard_ yourself!” John said, wiping at his eyes before too many tears could fall. “You should have _seen_ yourself!”

“Well, blame Evan,” Randy said with a pout as he crossed his arms over himself. 

“Oh, quit acting like a twelve year old girl,” John replied. “Evan was only teasing.”

“Actually… I was being a little serious,” he told them.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. If I don’t fully approve, it doesn’t happen,” John said. “And I like to think that I can trust Randy’s judgment.”

“You like to think? Thank you, John, for that vote of confidence. I am Head Boy, you know, I wouldn’t get to this position if I didn’t have good judgment,” Randy countered. 

“I still don’t get it, though,” Evan chimed in. “I mean, how you could _want_ to be with others if you really do love one another…”

Randy shrugged. “Don’t knock it 'til you try it.”

“No thank you,” Evan said with as much dignity as he could manage when he had calmed down.

“I’ll lend you John if you like, he’s worth a go, I can promise you that much,” Randy grinned, getting his own back on the pair of them for laughing at him.

Evan’s face bloomed bright red, scowling at the other as he gaped at Randy in disbelief.

“I can’t believe you actually just said that to me,” his cousin gasped, John coughing on his drink slightly; that was a shot even for Randy.

“What? I’ll have a go with Chris if that will make you feel better, we can see how the other half—“ before he could finish the sentence John’s hand was over his mouth firmly.

“Censor your language when you’re in public, Randal.”

The Head Boy rolled his eyes and mumbled behind the other’s palm, John letting go.

“Stop sheltering the boy, John, he’s a grown up.”

John rolled his eyes lightly and said, “Honestly. What would you do if he turned around and said yes? You know you’re no good at sharing with family.”

“As if he’d _actually_ have said yes. Evan might be more open to that whole idea of sharing, but I highly doubt that applies when it comes to who he’s fucking,” Randy said.

Evan nodded. “He is right. No one’s touching Chris. And I’m not touching anyone _but_ Chris,” Evan told him. 

“So… even though you know he’s been with people in the past, you still wouldn’t want to be with anyone else?” Randy asked, and Evan shook his head. “Not even if Chris said to you that it’s perfectly ok with you to be with other people?”

“But… he wouldn’t be ok with that,” Evan replied. 

“Let’s just say that he was. Let’s say he tells you that one night only you can be with anyone else you want. Would you take him up on the offer?”

“No. I couldn’t just… sleep with someone.”

“Oh, there has to be _someone_ that you’d sleep with. Someone you looked at and said, ‘damn, I wish I could fu-” he then dropped his voice low and continued, “fuck them.’” 

“But there’s not, though,” Evan insisted. 

“No one? Male or female?” Randy asked, and Evan shrugged, which he found interesting… a shrug as opposed to an outright no. “That’s not a very definitive answer,” he said.

A strange expression crossed Evan’s face momentarily and John wondered whether they were pushing too hard; Evan was late-in-life by their standards regarding his sexuality after all.

However, Evan merely shook his head, “Before Chris I’d never really considered anything like that before, so…” he shrugged again.

“Never?” John asked, brow furrowing. “But surely there’s been someone before who’s made you want to…” he trailed off and then made a quick motion with his wrist. Evan blushed and looked away, not answering. “So what did you do?”

“Pardon?” Evan asked and John leant forward a little.

“What did you do instead of doing _that_? I mean, holding back like that must have been painful for you…” Evan looked down at the table top.

“I went to the chapel,” he murmured softly.

Self-pleasure was sinful after all, and so he had always hoped that being directly under God’s eyes would encourage him to hold off. “Wow Ev,” John murmured, surprised and awed.

“I’m sorry Ev,” Randy said suddenly, surprising him.

Meeting his cousin’s eyes he smiled ruefully, “I had no idea they’d embroiled you like that. I mean, I should have seen sooner, told you that things were really Ok,” he sighed.

“I… I know now, though,” Evan told them. 

“Do you really, though?” Randy asked. “Shit,” he then cursed as the bell rang; he didn’t want this conversation to be over. “We’re not done with this,” he then told Evan. 

“But Randy—”

“No. We’re not done talking about this, Ev,” Randy told him quite firmly. He wasn’t letting this go. He and his cousin were close, but he was just now learning things about him that he’d never known before. He stood from his seat in the little waiting area, John and Evan standing, as well. “After classes today, you’re coming to my room and we’re going to have a long talk.”

“I told you I don’t—”

“You obviously do,” Randy cut him off again. He didn’t know what he was going to say, but they were going to talk about it. There was no way he was letting this go. “And we’re picking right back up where we left off.”

“Will it just be us, then?” Evan asked with a sigh.

“It can be,” Randy answered, looking quickly to John who nodded his head in understanding. “If you want Chris there, though, he can come.”

“I’ll see,” Evan said, knowing the support of his presence would be nice but also not sure whether he’d want him hearing what Randy might have in mind to say to him.

“We off then?” John said, attempting to inject some joviality to the situation since it had gotten a little bit tense with the conversation.

“Yes, let’s get going,” Evan said, obviously keen.

As the trio reached their classroom they headed for their seats, Evan sending up a small prayer that Chris did well in his exam in his lesson. The blonde always worked hard though so he was sure he’d be fine, but still...

It was all he could do for him really.

“Don’t look so nervous.”

Evan turned, meeting John’s eyes, “Pardon?”

John squeezed Evan’s shoulder, “Randy adores you, you know that. He isn’t trying to interfere, though I know it sometimes looks like he is. It’s difficult for him to know that you had so much bottled up inside of you when he likes to think he keeps an eye on you,” he winked, “If this will calm him down just let him do it, OK?” he then headed inside. Dazed, Evan followed. 

The class went by fast enough, but then they were breaking for lunch, and that _always_ seemed to go by far too quickly. Still, it gave Evan the chance to see Chris following his exam. They met up just before heading into the dining hall, John and Randy waiting around for Mark, and got into the line. “So, how did you exam go?” Evan asked. 

“Well, I’m pretty certain that I did well,” he answered. “But I won’t know for sure until Friday… assuming my professor has everything graded by then.”

“I’m sure you did very well. You sure were studying awfully hard for it,” Evan said. 

“Yeah, but studying hard doesn’t always mean doing well,” Chris replied. “I do have a gut feeling that I did well… but now all I can do is wait.”

They headed to their usual spot and sat down. “And you’ll most likely have aced it when you do get it back,” Evan told him. 

“We’ll see,” Chris said. 

“So, I hear someone had an exam today,” Randy said as he, John and Mark sat down at the same table. 

“I was just talking to Evan about it.”

“And does that mean you don’t want to talk to anyone else about it? Was it that bad?” Randy asked. 

“No… well, I don’t _think_ it was bad, anyway.”

“Stop making him second-guess himself,” Evan sighed softly as he gave his cousin a pointed look. Randy stuck his bottom lip out in a pout and said, “I wasn’t trying to do that, but considering he didn’t say anything about it how was I supposed to know how it had gone?” Chris looked between the cousins and then across to John who shrugged.

“Ignore those two. So, you think it went OK then?” he asked and the Canadian nodded before addressing Mark and John, “How were your classes?”

“Same old same old,” John said with a grimace, “Extra homework from Cole though—“ he glanced at Randy, “Think he figured out what we’d done?”

“Probably, but he’s only punishing us because he’s jealous and has no chances to be getting laid like we do,” he pointed out.

“What did you do?” Mark asked, clearly interested.

“We had sex in his classroom. On his desk.”

“Randy!” Evan sighed heavily.

“What? He asked me! Besides, have you spoken to Chris about later on?” he asked.

“Spoken to me about what?” Chris asked as he looked to his lover and then back to Randy once more.

“Well, I wanted to have a chat with Evan later and I said it’s fine if you be there during it if you want to be.”

“I take it that this is a serious sort of conversation?” Chris asked. He couldn’t imagine that he’d be asked by Randy to join him for a conversation with Evan if it _wasn’t_ serious. 

“Yes,” Randy answered. 

Chris looked to Evan and placed his hand on his leg underneath the table. “Are you ok, Ev?”

“I’m _fine_. It’s not as serious as—”

Randy cut him off, though. “Yes, it is, Evan. I know it’s about your past, but it’s about how your past is affecting your present.”

Chris really didn’t know what to make out of it. Hadn’t they cleared the air of Evan’s highly religious past? Was he reverting back to it? Had he told Randy that he didn’t want to be with him anymore? Now he found himself getting more worried about just what this conversation was going to be about. 

“Do we need to get into this now? Can’t you just let us enjoy lunch?” Evan asked.

“Fine. But you’re not getting out of it when the time comes.” He turned to Chris, “Right after classes end for the day, both of you meet me in my room.”

Evan sent John a pleading look and John sent Evan a light look of reassurance, obviously wanting him to remember what he had said to him earlier on when they had first mentioned having the conversation. Evan sighed and looked down at his plate, stirring his mash and gravy around sullenly.

Chris squeezed Evan’s knee; he was sure whatever happened after this conversation everything would be completely fine and dandy.

“Randy, you eating that Yorkshire pudding?” John asked and Randy looked at his lover as though he was insane. “Of _course_ I was going to eat it—“ he slapped John’s hand away.

“I just wanted one, Randy!”

“You’ve already had three!” Randy shot back.

Before John could protest Mark suddenly passed across a Yorkshire, surprising everyone.

“I’m not a big fan of them,” Mark said with a casual shrug. Randy almost wanted to laugh; Mark was definitely going to go up in John’s estimations now.

Which could possibly work for him in the future, regarding the request he had made before.

“Really?” John asked, fingers wrapping around the lip of the plate, pulling it closer to him.

“Really,” Mark answered. “Never liked them, to be honest… so, you might as well eat it instead of letting it go to waste.”

John didn’t answer verbally right away, as he had already shoved a generous forkful of the Yorkshire pudding into his mouth. So he nodded, agreeing with him. Once he swallowed, he said, “Much better than letting it go to waste.”

“I still don’t know how you can eat so goddamn much,” Randy muttered. “That’s your _fourth one_!”

“What? I’m hungry. And this is really good! You still haven’t had any of yours,” he then said, making to go after it with his fork. 

Randy beat him to it, though, and finally began eating his own. “You don’t need five,” Randy told him. “But you’re right, this is good. You’re sure you don’t want any?” he asked, looking to Mark. 

“Positive. My grandmum is the best cook I know… I don’t even care for hers. ‘Course, I’d never tell her that and I make myself eat it, anyway, but if I don’t care for hers, I can’t imagine the school’s would appeal to me any more.”

“Fair enough,” John said around another mouthful.

~~~

“I mean, if we were to go _ask them for assistance_ they would _help us out_ ,” Cody said. 

“Well, that’s what John told me today, that if I ever needed to talk to him, he’d be there to listen and—”

Cody placed a hand on Ted’s shoulder and decided to simply be blunt about it. He should have known Ted wouldn’t pick up on subtlety. “Randy said that if we were ever to approach them, they wouldn’t turn us away.”

“I know, that’s what John—”

“I mean _approach them_ , Teddy. As in if you went up to John and asked him to fuck you in the locker room showers, he wouldn’t say no.”

Ted’s face lost all its colour before regaining it all as he blushed bright red. “ _What_?! But… but… Randy told you that?” he asked. “But… how… why?” Ted couldn’t think of what he wanted to ask, he was so stunned from the new Cody just delivered. 

“’How’? Ted, we’ve been through the practicalities together a few times now, you don’t need me to go over it again right? And ‘why’ is because we’re absolutely gorgeous and so by proxy incredibly fuckable!” it was obvious, right?

“I don’t… I don’t believe this.” All of the speculation was one thing, but this? This was something else entirely.

“And there’s um, something else.”

Ted wasn’t sure he could take anything else on the shock front, but if Cody felt it necessary to tell him...

Cody finished his cigarette and then threw the butt down, stomping on it with his shined shoes. “Randykissedme,” Ok, maybe he wasn’t as calm about the admittance as he thought. At first Ted didn’t move, and then he growled. He actually _growled_.

“That opportunistic---“ Ted clenched his teeth together so hard that Cody could hear the ‘clack’ and winced visibly. “I don’t believe—“ he took a deep breath.

“No, Ted,” Cody began, placing a hand on Ted’s shoulder, “he wasn’t being opportunistic.”

Ted raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What would you call it, then?”

“Look, ok, he was there for me to talk to and after we talked for a while, I may have mentioned to him that some of the reason you might have gotten so angry was because of my saying I was attracted to another boy.”

“You _told him that_?” Ted asked, astounded. 

“Well, I had a feeling it’s part of the reason you were so upset with me! Anyway, he asked who it was, I told him that he probably had a good idea and that’s when he… But then, after that, that’s when he told me that he and John wouldn’t turn us down.”

“He kissed you,” Ted muttered. 

“I swear, Teddy, it wasn’t anything serious!” To prove his point, he leaned in and just barely touched his lips to Ted’s. “It was like that. I promise. It wasn’t like…” he stopped talking just before his and Ted’s lips met again, only this time he wrapped his arms over Ted’s shoulders, bringing their bodies close together as his tongue slipped between Ted’s lips.

Ted gave a muffled sound of surprise, eyes widening. Arms going around Cody’s middle in reflex, he fell back a step and felt the wooden wall of the shed against his back, a small, dull _thud_ sounding as his body connected with it.

When Cody pulled back he smiled as he saw the dazed look on his lover’s face. “It wasn’t like that, how you and I kiss,” he promised softly. Blinking rapidly and shaking himself somewhat to return his focus back to the conversation Ted then sighed heavily.

“He still shouldn’t have kissed you,” he muttered, jealousy refusing to let him relent wholly.

“I wouldn’t mind if John kissed you,” Cody returned to him.

“Yes you would!” Ted protested, still pressed into him.

“Well, if you didn’t tell me about it, yeah.”

Before either of them could say anything more on the matter a throat cleared behind them, Ted jumping a foot despite himself. Heath held his hands up in surrender when Ted leveled him with a dangerous glare, “Sorry to interrupt you lovebirds, but the warning bell just rang so we have like five minutes to get to Windham’s dad class or he’ll belt the lot of us.”

Ted grumbled a bit, but he was appreciative of Heath giving them the warning. He hadn’t even heard the bell going off. “Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”

“Teddy, you don’t sound very excited to get to class. Would you rather have stayed out there and shown me who I really belong to?” Cody asked, whispering into Ted’s ear as they walked. 

“Cody!” he exclaimed. 

“Are you saying it’s not true?” When Ted didn’t answer, Cody smirked. “So, it is true. I thought so.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“No, you didn’t… but you implied it.”

“Come on now, you two… I don’t need to hear about what you’re _implying_ to do to one another,” Heath said. 

“Come off it. You love it. I bet you’d be there watching if you could,” Cody told him. “Probably ask to join in.”

“Like I’d risk Ted removing my cock with a blunt instrument to do that. Sorry Codes, not even your arse could tempt me into doing that.”

“Why does everyone say I’m so violent?” 

“When it comes to Cody, you are.”

Cody grinned slightly; even though Ted’s protectiveness could get a little overbearing he knew he’d hate it if he ever stopped.

“So,” he said to Ted, “About skipping class…”

“No,” Ted said flatly, Cody whining, pulling on the other’s arm a little. Ted would be lying if he said he didn’t have the urge though, it prowling around his chest like some waiting, wanting beast.

“Hey, Cody, how did Orton get you out of trouble for being late to class anyway?” Heath asked, completely innocently.

Cody didn’t get the chance to answer because Ted all but dragged the other down the hallway, in the opposite direction to their classroom.

“You’re such a dud, Teddy,” Cody said as he willingly let himself get dragged around by Ted into their class. 

Ted didn’t say anything to that, merely sat down and took out his things. Cody didn’t even bother trying to talk to him during the class. 

When lunchtime finally came, the six of them met up just outside the dining hall. They were in line a few people behind Randy and John, and Cody kept continually nudging Ted to have him look at the two older teens up ahead. Ted tried to ignore them, because he couldn’t look at them without blushing and without feeling his jealousy rise to the surface. 

Once they took their seats, Cody looked right to Heath and answered his question from earlier. “Orton was able to get me out of trouble for showing up late by charming the _pants_ off the professor. He went on about helping a student in need and all this and that, just doing his Head Boy duties…”

“You think he’s ever been fucking someone through the beginning of class and used that same excuse to get them both out of trouble?” Heath asked, earning him a glare from Ted and an eyeroll from Justin. 

“Most likely… though if it was John he was fucking, I heard that man can talk his way out of trouble, as well, isn’t that right, Teddy?”

~~~

Conversation turned to lighter topics after that, current homework and suchlike, Evan however, being rather quiet even then.

“You alright?” Chris asked softly, knowing that the others were distracted by their own conversation and so wouldn’t be listening in on them. Evan looked up, almost startled, but then he smiled and nodded, “Yes, I’m fine thanks.”

Chris didn’t look altogether convinced and Evan’s chest gave that funny squeeze it always did as he considered how much Chris really cared for him, just how much the Canadian was willing to give up for him.

“Really, I’m Ok, just thinking about all the homework I have tonight,” he told the blonde man.

Suddenly, a wicked little smile curved Chris’ lips and Evan felt his cheeks bloom in a blush; he knew that look.

“Well, after homework has been done I can think of a way that we can both relax together,” he murmured, still keeping his voice down.

Before Evan could make any response Randy suddenly cut through the conversation, “What are you whispering about over there?” and Chris looked up, hardly missing a beat as he made some random excuse up for a conversation topic.

Evan’s blush probably gave the game away though.

“Oh, I didn’t realize that Charles Dickens was such an embarrassing topic,” he said. “I mean, I don’t recall blushing that badly while reading A Tale of Two Cities.”

Evan tried to glare at his cousin, but his face was still bright red, so he probably looked ridiculous. “I hate you.”

“You don’t. Remember, I’ve been with John since I was ten. I know a thing or two about relationships. And what kind of aspect of a relationship can cause that sort of reaction,” Randy told him. “So you can do that _after_ we have our chat.”

Evan looked away as his blush seemed to crawl down his neck. “You know just what to say to get him all… like that, don’t you?” Chris asked. 

“It’s not that hard, though, is it?” Randy was about to say that he’d known Evan his whole life, but suddenly thought back to the reason that he and Evan were going to _have_ this conversation… because there really was so much buried inside Evan that he didn’t know.

When everyone (everyone read John) had finished eating they took their plates to where they could be collected and then they made their way out of the dining-room.

“I’ll see you later,” Randy said firmly as Evan began heading off, John and Mark with him since they had the same class.

“I know, I know,” Evan repeated with a slight sigh, sending Chris a small smile before heading off with the other two men. That left himself and Chris alone together and for a moment they seemed to assess one another before Chris asked, “So what happened?”

“Do you want to hear it now because you may only have to hear about it later,” Randy pointed out. God knew he hated being told the same thing over and over again. Unless he was being told how incredible his mouth/arse/cock were. Or John telling him he loved him.

“It’ll help if I have some sort of inkling,” Chris pointed out and Randy filled him in as they walked towards their next lesson, reaching it in good time.

“Oh,” Chris said as they headed inside. “I thought we were past all that?”

“I had thought so, too. But I think this little conversation will be necessary if he wants to have a successful relationship in the future,” Randy told him in a conversational tone. No one would know who they were talking about, anyway. 

“True… I think you’re right there,” Chris agreed. He really had thought that Evan had moved beyond all that, but from what Randy told him, there was still a lot that he was keeping buried deep within.

“It’ll be good for him,” Randy said. “I hope, anyway,” he then added, knowing that if Evan had carried this around for so long, he might be more resistant to actually talk about such things. 

They got to their seats and as they were sitting, Chris said, “I like how much you care about him. I mean, for coming off as someone so harsh at times, you really do worry about him.”

“He is my cousin… and ever since he was younger, well before he ended up living with us, he was still more like a brother to me,” Randy told him. “You care about your cousin, Christian, don’t you?”

“Yeah, of course I do,” Chris answered. “It’s some of his choices that I don’t care for, that’s all.”

“Ah, yes, the Spaniard,” Randy nodded and Chris’ lip curled at the mere mention of him, “Right.”

“Is he really that much of a git?” Randy asked and Chris looked both amused and still unimpressed all at once impressively, “Git is an understatement, I can assure you that much.”

“You don’t think he’ll be coming with him when he visits next do you?” Randy asked and though Chris’ immediate response was to say _no_ , he paused suddenly when he realised that he didn’t know. He hadn’t even thought about that.

“He best not be coming here,” Chris muttered, “Or else there’ll be trouble.”

“Why?” Randy asked, wondering what _really_ got Chris’ back up about this Spanish boy, because he doubted a bad attitude and arrogance would get Chris _that_ much. After all, Chris had arrogance himself.

Before Chris could respond –that he didn’t trust the Spaniard even slightly not to break Christian’s heart or to remain faithful when his cousin seemed so very much invested in him- the teacher appeared.

Cursing the inherent bad timing of the faculty Randy stood alongside the other boys and gave a greeting before then sitting down again. He would have to get Chris’ answer in the later talk.

The class was filled with nothing but lecture that seemed to drone on and on, especially since Randy was dying to talk to Chris some more about this relationship his cousin was in. But he had no time to. He couldn’t even jot down a note to him because the teacher was talking too fast for him to stop taking lecture notes. 

Then, after the class was over, they went their separate ways, Chris meeting up with John and Evan for their next class, while Randy, who so far this year had attended this class alone, saw that Mark was now in there. “Hello there,” Randy greeted as he took his usual seat, which was one seat in front of Mark. 

“Good afternoon, Randy,” Mark replied with a little smirk. “Wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“I can’t say I was expecting you here, either. Been used to flying solo in this class,” Randy told him. There weren’t a lot of classes he and John didn’t have together, but it did happen. 

“Well, here I am.”

“It’s good to have the company. Oh, before I forget… your little gesture earlier at lunch? I’m pretty sure you just raised yourself up a few notches in John’s good book. Anyone that willingly gives him food is pretty high up… that’s why the ladies that work in the dining hall are John’s favourite people. Right there on par with me.”

Mark chuckled. “Well, he can have all my Yorkshire puddings from here on out.”

“You’ll be gaining elite status before too long,” Randy chuckled and Mark grinned slightly. He cocked his head to the side slightly and then asked, “You seem pretty pleased about sharing your podium,” he was only joking of course. Randy looked amused and subtly ripped a small piece off the back of his exercise book.

Scribbling down a note quickly lest the teacher spot it, Randy then passed it backwards to Mark who accepted it just in time to hide before the teacher came in. This class would definitely require subtlety if they were going to pass the note back and forth because the class was rather small in size.

 _Actually, I spoke to John about maybe having a repeat performance if you were interested… only this one would have a bit of a twist._ Mark’s brows rose slightly, his interested peaked.

 _What twist?_ he wrote back, throwing it to Randy the second he had chance to.

 _You and him. Or him and you._ Randy wrote that slightly cryptic notice, keeping in mind that if they were caught then they would probably be expected to read the entire note aloud.  
And he’d rather not.

Admittedly it took Mark a moment to understand what that meant, but then it hit him and his eyes widened somewhat. There was a possibility that he could fuck John? Or that John could fuck him? He couldn’t deny he had definitely been interested in that when he had watched Randy being fucked by the other boy after they’d been together.

~~~  
Ted sent Cody a look that was borderline dirty and the other occupants of the table all exchanged a look.

“Did we miss something?” Joe asked and Windham shrugged before looking back towards Heath, Justin, Ted and Cody. “OK… why doesn’t someone tell us what happened? From the beginning,” he added. Ted pointedly looked at his food and away from the others and so attention centered next on Cody who shrugged and sighed. “Right then,” he said.

Cody relayed what had happened to him, bar the kiss, and then to Ted, involving John, and afterwards Heath and Joe were sat there opened-mouthed. “Been a busy day for the both of them hasn’t it?” Heath mused.

Windham and Joe immediately looked towards where John and Randy were sitting, making Justin jump when they suddenly both jumped and cursed.

“What the heck?” he demanded, righting the cup that had been precariously close to being knocked over. “Cody kicked us!” Joe whined.

“You don’t need to stare so obviously!” Cody said with a pointed look at them both. He then glanced at Ted and exhaled a breath before pouting, “So you’re still ignoring me?” Heath then snickered, “Considering it was not an hour ago when it looked like they’d be christening the bike sheds it’s a definite turn around.”

“Heath!” Ted exclaimed, loud enough that some other boys further down the table looked over to them. “Sorry,” he said, adding a little wave to the others as his face burned bright red. 

“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?” Heath asked. “If I hadn’t come along and told you class was starting soon, you’d have had him turned around against the shed with your dick shoved up his arse,” he said. 

“Really?” Joe then asked. “Teddy, I didn’t think you’d have it in you to do something like that.”

“I was hoping he would,” Cody told him, smirking. 

“Cody,” Ted groaned, putting his head in his hands. 

“What? Don’t say you didn’t want to. Because if what I was feeling in your pants was any indication, you wanted to just as badly as I did.”

“I’m not talking to any of you anymore,” Ted grumbled, stabbing through a piece of chicken with his fork.

“You say that at least once a week,” Windham pointed out and Ted sent him a dark look, biting down onto the chicken on his fork with unnecessary force. “You’ll break your teeth if you eat like that.”

He grumbled, mouth closed because he was really conscious of not having food in his mouth when he talked but he hated being deemed as ignorant.

“He’ll be fine,” Cody said, “Just let him have lunch and his mood will perk up.” Food always got Ted in a good mood; especially when they had his favourite dessert on offer afterwards.

Ted rolled his eyes, but suddenly the food he’d swallowed settled like lead in his stomach. Was he really that simple to appease?

It made him sound very fat and unappealing too.

That thought was knocked out of his mind though when he felt a hand on his thigh, making him tense.

_Cody? What the hell was he playing at this time?_

“Hey, calm down, Teddy,” Cody said, continuing to stroke Ted’s thigh lightly. 

“Your hand is on my leg,” Ted mumbled out of the corner of his mouth. 

“Yeah, and? No one’s looking… want my to move my hand up a little more?” Cody asked, slowly bringing his hand even further up Ted’s thigh.

“No! I mean… no, that’s ok,” he said, trying to let himself relax. He couldn’t seem to shake it, though, knowing that Cody’s hand was just there, resting on his thigh in such a public place. 

“Are you feeling ok?” Windham asked. Ted looked somewhat ill. 

“I’m fine,” he tried to assure and found that his voice squeaked a touch. That couldn’t have happened at a worse time. 

“Really? You don’t sound it. Or look it…” he added, trying not to smirk. He certainly didn’t miss the way Cody’s hand was beneath the table, obviously on Ted’s leg, making his friend so highly uncomfortable. 

“Can’t you people ever leave each other alone?” Justin asked, witnessing the whole thing.

“Are you telling me that you’d be able to leave Wade alone were he here?”

“Must you always bring him up and make a comparison?” Justin hissed, looking around to make sure no one at a nearby table had overheard.

“That’s not an answer,” Heath mused and Justin sent him a sour look.

“We wouldn’t be doing anything publically I can assure you that much.”

“Killjoys,” Heath sighed and Cody nodded, not moving his hand from Ted’s thigh and clearly not the least bit concerned by the fact that their fellow table-mates knew he was doing it.

Ted seemed to be making a valiant effort to focus on his food, but the slow circle rubbing motion Cody was doing on the inside of his thigh was incredibly distracting, the warmth of his hand seeping through his trousers.

 _Please, Almighty God, don’t let him disgrace himself at the table, and not before everyone else_ , Ted prayed fervently.

Cody smirked like the cat that got the cream as he watched Ted out the corner of his eye.

“You know… they are right,” Cody said. “You are looking a bit… off.”

Ted’s head turned quickly to the side as he gawked at Cody. “Did you just…? You…! But you’re the…!”

“Yeah, Teddy, you can’t even speak in full sentences anymore. Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to finish your classes?” he asked, now moving his hand further upwards, fingers brushing over Ted’s crotch. 

Ted put his elbows on the table and his face in his hands. To hide his embarrassment, his annoyance and the fact that he was getting turned on beyond belief right there in the _dining hall_.

Heath, Windham and Joe, sitting across the table, were all watching this unfold right before them and all three were highly amused. Justin was rolling his eyes (though he had to admit, if Wade ever joined them for lunch, he would want to make as much contact with him as possible). “Can’t you leave the poor guy alone?” he asked. 

“What? I was just asking to make sure he’s doing ok,” Cody answered, leaning back to look behind Ted to Justin.

“Well, considering you’re the one that’s doing it to him…”

“Cody,” Ted whined from his side, “could you please… stop doing that?” he finally managed to ask. 

“But I’m enjoying myself too much,” Cody protested, “I don’t want to stop,” he grinned almost fiendishly then.

One way or another he was going to wear down Ted’s conservative nature and bring out the wild, experimental side of his lover that he had no doubt existed. He’d make it so Ted was no longer denying how much he wanted him. If Cody had to say that Ted had a failing that would probably be the only one. That and his insistence of undergarments.

Just as Cody’s hand covered the bulge in Ted’s pants the blonde stood.

Though his walk was awkwardly stiff and a bit too quick to be anything but unusual Ted was out of the hall before anyone could really see what sort of a state Cody had rendered the poor thing into with his actions.

Casually finishing his drink Cody then rose from the table gracefully, “Catch you lot after,” he said with a wink before then heading out after Ted knowing he’d be in the nearest bathroom seeking some refuge.

Meanwhile, back at the table, Heath suddenly burst into chuckles, surprising the other boys a little.

“What’re you laughing at?” Joe nudged the other a little bit.

“Ted has to be wound up… he’s left nearly an entire plate of food behind,” and that was virtually unheard of from him.

Strolling along the hall, Cody smirked as he stood outside the door of the bathroom before pushing the door open and entering. There were no stall doors closed except for one. Good. “Teddy?”

There was no reply. Oh, Ted, he wasn’t getting out of this that easily. So, he tried again. “Teddy, I know you’re in there,” he said, walking over to one of the stalls. 

“What do you want?” Ted gritted out.

“I just wanted to help,” Cody said. 

“Haven’t you helped enough?” Ted asked.

“No. Not at all. Come on, let me in there.” Once more, Ted didn’t budge. “Please, Teddy? Let me in? I’ll make you feel so good. I mean, more than I already have,” he said.

It took a little time, but Ted did open the door and Cody stepped inside before closing the door back up behind him.

The look on Ted’s face was a cross between arousal, desperation and he even looked a bit teary--- but whether that was because he was _aching_ or _really pissed off with him_ Cody wasn’t sure.

“I can help with that,” Cody said, pretty much nose-to-nose with Ted since the stall wasn’t very big at all. Even as he spoke his hand snaked swiftly down to Ted’s groin.

“Ngh!” Ted ground his teeth together to muffle the growl that wanted out at the sensation, his hips jerking forwards automatically.

“Shh, Teddy,” Cody murmured, “Leave it to Cody.” He pressed his face into Ted’s neck, kissing and nibbling as he eased Ted from his undergarments and began to stroke.

Ted’s hands grasped Cody’s shoulders automatically.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this in a bathroom.”

“We could have done it in the hallway.”

“We are _not_ doing this in the hallway!” Ted squeaked, pushing back slightly on Cody’s shoulders.

Cody drew Ted back in closer and kissed him lightly. “We’re not in the hallway, are we? No, we’re in a stall. Now, shut up and let me work my magic,” Cody whispered, grinning as Ted’s cheeks blushed an even deeper red at those words.

Ted came well before the bell rang. Cody’s hand moved swift and determined over Ted’s cock, showing the blonde just how well Cody knew his body. Once Ted came, Cody was the one to tuck him back into his pants and zip him back up. “I think we have a class to get to,” Cody said casually as he exited the stall and began washing the cum off his hands.

“How do you always… I mean… you’re always so…” Ted waved his hands around as he thought of what he was trying to ask. 

“I’m always… what?”

“You’re always so… composed,” Ted mumbled finally. 

“That’s because _I’m_ the one coming onto you… Teddy, I swear to you, if you started doing that to _me_ in some public place, teasing me like I did you, I’d crumble just as quickly as you did.”

Ted looked away, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. Honestly, he had to be the only boy that Cody knew who could still be so wound up after an orgasm. Not to toot his own horn about his hand-job ability, but he was pretty good.

“I don’t know if I could do that,” he admitted. The very thought of being caught absolutely petrified him.

How Randy and John could be so bold, so blatant, especially when they were such high figures in school was a real mystery to him...

_Why did he just think of them?_

Washing his hands out of habit more than anything Ted then picked up his previously discarded book-bag and shouldered it. “You shouldn’t just leave yours lying around,” he said, seeing Cody had just carelessly tossed it aside by the sinks to collect when they were finished. Cody dried his hands, amused, “Someone’s hardly going to steal it, Ted.”

“You never know,” Ted muttered, suddenly nostalgic.

When they had been children, new to the academy, a lot of things of Cody’s had been going missing… ardent admirers that had been getting a little too obsessed with him. He’d handled the matter of course, as he always would from then on.


	52. Chapter 52

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast ~ Oscar Wilde

Still, the idea of John topping him was strange… as he’d told them, he’d been topped by two people and he didn’t willingly lay down for just anyone… but he had to admit, the thought of being topped by John had its attractions. It wasn’t often that he came across someone who would go toe to toe with him… and the fact that he’d found not one, but _two_ others that were truly on his league physically was appealing. So, he wrote a quick note back to Randy and passed it to him as soon as the teacher wasn’t looking. _I believe either of those scenarios is highly plausible_.

As soon as he received the note, though, Randy had to tuck it away quickly as the teacher began looking around the room again. It was several minutes before he even had the chance to unfold it and actually read it. However, when he did, he was rather pleased with what he saw there. 

Just as he was about to jot down another message, the professor opened up the floor to discussion about the lecture, which meant he wasn’t about to take his eyes off the students. He’d just have to remember what he was going to say and say it to Mark as soon as they were dismissed. 

Randy made sure to join into the discussion, to show the teacher that he was paying attention (not that he’d have expected anything less from the Head Boy), and even Mark chimed in here and there. Finally, when the class was dismissed, Mark and Randy lingered behind, packing up their things as everyone else made their way out. As soon as they were both out of the room, not many people were around. “You mean that? What the note said? I mean… he’s ok with it?” Mark asked. 

“Well, I think he’s still a bit hesitant, but if you keep giving him food, he’d gladly get on his back for you,” Randy whispered to him as they walked. 

“Is he really so easy to ply with food?” Mark mused and Randy nodded his head before pausing, “Not to say that he’ll get on his back for just _anyone_ even if they give him food…” he recalled that often on holidays and stuff people were always sending John expensive chocolates and foreign sweets as an attempt to get his attention. John had little choice but to accept them, of course, but, believe it or not, he often ended up giving the food items away to local orphanages and stuff. Whenever Randy brought him something though… Well, that was never donated or thrown.

“But I think you’ve got a very good chance,” he grinned, “Just keep up the good efforts and we’ll soon see what comes of it won’t we?” he adjusted the strap of his bag and rolled his shoulder out. It had been aching a little recently and he hoped that he wasn’t going to have any new issues with it.

“You alright there Randy?” Mark asked, seeing him rubbing his shoulder and grimacing just slightly. “Oh yes,” Randy responded, “Old injury, that’s all.” Someone had tackled him awkwardly and he had landed on his shoulder, extending it to the degree where he had dislocated it quite badly.

A sympathetic and understanding look crossed Mark’s face. As an avid sportsman himself he had suffered numerous injuries in his time on the field.

The end classes of the day seemed to pass by quite quickly after that and as soon as dinner was finished Randy made a point of collaring Chris and Evan, John saying that he would join them after he had finished a meeting with Professor Hennig concerning the first practice of the new additions to the rugby team. Of course Randy could have done with having John there throughout but he knew how much training and such meant to John so he knew not to get jealous of the time he devoted to it.

Settling down in Randy’s room, the three boys sat so they could look at one another. Randy was on his bed, Evan was sitting on Randy’s desk and Chris had pulled the desk chair to the side so he could sit on it. “Is this really necessary?” Evan asked, swinging his legs, feet barely touching the floor. 

“Yes! God, Evan, John and I were just jokingly talking around about girls who’d attracted your attention and you were saying that no one had… and that you’d denied yourself any sort of pleasure from those that really did attract you,” Randy said. “You shouldn’t have had to go through that.”

“Look, I went through it, but now it’s all behind me,” Evan insisted yet again.

“And that’s why you still couldn’t admit that you’d never be with anyone else?” Randy asked. 

“It’s not because of that! It’s because I really don’t want to be with anyone else.”

“Really? Evan, how long were you denying yourself any sort of physical pleasure?”

“I don’t know,” he answered with a shrug. 

“Don’t lie to me. I’ve lived with you too long know to know when you’re trying to lie to me. You’re shit at it,” Randy said. 

“Well… I didn’t… sometimes I’d wake up in the mornings to find that my body had its own ideas,” Evan muttered. He’d tried to hide many a wet-spot on his sheets in the mornings after having dreams about sordid sexual affairs with people he’d seen who had garnered his attention to that sort of extent.

“So you weren’t completely apathetic to your needs then?” Randy asked and Chris subtly crossed his legs because the thought of Evan writhing around in his bed in the midst of a dirty dream was incredibly appealing to him… and it didn’t matter whether he was in the dream or not.

“Well, no,” Evan muttered, “But I never felt comfortable afterwards…” and when he saw the people he’d had the dreams about? Well, he could barely look them in the face and so those occasions were helped by the fact that he was naturally somewhat reclusive at home and everyone let him be.

Except Randy of course; he had always been there to get Evan outside now and again.

“So, when you had those dreams,” Randy said suddenly, “What exactly were you dreaming about?” he inquired unhesitatingly.

“None of your business!” Evan squeaked.

Randy however appeared unmoved and Chris was also looking to his lover now, curious.

“It _does_ matter Ev. You’ve never had sex before Chris, or anything else. Did you dream of it?” If he didn’t dream of sex it might explain why he was so emotionally attached to Chris and reticent to explore his desires if they did hinge elsewhere. He didn’t think it was healthy for him to be so constrained about it.

Not that he was suggesting he break up with Chris or sleep around on him of course.

He could probably do with taking a leaf out of his and John’s book when it came to relations.

“Yes,” Evan admitted. “Are you happy now?”

“Getting there,” Randy answered. “So… in your dreams, who were you having sex with?” he asked. 

“Really, Randy? Isn’t it enough that I… haven’t I told you enough?” 

“No,” Randy said. “It’s no big deal, Evan. Everyone has dreams like that. I had them all the time when I was younger and just starting to fool around with John.”

“Fine. If you want the truth I… there were… a lot of people I had dreams like that about,” he confessed softly. “Some people I knew, some people I’d just seen around… either way, I was always mortified when I’d see them again.”

“Really? Ev, there’s nothing to be ashamed about. You know, you probably could have actually reenacted those dreams with any of them… did you ever want to?”

“What? Sleep with any of those people?” Evan shrugged. He was always told that it was wrong to sleep with anyone before marriage, and while he never liked facing anyone that he had those dreams about (male _or_ female), he did always want to know what sex was really like.

“Yes. I know that you never did, but you must have wanted to.”

Evan shut his eyes and dropped his head to his chest. “Yes.”

“If you’re worried about Chris’ reaction to that,” Randy said lightly, “I don’t think he has much of a problem.” Logically, how could he for something so natural?

The Canadian shook his head swiftly; after all he didn’t have a blameless subconscious and he _had_ actually been with a few other people sexually in the past.

“It’s like Randy said Ev: everyone does it now and again. Normal.”

A gentle sigh left Evan, his teeth catching his bottom lip in that way that said he was thinking about something, and that his mind was going to become quite involved in his train of thought, “It’s just… it felt so… _sordid_...”

But what had gotten him feeling the most guilt about the episodes of his subconscious desires?

 _The fact that the people involved had no idea he was thinking about them like that._ In all honesty he felt at the time as though he was somehow besmirching the people involved because of his desires, that they might somehow find out and that would be the end of him by reputation.

_And reputation was everything in their society._

“Nothing wrong with being a little bit sordid now and again, Evan.”

“Easy for you to say, Randy, you’re used to it happening almost daily.”

“ _Almost_? Evan, please, there’s no _almost_. When we’re at school, anyway,” he added. “Though even when I’m home… yes, there’s no almost.”

“You’re… I can’t even believe you,” Evan muttered. 

“What? Evan, really, there’s nothing wrong with it! Let yourself live a little bit… I know you have with Chris, but even with him, don’t be so shy. If you maybe want to try something out, don’t be afraid to voice it. If you want to stick your tongue in his arse, tell him!” Randy said.

“If I want to put my what _where_?” Evan asked, disbelieving. 

“Exactly! You need to be a bit more adventurous. Chris isn’t going to leave you because of some crazy sexual fantasy you have. Unless it’s completely crazy and involves sheep, or anything like that. Otherwise? Don’t be afraid to tell him. Or even tell me. Chances are John and I have tried it.”

Chris was just staring at Randy, more amused than anything else. 

Suddenly, the door opened and John walked in. As he closed the door, he asked, “So, what have I missed?”

“Randy’s telling everyone that you two love putting your tongues in each other’s asses,” Chris replied.

“You mean you two _haven’t_ tried that?” 

Chris didn’t know _why_ he was surprised by the fact that John didn’t react to that announcement the way he was sure someone else probably would.

“No, we haven’t,” he said lightly, shaking his head.

Evan looked downwards, twisting his fingers atop his lap momentarily. He hadn’t forgotten the fact that he and Chris had discussed it, albeit briefly, quite a while ago. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Chris had forgotten that… though chances were that he hadn’t forgotten.

“You’re sure missing out,” John responded sagely as he seated himself beside Randy, Randy immediately shifting to lay his head in John’s lap. Without even turning his attention from their companions John’s hand immediately sought Randy’s hair, starting to card his fingers gently through his short locks.

“I know the _thought’s_ a bit weird, but the _feeling_ of it…” he sighed.

Nodding in agreement Randy added, “And it isn’t just good for the one receiving since the one giving will probably get pounced on.”

“Pounced on?” Evan repeated, looking up finally.

“Yeah,” John smiled, dimples appearing, “It turns you on so much you can’t _wait_ to be fucked. You’ll _demand_ it.”

_A demanding Evan? That was an idea that he could get behind._

“Really, now? It feels that good?” Chris asked. 

“Chris!” Evan squealed. 

“What? Now I’m curious. Can’t a man be curious?”

“It does, though,” Randy answered. “If you’re the one that’s doing it, I mean… it’s not the best thing _while_ you’re doing it,” he admitted, “but like I said before, the one receiving will be _begging_ for your dick by the end of it.”

“But… but it’s your _tongue_ ,” Evan said, the blush deepening. 

“And?”

“And you’re putting it where you…” He waved his hand down by the seat. 

“You put your dick there, don’t you? Fingers?”

“That’s still not your tongue!” he exclaimed. He didn’t know if it would really feel that good that it’d actually be worth it to have Chris’ tongue in his ass, or his in Chris’.

~~~

“I’ve got nothing of real importance in here,” Cody said looking into his bag as they walked to give it a quick once over to make sure there really was nothing missing. “I have those panties you ripped off me in my bedside drawer,” he murmured.

“You… you what now?” Ted asked. 

“What? You didn’t think I’d get rid of them, did you? Teddy, those are a souvenir from the best day of my life so far. Of course I’m going to keep them.”

“That was the best day of your life?” Ted went on to ask. 

Cody chuckled. “Yes. I mean, aside from the other… issues that day, it was easily the best day of my life. Are you saying it wasn’t yours?”

“I never said that… Like you said, aside from the… incident… the day was, well, nothing short of perfect,” he said with a smile. 

“So it _was_ the best day of your life?” Cody asked him, to which Ted nodded. “Good.”

A pointed exit was made by Ted then, pulling Cody alongside him as they made their way to the next class. Windham was in it and he grinned like a fiend when he saw them both but Ted shot him a warning look and he relented. Momentarily.

Settling into his seat Ted heaved a sigh and groaned gently.  
Unsurprisingly he was feeling _very_ tired.

Class passed by in a blur of talking and chastising Cody and Windham for passing notes to one another, and then they headed down to tea.

This time around Ted’s appetite was back to usual standards and he had calmed down greatly from the earlier incident.

After they all finished eating they figured they would head up to the common room. Most of them had homework to do and supposed they’d best get to it.

“Teddy will you do my math homework for me? I can’t be bothered and want to script read.”

Ted looked at Cody as though he’d sprouted another arm through the top of his head. “You’re not serious,” Ted said to him. 

“I just said that I need to do another script read—”

“You’re not going to put your theatre before academics. Your math will take you all of ten minutes to complete.”

“Then what’s the big deal in you doing it for me?” Cody asked. “Like you said, it’ll take you all of ten minutes.”

“That’s not my point at all! How are you supposed to get better at the subject if you want me to always do your work for you?”

“But Teddy, I don’t _want_ to do it.”

“And I don’t really want to do it for you, either,” Ted replied. 

“But you’re so much better at math than I am! And I really would like to read the script again.”

“You know, if you’d quit bitching about it, you could have been halfway through with your math assignment at this point.”

For a moment Cody looked completely aghast, as did most of their friends but Ted didn’t relent of look apologetic even slightly.

It was necessary for him to get firm with Cody now and again, and after his earlier stunts he felt it necessary to put his foot down.

“B-But Teddy--!” Cody started and Ted held up a hand.

“Don’t even bother. Just be quiet and do you maths, Cody.”

For a moment it seemed as though Cody was going to refuse, but then he merely sulked as he jerkily pulled the book from his satchel.

Calm as you please Ted returned to his own work, seemingly perfectly at ease and unaware of Cody’s unhappy glower.

Taking the cue from the other two the rest of the group sought out their own books and necessary work.

After about half an hour Cody looked up from his book to where Ted was seated next to him. “I’m finished, Teddy.”

“You can look at your script now then.”

“Oh, thank you for giving me permission, Teddy,” Cody huffed. 

“It didn’t take you _that_ long, Cody. And how would you have learned anything if I’d done your work for you?”

“You would have finished it a lot faster than I did,” Cody muttered. 

“That’s not the point. Justin probably could have finished it even it faster than I could have… but again, you wouldn’t have learned anything… now you’re just wasting time trying to argue with me. Go and read your script.”

“Will you read through it with me?”

“I do have my own work to do,” Ted told him.

Cody’s mouth gaped open at that. “But… but I can’t—!”

“You said you wanted to read through your script again, you didn’t say you wanted me to go, too. I really have work I need to do. I’ve been putting it off for too long already.”

“Fine. I’ll go find Mike and read through it with him.” He was out of the room with his script before his friends’ shock had worn off.

As one their assembled friends turned to look at Ted when they had recovered from their shock, watching him expectantly.

In a deliberate and measured movement Ted looked up at them, “What?”

“You’re not going after him?” Justin said, and Ted could read the sympathy in his gaze. The blonde looked down at his book again and flipped the page over. “No,” he responded, “He can’t manipulate me every single time.”

There was only so much he could take and that day… had been trying.

“But what if he goes to Mike?” Joe asked him then.

“They act together,” Ted responded glibly, not looking up.

“But what if he—“ Heath started, trailing off when he seemed to realise for once the repercussions that might occur were he to come out and say what he was thinking:

_What if Cody did something with Mike to get back at Ted?_

Almost as though hearing the unspoken question Ted responded with an eerie finality, “Then he’ll not be welcome in my bed again.”

“You can’t be serious?” Heath asked. “You love him.”

“And if he fooled around with anyone, be it Mizanin or Orton or _anybody_ to get back at me for making him do his _homework_ , I can assure you that he will never be allowed in my bed again,” Ted told him once more.

“Not that I blame you… I don’t know how you can stand the fact that Cody even has to kiss that fucking jerkoff,” Joe said from across the room. 

“That’s acting. There’s a difference. I do hope Cody won’t do something rash and idiotic.”

“He already has done something rash and idiotic in going to see Mizanin in the first place!” Joe protested. 

“I think Cody will have more sense than to do anything with Mizanin,” Justin said. At least he really hoped that he did… Ted looked so serious when he said what he did… and while he didn’t know if Ted would be able to hold out on his word forever, but he had a feeling that he would hold strong for a long, long time, no matter how hard Cody pleaded with him. 

“I hope so,” Ted replied. 

Though everyone would tell you Cody could hold on to his sulking and strop for almost alarming lengths of time this time around his mood seemed to deflate a little almost the second he left the vicinity of the common room.

But then he thought of the look on Ted’s face, and the way he had spoken to him… and suddenly his determination returned afresh, ten-fold.

Sucking in his cheeks, looking highly pissed off, Cody then adjusted his posture and walked to where he knew Mike’s room was.

Thanks to their mutual love of theatre (and being in the spotlight) Cody and Mike had gotten along well as youths, but when they had gotten older and their egos had developed further that friendship had turned to competitiveness, a mild dislike between them though really they just ignored one another’s existences most of the time unless they _had_ to interact.

Knocking on the door Cody waited, hearing movement inside.

When Mike answered the door he was casually dressed, and clearly surprised to see Cody.

“Runnels?” he queried, puzzled.

~~~

“It takes some time to get used to the idea,” John sent a nostalgic look to Randy, “Do you remember when they first introduced the idea to us?” Randy chuckled, shaking his head in amusement, “We wanted absolutely no part of it, did we?”

“When who told you?” Chris asked curiously.

“Two boys who used to be together here, they took a liking to John and me, and they were the ones who introduced us to being in a relationship; they taught us a lot.”

“Wow,” the blonde looked surprised, but that was understandable.

“But really, it’s worth it. You just need to _do it_ as opposed to thinking on it.”

Evan still looked fundamentally unconvinced by their words.

“I feel for you,” Randy told Chris suddenly, surprising him.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re going to need the patience of a saint.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Evan asked, cocking his head as he questioned his cousin. 

“What do you think it’s supposed to mean?” Randy asked him.

“Well, it sounds disgusting!” Evan protested. “What would ever make someone think to stick their tongue up someone’s bum? It just doesn’t seem right.”

“Men use their tongues on women all the time,” John said. “I mean, I haven’t, but I hear that women quite enjoy it.”

“Yeah, but not up their bums!” Evan said again. 

“Just give it a shot, Ev,” Randy told him. “Or… I don’t know, if you don’t want to do it just yet, don’t rush it, but at the same time, don’t be shy. If you want to try something new, say so. I doubt Chris would mind.”

“Not at all,” he agreed. “I wouldn’t mind trying that… thing… out on you,” Chris then told his lover. 

“You what? You… want to?” Evan asked. 

“Aren’t you just a little bit curious what it feels like? I’d like to know how you react when you find out what it feels like.”

John grinned conspiratorially at Chris and murmured, “If it’s anything like Randy’s reaction to it you’ll want to do it to him as often as you possibly can.”

Chris’ brows rose in surprise; it really feels that good?

“What was that John?” Randy asked but John merely shook his head and smiled genially, “I just said don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, Rand, that’s all.” Randy looked mildly suspicious but then merely shrugged it off.

“Really Ev, you shouldn’t keep yourself so stifled. It isn’t good for either of you.” Evan sighed heavily, “I am _not_ stifled!”

“Hey, Chris, that reminds me—“ Randy said, figuring he should ask before he forgot again, “The Spaniard. Why do you hate him?”

“I’ve told you already,” Chris said, grimacing heavily.

“No, earlier, you started saying something more about it other than him being an arrogant bastard.”

Chris sighed, suddenly looking serious, “He’ll hurt him. And Christian won’t recover from that.”

Christian was really quite sensitive under his often blasé exterior. 

“What makes you think that?” Randy asked. 

“He’s done it before,” Chris answered. “He fucked around with Christian and then he left him.”

“So you’re saying it was more than just a blowjob in a bathroom stall, then,” Randy said, hoping that his and Christian fooling around hadn’t somehow made things worse.

“No, no… they were fucking but Christian fell for him. The same can’t be said for the Spaniard, because he up and left Christian with nothing but an envelope full of money for his troubles. I’d never seen Christian like that before. He was so beat up and his heart was broken. He’d been in other relationships before, this guy wasn’t his first, or anything, but he was certainly his first real heartbreak.”

“So… what happened?” John asked, because he knew that the two were back together.

“The dickhead came crawling back… saying that he was sorry and he never meant to hurt him and all this load of bullshit that Christian ate up.”

“What if it wasn’t bullshit, though?” Randy asked. “Maybe he really did realize that he had a great person and he blew it.”

“I don’t buy it,” Chris said resolutely.

“An envelope of _money_?” John repeated.

Chris’ jaw set and he nodded, “The bastard apparently thought that it was _appropriate_ to pay Christian for their time together, and also to ensure that he ‘kept an appropriate disposition’ about the whole affair afterwards.” Even now the words were like venom on his tongue and permanently imprinted on his brain--- just like Christian’s absolutely shattered expression when he had told him about it.

In his upset, he’d begun to burn the money before he decided that he could at least do something good with the money given to him. The remainder of the envelope’s contents had been donated to a local poorhouse’s inhabitants personal by his cousin, unable to keep it himself.

“I can’t say I blame you for not trusting the bloke then,” John said with an uncomfortable grimace, Randy nodded his head, looking equally surprised that someone could be so callous.

Gently, Evan then placed a hand atop Chris’.

Blinking slightly the blonde then smiled a little at Evan, placing his other hand atop his.

“Christian deserves better,” he finally said, seeming to compose himself, “And it just kills me that this time he just can’t seem to see that himself.”

Randy was surprised; the Christian he had known would _never_ have put up with that at all.

“Why would he ever want to go back to that, though?” Randy asked. “The guy broke his heart, why let him back into it?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out for a while now. I think part if it is just that he knows I can’t stand the guy.”

“That’s no reason to go back to a guy that practically called you a prostitute and paid you for a couple of fucks.”

“I know. And you heard him when you met him, he’s not sure if it’s love… I just think that it’s manipulation,” Chris said. “That guy did something just… downright terrible and then he’s suddenly sorry and all is forgiven? I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work.”

“But what if… what if he really did change?” Evan asked. “It does happen.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think this guy’s changed a goddamn thing about himself. He’s an arrogant twat, and he’s not going to change.”

“But maybe… maybe he really does love Christian and just never knew how to show him that he loved him… so he got scared, ran away. Lord knows I tried that with you,” Evan said with his head hanging. 

“Yes,” Chris said, reaching a hand out and using his index-finger to gently push Evan’s head up so that he would look him in the eyes again, “but he’s not _anything_ like you; he’s a spoilt, manipulative brat who doesn’t love anything, or anyone, but himself.”

“It’s… Just so sad to think of it like that,” Evan lamented, once again displaying the inherent innocence he still possessed personality and thought-process wise. “I can’t imagine someone just being so cold to someone who loves them.”

Gently, Chris caressed Evan’s cheek before shifting slightly to pull Evan into his lap. Though there was a blush and minor protest he just sat for once.

John’s arms shifted around Randy’s middle as well, both couples seeming to gravitate together with the impact of Evan’s words.

“I’m just waiting for the next time he fucks up, because regardless of what Christian wants I _will_ be the one dealing with the Spaniard this time.”

“Don’t blame you,” John said immediately; if someone had treated any of his brothers, or even his friends that way, he’d kill them.

Evan bit his lip lightly; he’d never seen Chris so _aggressive_ before then.

Seeing Chris so protective, looking so aggressive… it was quite a sight… a sight that was making Evan feel slightly tingly in certain places. He knew that they were just talking about him not holding back so much, but how could he say right there that he wanted to leave so they could go back to their room?

“Ev, you ok? You look lost in thought,” Randy said, noticing the way that Evan was looking at Chris. 

“Oh, I’m… I’m fine,” he replied, trying to shake his thoughts. 

“Really? You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m good, really,” he said. 

Chris then turned to Evan and he knew that the smaller teen wanted to say something, but was holding back. “It’s not your head again, is it? I thought it was doing better,” Chris said, putting the back of his hand to Evan’s forehead. 

“I said I’m fine!” he exclaimed. Then, in an unexpected move (unexpected by all four of them), Evan grabbed Chris’ cheeks and leaned in, planting a kiss right on his lips.

~~~

“Mizanin,” Cody said, heading into the room without actually being invited in.

“What the bloody hell are you doing here?” he asked, shutting the door. The two of them never socialized outside of acting, were more often than not giving one another a hard time about something or another, not to mention one of Cody’s closest friends had gotten into a number of physical fights with him. 

“I had no one to read my script with. It’s all I’ve been wanting to do since classes got out, but Ted refused to do my math homework with me, and then once I finished my math, he said he was still too busy to help me run lines. So,” he said, shrugging a bit, “here I am.”

“You came to see me to run lines?” Mike asked, still confused about the fact that Cody was actually there in his room.

“Well, that and I knew that coming to see you would piss him off.”

“I’m sure it will,” Mike agreed with a bit of a chuckle. “Anyway, um, yeah, I’m done with all my work so… if you’d like to do lines, that’d be fine.”

“You know, alone you’re really not as bad as you are in public.”

“Same to you,” Mike said absently as he moved to fetch his script which lay on his desk, ready for his perusal as of when.

“So, you’re fighting with DiBiase? What a shame,” Mike mused, flipping through his script to the first scene where he and Cody majorly interacted with one another. The first few times they were on stage together they didn’t really interact in so they didn’t need to go over them as much as the more crucial scenes.

“Why? Afraid you might not get to see him fucking the living daylights out of me again?” Cody asked with a cattish grin and Mike actually blushed.

“You didn’t tell him I was the one who saw, did you?” he asked. He might be able to hold his own in fisticuffs but everyone knew what Ted got like with Cody involved, and the last thing he needed was for his jaw to be broken or his face to get bruised-up before the show.

“Of course not,” Cody said, holding his own script up a little, “Ready when you are.”

Mike nodded and immediately they were both in character, focused.

Cody returned back to his own room just in time for the curfew bell.

“Cody!” Joe said when he saw him walk into their common room. 

The others in the room looked up as well, but Cody’s eyes went right for Ted before looking back at Joe. “Nice to see you too, Joe.”

“Did you really go see Mizanin?” he asked. 

“What do you think? I mean, I said I was going to see him, didn’t I?” he retorted. “Is that a problem? Do I need to ask your permission?”

“I don’t know how you could voluntarily go over and see that dickhead, that’s all,” Joe told him. 

Cody rolled his eyes and continued walking, going right past Ted and his other friends to head up to his bedroom. However, Ted followed. He opened the door as Cody was changing out of his clothes and into his pajamas. “Do you think maybe you could knock first before opening the door?” Cody asked.

“I’m not knocking to come into my own room,” Ted told him. “Cody… please tell me that all you and Mizanin did together was rehearse your lines.”

Merely looking over his shoulder briefly Cody then looked away and didn’t answer Ted at all verbally.

Something about Cody’s deliberate bitchiness made something in Ted snap, and before he knew what he was doing he was quite firmly bending Cody double over his bed, Cody crying out in surprise. “Theodore!” he all but squealed in protest as Ted suddenly pulled his pants down, bearing his naked backside.

“There isn’t much I won’t let you get away with,” Ted said thickly, and Cody realised his hands were shaking, “But I deserve more respect than this.”

Unceremoniously Cody was flipped over, Ted looking over Cody’s body for even the smallest hint of a transgression with Mizanin, “But I deserve more respect than this.”

For once Cody was silent, frozen in place and yet unbearably aroused by this rare showing of dominance from the blonde. He swallowed thickly.

“Ted—“ he started, and as sudden as he had grabbed him Ted released him.

Looking away Ted walked to the door, “I’m going to the bathroom.”

“Wait, Ted!” Cody called, standing up and pulling his pants back up before following Ted out to the bathroom. 

As soon as Ted saw Cody in the mirror out of the corner of his eye, he looked away.

“I— do you really not want to see me?” Cody asked. 

“I’m sorry,” Ted mumbled. 

“What? What are you sorry about?”

“I shouldn’t have done that to you,” he said, finally turning around, a look of guilt on his face. “I’m so sorry, Cody, I should have trusted you.”

“Well, to be fair, I didn’t exactly make it easy to trust me,” Cody said. 

“But I should have known you would do anything with… I’m so, so sorry.”

“Teddy, don’t worry yourself too much about it, ok? Besides… I like your possessive side.” He bit his bottom lip as his eyes sparkled with mischief. 

“Possessive is one thing,” Ted said, missing Cody’s look momentarily, “But _that_ , what I did…” if he hadn’t have stopped himself what might he have done?

“But _that_ was incredible, Ted,” Cody took a step forward, and then another, judging whether or not Ted was about to turn and push him away again.

“And I know I had it coming. I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have acted like that about Mike. I promise, I just read lines with him.”

Though Ted had seen no evidence to the contrary it was nice to be reassured even so.

“I know you didn’t… I’m still sorry Cody.”

“So… Will you come back to the room?” Cody asked, a hand on Ted’s.

“I just need to do my teeth,” Ted said, “Don’t you need to do yours?”

“Good point… but then will you _take me_ to bed, Teddy?”  
Ted looked at him; he hadn’t misheard that right?

“But… but Justin…” Ted stuttered. 

“Justin will be downstairs for a while, Teddy. I want you. Please, take me to bed,” Cody said once again.

“But—”

“ _Teddy_ ,” he whined, biting his lower lip. “I really, _really_ want you to fuck me. After earlier, I’m so turned on.”

Ted didn’t say anything as he did his teeth, just shook from nerves slightly. Did Cody really want him that bad? Once he was done, he rinsed his mouth, spit and then looked to Cody once more. “Do you really want to?” Ted asked. 

Cody began heading out of the bathroom, not saying a word. Once they reached the door to their room, he said, “I could always go see Orton for a quick one off.” He knew just what to say to get Ted riled up, and if he thought Ted got pissed off about him seeing Mizanin earlier, it was nothing compared to him saying he’d go see Randy.

Ted blanched and twitched, a jerk of his head and twitch of his cheek muscles, as though someone had shocked him.

And then Ted growled, he _actually_ growled.

A tremble of delight ran through Cody at the sound, instinctively wanting to flee when Ted descended even though it was what he wanted, his genetics telling him that he should somehow prolong the chase, to not give in too soon.

“Ted!”

Cody found himself being hefted onto Ted’s shoulder, carried with an almost insulting ease back to their room.

Kicking the door shut behind him with a smart swing of his foot Ted then dropped Cody onto the nearest bed which happened to be his ravenette lover’s own, his body immediately covering Cody’s. The kiss was harsh and deep, every nuance of Cody’s mouth being explored by Ted’s tongue, Cody tasting toothpaste and Ted’s natural flavour.

Cody’s legs wrapped around Ted’s waist, arms around his neck, pulled Ted even closer as the highly possessive side of Ted came out… the side that everyone knew he had but that he himself didn’t always want to admit to. 

When Ted finally pulled back he was breathing heavily, as was Cody beneath him. “Fuck me,” Cody panted, using his legs to grind up into Ted. “Fuck me, please, right now. I need you.”

Ted’s eyes shone with possessiveness and want for the young man that was pleading underneath him. Part of him was still saying that this was a bad idea, that Justin could walk in at any moment, but the part of himself that he was listening to was telling him to do it, to fuck Cody to let him know who he belonged to… and that running off to Orton for some quickie would be nothing compared to him. 

Even with their bodies pressed so close together, Ted managed to reach between them as he began undoing Cody’s belt and trousers. He had to yank Cody’s hips up to get his pants down, which elicited a surprised yet obviously turned on squeak.


	53. Chapter 53

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A critic should be taught to criticise a work of art without making any reference to the personality of the author ~ Oscar Wilde

As one Randy and John’s jaws dropped open, Chris’ eyes widening in surprise as Evan kissed him before his arms automatically wound around Evan’s waist to draw him closer as he kissed him back. A slightly wet sound accompanied their lips parting, Chris looking hazed and dazed, Evan looking flushed but coyly determined.

Pulling back smartly Evan used Chris’ sleeve to pull the compliant blonde to his feet, turning back to his gaping cousin and friend, “If you’ll excuse us,” he tried with as much dignity and patience as he could, “We’ll see you both tomorrow.”

Without further ado Evan pulled Chris from the room, the door swinging closed with a firm snap behind them.

Turning to Randy, John commented, “Well, I’ll be damned…”  
“I never thought he had it in him.”

Meanwhile, a blushing but unrelenting Evan all but pulled Chris back to their room, unlocking the door and pushing Chris inside before following and closed the door again.

“Ev—“ Chris’ words were once again cut off by his lover’s lips.

Evan found himself pushing Chris back towards the beds, falling onto his own on top of Chris when his knees hit the bed. Lying back on the bed, Evan atop him, Chris asked, “What has gotten into you?”

“You,” he answered. He bent forward and kissed Chris again, hands cupping his cheeks. “The way you were so protective of your cousin…”

“That’s what got you like this?” Chris asked, rather surprised. 

“Just the way you were talking about how you’d take care of the Spaniard should he ever hurt him… it makes me want you to be that protective and possessive over me,” he said before once again bringing his mouth to Chris’. 

When Evan pulled back, Chris said, “I _am_.” He brought his hand up to tangle in Evan’s hair. “If anyone ever hurt you, I… I don’t know what the hell I’d do, but I’d make them pay for it.”

“God, Randy and John were right… I should have just let myself let loose earlier. This feels really good,” Evan told Chris, able to feel Chris’ erection through both their layers of trousers. 

“I’ve been telling you that for ages,” Chris murmured, groaning as Evan pressed his hips downwards. “Damn it, Evan, carry on like that and we aren’t even going to get started,” Chris told him.

“Can’t be doing with that,” Evan murmured, pressing his mouth to Chris’ once more and rocking his hips down into his lover’s. When Chris’ hands suddenly spanned his backside, squeezing firmly and pulling him down Evan squeaked.

“Ev,” Chris pulled back momentarily, their noses touching, rapid breaths fanning over one another’s lips, “I love you, and for as long as you let me I’m _always_ going to be there to protect you. I swear it to you.”

The emotions that clouded Evan’s chest at the words momentarily stopped him from even breathing, before he then dove in for another kiss.

“I want you, Chris,” Evan spoke against his lover’s mouth, “Now.”

“I think I can be amenable to that,” Chris smirked, then tracing his fingers down Evan’s front, “But I think we should keep this position right here, but lose the clothes. All of them. Now.” 

Evan nodded, sitting up back on his heels. He began working out the buttons on his shirt as Chris did the same with his own. He’d never felt like this before, so wrought with passion and need… so _frantic_. His shirt was soon on the ground, as was Chris’. Once their shirts were off, their pants and boxers followed, only having to move slightly from their positions. 

“Grab the… the jar,” Chris panted. Since not too long after they started sleeping together, Chris put a jar of lubricant in Evan’s bedside drawer, since Evan’s bed was more often than not the bed they ended up in… and it was less likely to already have a jar in it for when a little was needed for _self help_.

Evan crawled up the bed until he could reach. He had the jar in his hand and held it to Chris. “Here, baby.”

Taking the jar, Chris opened it and dipped his fingers in. “I want you to ride me, Evan,” he said as he ran his fingers along Evan’s crack. “I want you to be in charge tonight. You’re the one that wanted this, after all.”

Evan nodded his head along. He may not have known it at the time this all started, but that really was exactly what he wanted.

~~~

“I can’t be gentle with you,” Ted said raggedly, the veins in his neck chording as his developing muscles tensed and flexed with the movements of divesting Cody of his pants and then he of his own, exposing his solid cock. If he had still been behaving reticent his body was completely convinced by his upcoming course of action. A thrill of the forbidden, a combined sensation of phantom pleasure and pain hit Cody.

“I don’t want you to be,” Cody breathed against Ted’s lips, moaning as the blonde’s mouth took his own roughly once more, the blonde’s hands working double-time and with as much care as he could muster to get their shirts unbuttoned at least.

Grabbing Cody’s legs by the knees Ted spread them wide, a gasp leaving Cody at the blatant and open position, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open; his lips were swollen from Ted’s kisses and shining with his saliva.

Giving a mental prayer to God, Ted then shifted, his weeping cock against Cody’s unprepared entrance. He’d asked for this, he better be ready for it. He began to push himself forward.

“Oh, _fuck_ ,” Cody groaned as Ted entered him. It hurt a lot, Ted was _big_ and there was no preparation at all. But it still felt damn good. 

“That’s it, baby. Take it all,” he muttered as he continued to push forward. When he was finally inside he paused, gripping onto Cody’s knees. He looked down to Cody, from the sweat dripping off his forehead, the muscles in Cody’s abdomen to where they were now joined together. 

“You look beautiful,” Cody said, reaching his hands up to trail over Ted’s chest. 

“How’re you doing?” Ted asked, suddenly feeling a hint of guilt for doing this without preparing Cody at all. 

“I’m great, Teddy. God, it’s so good. Can you move, baby? Please. Fuck me,” Cody pleaded. “Fuck me _hard_.”

Ted’s hands ran up from Cody’s knees, over his thighs to his hips. He wrapped his hands around Cody’s hips, gripping tight. 

Even though he had asked for it, could tell the _second_ Ted was going to do it the first thrust still caught Cody be surprise.

“ _Ah!_ ” he cried out in pleasure, arching underneath Ted as he surged forward. The sensation of pain and pleasure was so _incredibly measured_ that his head was spinning already. “Ted!” Cody gasped, Ted shivering at the sheer _emotion_ in Cody’s voice. Damn, there was no way he could hold back.

The first few thrusts had some measure of concern for Cody in that he didn’t go _too fast_ , but as soon as that concern was there it was diminished by need.

When Ted gave another thrust, angling a slightest bit more to the side, Cody let out something close to a shriek again.

Outside of the bedroom door Justin heard the muffled sound and groaned quietly to himself, resisting hitting his head on the door.

He headed back downstairs to see if he could room with Joe and the others for the night.

Justin cussed the whole walk back down the stairs. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he muttered to himself when he’d first turned and walked away. “Fucking hell,” he said once he was back in the common room. 

“What is it?” Joe asked, looking up from the book he was pretending to study from. 

“Oh, they’re just fucking in the room,” Justin answered. 

Windham now looked over to Justin, but didn’t seem all that surprised. Heath had already gone off to the room, but he would find out from one of them eventually. “That’s shitty.”

“You can say that again,” Justin said. “My pajamas are in there, my toothbrush is in there.”

“It’s just too bad Ted’s _in there_ , ‘m I right?” Joe asked. 

“This isn’t funny. I don’t have any clothes, I can’t do my teeth, and all I want to do is go to bed. Which is what brings me here right now.”

“What? You need to crash, or something? Well… we have got a spare bed,” Joe answered, grinning slightly to Windham. 

The other boy blushed lightly but didn’t deny Joe’s sentiment; clearly he was becoming a little less uptight about his relationship with Joe, and Joe’s newfound liking of sharing his bed often for innocent sleeping purposes.

“Thanks guys,” Justin sighed before grimacing, “I swear, next year I’m going to get my own room. Their mooning over each other was irritating but at least it didn’t get me locked out.”

“You mean you weren’t expecting this?” Heath asked him incredulously; it seemed pretty obvious given earlier events.

“I wasn’t expecting it to happen at least until I had gotten my night things,” he corrected the redhead lightly and Heath nodded in response.

“Shame you can’t room with Wade, aye?” Joe grinned.

“Believe me if I could then I would,” Justin responded immediately.

“That wouldn’t be a good idea,” Heath said suddenly, drawing everyone’s attention. He grinned.

“All the fucking and late nights would really ruin your grades and you wouldn’t get out of bed.”

“Is that really all you think we’d do?” Justin asked. “Well, to be fair, I think it’s a lot of what we’d do, but I’d still find time to do my work. And he does have a school to run,” he said. 

“The school would probably crumble at his feet if you two lived together during the school year,” Heath said. 

“It would not! He wouldn’t let it happen. I’ll have you know that despite the fact that he can be a very vigorous and intense lover, he’s quite disciplined and will put off our couplings until all the work he needs to complete is complete.”

All three of their faces were scrunched up. “Did you just use the words vigorous and intense to describe _Wade_?” Joe asked. 

“You’re the ones telling me that I’d be too busy fucking him to do anything else, so I’m just letting you know the facts,” Justin said. “It’s true, though, he is quite intense when he gets going. When he’s fucking me really good, I swear I can feel him all through my torso.”

“I think we’ve heard enough,” Windham mumbled. 

~~~

“Oh—oh— _ah_!” Cody’s mouth tore from Ted’s, his head falling back as his prostate was assaulted over and over, Ted’s thrusts becoming erratic as he grew closer to his own peak, Cody definitely there with him.

“Come with me Teddy,” Cody begged, nails scoring up the length of Ted’s back.

A low hiss and a moan responded to the words and actions, Ted gritting his teeth momentarily as he continued to surge forward into Cody, their bodies so closely entwined that he was struggling to differentiate between which one of them was trembling the most with their impending climax. “ _Cody_ \--“he all but whined, knowing he couldn’t hold on much longer, his cock throbbing hard.

Unable to restrain himself Cody bit down on Ted’s shoulder as he came, Ted crying out in bliss and minor pain as the sensation sent him right into his own release, feeling Cody coating his abs as he filled Cody.

“God, Teddy, that was _amazing_ ,” Cody said as he collapsed back on the bed, arms spread out over the mattress, a contented smile on his face. 

Ted reached down and pulled his cock out of Cody and then lay down next to him. “It was amazing?”

Cody’s head turned to the side. “Did you not think that it was?”

“I didn’t say that, because it _was_ amazing, I just meant… well… I didn’t hurt you?” he asked, running the backs of his fingers down Cody’s cheek.

“It hurt so good, baby,” he answered. “I want to do it like that again sometime. Sometime really soon,” he added. “I hope you know that I’d never run off to Randy for some quick fuck. You do know that, right?”

“Yeah… I just… wanted to make sure of it,” Ted answered. 

“Or Mizanin. I wouldn’t do anything with him, ok?”

“OK,” Ted responded, though realistically he knew that the next time he saw Mike he’d be borrowing a few seconds of his time for a _private_ chat anyway.

Shifting slightly, Cody traced a hand down to his backside, filled with mild awe. “It feels like you’re still in me.”

Ted blushed darkly, probably ironic considering what he’d done.

“It’ll probably feel like that when you let me top, you know.”

For a moment Ted mentally groaned, hoping they weren’t about to get into _another_ fight about _that_ particular aspect, but looking at Cody he realised that his lover was only being conversational, “Oh, really?”

“Yeah, it does,” Cody chuckled, “You won’t be able to walk too quick either… I’m lucky no one really picked up on it.” _Though tomorrow could be a different story._

A deeper blush covered Ted’s cheeks, hiding his face momentarily. 

“Oh…”

“It feels amazing, though, Teddy. Just wait. You might not think it now, but you’re going to love it and wonder why you waited so long to get it up the bum, I promise you,” Cody told him. 

“I just don’t… I…”

“Teddy… next time we do this and we’re, you know, actually naked and have time to go slow, I’m going to treat you to something to give you a little taste of just _why_ it feels so good to have you fucking me.”

“Uhh… well… what exactly does that mean?” he asked.

“You’ll see.”

“Cody, what are you planning? Because I just don’t know if I’m ready to have your… up there,” he muttered, still blushing.

“I’m not going to fuck you, Teddy… well, unless you like it that much that you ask me to do it,” Cody said. He just needed to let Ted experience how good it felt to have his prostate pleasured, and that he could do with his fingers.

“ _Do what_?”

“If I told you it would ruin the surprise, Theodore,” Cody chastised his lover lightly with an innocent smile, tapping his nose.

Wrinkling his nose in response Ted then paused when he realised how late it had gotten, “Uh oh… Whoops,” Justin had to have been to the room by that point and heard them… _He would apologise to him tomorrow._

“What?” Cody asked, completely confused by the sudden response, knowing that Ted _couldn’t_ have figured out what he had in mind. If he _had_ … he probably _wouldn’t_ be responding that way.

“Justin,” he said simply.

“Justin?!” Cody repeated in surprise, brow furrowing lightly.

Looking at Cody, Ted then indicated the third bed in their room and then the clock. Following Ted’s finger as it pointed, Cody sat there silently for a moment before he _finally_ seemed to put two and two together to get: pissed off roommate.

“…Oh, yeah.” 

“Yeah. Justin. There’s no way he didn’t hear us… and if he went back downstairs, he probably told _everyone_ exactly what we were doing,” Ted muttered, beyond embarrassed. 

“Oh, come on, it’s only Justin. It’s not like he’s some blushing virgin. And he knows that we’re fucking each other, so it’s not like that’s come out of nowhere, either.”

“That doesn’t mean we have the right to do it in the room where he sleeps, too!”

“I think we have majority,” Cody said. “Two to one wins last I knew.”

“Maybe in a two out of three coin toss, but, jeez, Cody… this is his room, too, and because we were doing… what we were doing, we prevented him from coming back to his own room! What would you do if you were rooming with, say, Joe and Windham and heard them having sex?”

“Come visit and have sex with you?” he answered. 

“Can you please take this seriously, just a little?”

“That _is_ what I would do,” Cody pointed out, “If they were getting their ends away why shouldn’t I?” he shrugged, “Besides, it’s just this one time, we’ll make it up to him OK?”

Ted wanted to point out that technically it _wasn’t_ the first time, but this was the first time they had had him out of the room _completely_ … before he’d just walked in.

“We’ll need to make it up to him _very_ well,” Ted responded and Cody nodded.

“We’ll just buy him a drink when we next go into town, and those chocolates he likes.”

Though Ted felt that they should do something _more_ he realistically knew that that would be good enough. Actually, knowing Justin, just an apology and a promise not to do it again anytime soon would be enough but his conscience wouldn’t allow for that. “That, and an apology first thing.” 

“Yeah… yeah, an apology… first thing,” Cody said as he curled up even more around Ted.

“I’m serious, though, Cody. It’s the least we can do.”

“We can ask if he wants to join us next time.” Even though he couldn’t actually see Ted’s face, he knew that Ted was giving him a look. “No? Ok, fine, we won’t ask him to join… even though it could probably be a lot of fun considering all the experience that he— ok, still no. I got it.”

“We need more self control,” Ted then told him. “We can’t just start having sex with each other whenever we feel like it.”

“No one has more self control than you, Ted,” Cody said. 

“When it comes to everything _but_ you it seems,” he murmured in response. It was true, he was disciplined and generally had a great deal of self control, but Cody always managed to come in and turn that up on its head. 

“It’s not like it’s a bad thing, though… it’s nice to be able to work out that sexual tension.”

“Not in some bathroom stall, though! Or in a room where we’re expecting a roommate to come back!”

“Then where exactly are we supposed to have sex, Ted?” Cody asked. “And don’t even think about saying that we’re not going to.”

“I… wasn’t going to say that,” Ted responded after a moment.

“Try that again without hesitating and I _might_ believe you,” came Cody’s immediate response to Ted’s prior statement.

Flushing embarrassedly Ted mumbled something incoherent, Cody rolling his eyes with fond exasperation— and being glad that Ted couldn’t see him doing it because he could get rather sensitive about that sort of thing sometimes.

“Teddy, Justin wouldn’t want us to be holding back on each other… out of _all_ of us he knows the frustration and pain of separation.”

_OK, Justin and Wade’s situation was quite different but Justin would understand, he was sure of that much._

“He’d probably want us holding back until the nights when he could go and see Wade instead,” Ted responded dryly and Cody would have laughed if he had thought Ted wasn’t being a hundred percent serious about what he had said. “Yes, but, again, those chances are often rare.”

Justin had only been lucky recently in seeing Wade because the holidays were up-and-coming.

“I just… think we really need to exercise some restraint.”

“You figure out a way for us to do that whilst still getting the regular sex and I’ll do it, Ted.” 

“But… I don’t know if I can promise that,” Ted told him. “We need to account for Justin, who’s got to be missing Wade even worse now that we’ve practically kicked him out of the room so that we could have sex, while he’s unable to.”

“I’m fifteen, Teddy! I need to have sex. Or at least _something_ to relieve myself at least once, usually more like twice a day… You know I’ll do it anywhere.”

“You’d do it if Justin were in the room, wouldn’t you?” Ted asked. 

“Yeah,” he answered. “We don’t need to be loud to have a good time. He wouldn’t even have to know!”

“I’m not having sex with someone else in the room. It’s just not happening.”

“The bathroom, then? There are stalls, the bathtubs… we could even try that whole classroom thing like John and Randy did.”

“It’s bad enough that we were seen in your dressing room, Cody, there is _no way_ I’m ever fucking you in a classroom! We might just need to restrain ourselves until we know that the room will be free.”

“Jesus Christ, Teddy, where’s the fun in that?”

“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain.”

“Oh Teddy!” Cody groaned, pressing his face into the pillow momentarily and reminding himself fervently that he loved Ted enough to overlook his occasional ecclesiastical fanaticism. Clearly he’d forgotten what he’d done beforehand.

“What?” Ted asked, “You know I don’t like it when you do that before me, Cody.” _Yeah, he had definitely forgotten that he’d just been doing the very same thing._

“It’s all well and good you sitting there and talking about restraint you know,” Cody said suddenly as he pulled back from the pillow and Ted arched a brow at him. “What are you talking about, Cody?”

“Well, you’re acting as though _I_ am the only one with needs, and _clearly_ you have needs as well, dear.”

“I can control myself,” Ted repeated stubbornly.

“But what if you can’t?” Cody responded, “What if you can’t and we find ourselves without the bedroom? What would you do?”

“I’d wait,” came the blonde’s response.

Giving his lover a look Cody said seriously, “It’s not good to hold back like that.”

“I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine, thank you for your concern,” Ted said.

~~~

“Are you saying you didn’t want it?” Evan couldn’t resist teasing and Chris gave a throaty chuckle, pressing a finger inside of Evan and bringing forth one of those _amazing_ throaty moans he gave during moments like this. “I don’t think there’s _ever_ a time when I won’t want it from you, baby,” he promised.

As Chris’ finger began to move inside of his body Evan braced his hands down either side of Chris’ head, sticking his backside out a little more both intentionally and instinctively to give Chris better access and also because his body had to bend that way if he wanted to kiss Chris again. Which he did, very much. Steadily but swiftly Chris worked up to another finger.

“Stop,” Evan panted firmly as he pulled back from the kiss, Chris’ brows arching slightly in surprise at the abruptness.

“But, Evvy—“ he started, Evan shaking his head as he reached for the jar, getting some of the substance on his hand and quickly coating Chris’ more than ready cock in it. “You said I’m in charge tonight, Chris, and I said _stop_.”

Chris’ hands dropped to Evan’s hips, eyes riveted down to the sight of Evan holding him still as he started to sink down on him.

“Oh, Ev,” Chris moaned as he was surrounded by that familiar tight heat. 

Evan’s eyes were closed as he sunk down, groaning as he was filled until his ass was flush against Chris. Only then did he open his eyes to look down at Chris, who was still fixated on where their bodies were joined. “Touch me,” he whispered. 

“Huh? Oh…” he moved his hand from Evan’s hip to then wrap around his cock. “This what you wanted, baby?”

“Yeah, that’s just what I wanted,” he answered as he began to move. He raised himself up with his legs before slowly lowering himself back down. “Don’t… don’t just leave your hand there… stroke me.” Evan had no idea where this side of him was coming from, but he did like it, he liked not having to hold back, being able to say what he thought and what he wanted. 

Chris really liked this side of Evan, too. 

Soon, Evan was pushing into Chris’ hand as well as up and down on Chris’ cock, motions soon getting smoother.

“Damn Ev, look at you…” Chris’ eyes were wandering between Evan’s face and Evan’s torso as often as he possibly could, struggling to decide which bit he wanted to look at most. And, of course he couldn’t resist looking at the way his cock disappeared into his lover’s body. It was amazing really, just to see how Evan could take him _all the way inside of him_ , and feel so good around him.

 _Definitely made for him_ , Chris thought.

“Chris—“Evan choked, shuddering slightly, “Angle—change your angle—“ he blushed, knowing that that wasn’t the _sexiest_ way that he could have said it, but with the way Chris was he was feeling him, but not _feeling him_ as much as he could be.

“Oh,” Chris grinned wickedly, “Like this baby?” and twisted his hips just so. 

“Yessss!” Evan hissed as Chris changed his angle as he rocked his hips just so. He was letting himself go, letting himself feel how good it was to let his reservations go and simply let himself experience the feel of Chris inside him.

“Fuck, Ev… you, oh _God_ , just like that,” Chris moaned as he and Evan continued to move in sync with one another. 

Evan then bent down, hands on the mattress near Chris’ head and brought their lips together. He was even the one to move to deepen it, his tongue demanding entrance into Chris’ mouth. 

Chris was glad to part his lips for Evan. He wanted to see this dominant side of him more often, he now knew that much. When Evan pulled back, he panted out, “One day… I want you like _this_ fucking _me_.”

Once again bringing his lips to Chris’, just barely touching them, Evan whispered, “I think I can do that.” He then let his tongue slip between Chris’ parted lips once more.

A deep moan sounded in Chris’ throat at the thought of being on the receiving end of Evan’s newfound ability to just _let go_.

When their lips parted again Evan’s eyes fluttered up lightly before he shuddered and mewed, his fingers curling in the sheets underneath them, “Chris--- I can’t hold it---”

“Don’t hold back Ev,” Chris’ fingers pressed into the taunt flesh of Evan’s backside, causing Evan to gasp, pressing his hips down suddenly and sharply. This time Chris was the one to gasp, his head then falling back.

It was definitely one of the most _intense_ orgasms either of the teenagers had ever experienced, their cries lost into one another’s mouths. _Definitely a good idea in retrospect._

Collapsing down onto Chris’ chest afterwards Evan struggled to try and get his breathing regulated once more, suddenly feeling the urge to just fall asleep right there. “Damn Ev,” Chris murmured, holding him close, “Damn, just… Wow.” 

Evan gave a little smile against Chris’ chest. “Really?”

“Really,” he answered. 

“I… I don’t know what came over me,” Evan then said. 

“I don’t know, either, but, damn, Ev… I loved it. I think that one was our best time yet,” he declared. Now, he knew that was a rather strong statement, as they’d had many times together, but all these factors came together to make that time just rise above all the others, at least in Chris’ mind. 

“You think so? Because… I was thinking the same thing,” Evan admitted, turning his head to look up at Chris. “I’m sorry I kissed you in front of my cousin, though.”

“Don’t worry about that. God, if anything, I think they were rooting for us,” Chris said with a chuckle. “Besides, we got out of there before anything really serious happened,” he added.

“Yeah, true… I should have controlled myself a bit better around them, though.”

“Baby, it got us out of there and in here… I like it when you lose control.”

“But don’t make a habit of it?” Evan quipped lightly.

“Actually, I was thinking that you should do it more often.”

A blush stained Evan’s cheeks and he grinned sheepishly, “But, surely that’d annoy you?” he questioned, unsure what he wanted to come out with but knowing that was probably not it.

“Are you kidding? Annoy me? Sure, I’d be a bit tired but it’d be so worth it.”

“Chris!” Evan said, though he was smiling so Chris knew that he hadn’t gone too far.

“What? I mean it,” he said.

Resting his head against Chris’ chest momentarily Evan then said, “We should really get a bath,” Chris glanced across at the bedside clock in the lamplight and shook his head lightly. “No sense in going now; curfew’s coming up and though you have more excuse to be out as a Prefect it’ll look suspicious.”

Evan couldn’t deny that--- especially when he wasn’t even on patrol that evening. “Set the alarm early then,” he murmured, “We’ll get up early and go take one, OK?” 

~~~

“Speak for yourself,” Heath said immediately and Windham rolled his eyes, shaking his head at their friend’s words.

“You’re a sick, sick pervert Heath,” Windham said.

“Does it really _linger_ like that, Justin?” the redhead asked, ignoring Windham’s words and knowing full-well that Joe was listening as he pretended to read once more. He may well just give up; no one ever bought his act any way.

“Yes,” Justin admitted giving a light shiver, “Sometimes I think he might even _break me_.” That was all he was intending to say on the matter though, but it was definitely enough.

“I haven’t had the chance to feel like _that_ in a long time,” he sighed glumly, watching as Windham seemed to give up on trying to steer the conversation elsewhere and went to do his teeth and wash up. Joe then stopped feigning reading and looked up, “With that David?”

Nodding, Heath then asked, “Surely Win’s made you feel like that Joe? It’s part-and-parcel with the first time doing it our way,” he added.

Joe shrugged. “I mean… he went really slow,” he then admitted. “And we’ve only done it the one time.”

“It was good, though, right? And, well, now that you’ve done it once, you think you’d want to be a bit more vigorous with it?” Heath asked him. 

“Maybe,” Joe said. 

“Why, Joe, for someone with such a tough exterior, I never thought you’d be the slow, gentle love making type,” Justin told him. “Don’t get me wrong, being slow and gentle during love making has its place, for sure, but it’s nice to just have both partners let go and just… _fuck_.”

“I never thought I’d hear those words coming out of your mouth,” Joe said to him. 

“He’s got a point, though,” Heath agreed. 

“I wasn’t a virgin before I got with Win, ya know,” Joe mumbled. “I’ve fucked plenty before.”

“Oh, yeah, because sticking it in a girl is at all similar to getting stuck yourself,” Heath said with a roll of his eyes. “Besides, those girls were all one offs, right? This is different. You’re _with_ Win now, so you’ve got lots of time to try lots of different things.”

“How many different things can two guys do together?” Joe asked, completely serious.

“A lot more than you probably think, Joe.”

“Really?” Joe blinked.

“Yes, really,” Heath said, looking to Justin for support. Momentarily Justin looked confused, wondering what Heath wanted him to say exactly.

“There’s more than just the fucking… though the fucking part is definitely fun,” he chuckled.

“Oh!” Justin’s eyes widened as he realised what Heath was implying. Or, what he believed Heath was implying.

“He’s right, Joe,” Justin said, following the other two towards the other trio’s bedroom when they began heading that way as time wore on (and Ted and Cody hadn’t reappeared, thus telling Justin he wasn’t sleeping in his own bed that evening) closing the door after himself, “A _relationship_ is different.”

Looking between his friends Joe cocked his head curiously, “You mean as in, like, the emotional side of it?” he pulled his shirt off and reached for a night-shirt, tossing his spare one to Justin who accepted it gratefully. “Yes, the ‘emotional side’ of it, Joe.”

“We’re still working on all the sides of this… whatever we have,” Joe told them. “The emotional _and_ the physical. I’m already pretty emotionally attached to him… he’s been my closest friend for so long now.”

“Yeah, that part will develop even further,” Justin said. “You all know that I’ve known Wade since I was fairly young… our relationship has had to evolve so much from first getting to know him to getting to the point where I knew I wanted to sleep with him to now.”

“The sex gets better, too,” Heath added. “David’s family has been working for my family for as long as I can remember, probably since before I was born, and I’ve known David for a long time, as well… I didn’t ever really play with him as a kid much, but I always knew he was around. Then, as we got older, we got to know each other a little better… and he was the one that opened my eyes to the wonders of homosexual sex.”

“You said he’d been with others before, though, didn’t you?” Joe asked. 

“Yeah, he said he’d been with others, male and female… I never asked who, but always just assumed it was other servants either in our home or nearby homes,” Heath answered. “I’d been with girls before, but he was the first guy I’ve ever slept with.”

“Have you been with a lot of guys?” Justin then asked. 

“Just one other.”

“The _friend_ you have here?” Justin cocked his head to the side, now a bit more curious about Heath.  
“We don’t fuck.”

“Yeah, pull the other one, Heath,” Joe responded and the redhead held up a hand and shook his head, “I swear, Scout’s honour, I haven’t fucked with that guy. We just do the other stuff, give each other an outlet, that’s all.”

Joe and Justin exchanged a look before looking back to Heath, “Why?”

The redhead opened his mouth to answer before then pausing, looking almost surprised by the question.

“Actually, that’s a good question. I guess I just don’t feel to _that_ degree for him, and honestly, even if that wasn’t the case he hasn’t made any attempt to push for more, so…” he didn’t mind being used like that, because he wasn’t invested in the situation fully himself.

“I don’t know if I could be in a situation like that,” Justin said.

Looking at their friend closely Joe asked, “Is it because you have feelings for David that you won’t fuck around with another boy in the actual sense of fucking?” that was surprisingly sentimental coming from the boy who had offered to take his virginity if Windham never stepped up and offered it. “Maybe…” Heath said, though he knew that he and David could never mount to anything… except continued bed buddies after marriage.

“Why Heath, I didn’t know you had such a romantic hidden in you,” Justin cooed, teasing to distract their friend since he looked a bit perplexed suddenly. It worked. “Romantic? Shut up, I am _not_ a bloody romantic.” He dropped onto his bed and stretched.

“I think you are,” Justin said as he settled in on his own temporary bed. 

“Who’s what now?” Windham asked as he re-entered the room.

“Heath is a big romantic,” Justin told him. 

“Next to Cody, Heath is the most perverted human being I know,” he said, joining Joe in his bed. 

“I’ve slept with more people than either of them and you still think they’re more perverted than I am?” Joe asked.

“That’s just gross. We don’t want to hear about your past conquests, Joe. At least I don’t, especially not while I’m in your bed,” Windham then told him. “Anyway, what makes you think Heath is some big romantic?”

“I am not,” he muttered. 

“Heath has feelings for David,” Justin said. “And because he loves him so much, he won’t fuck anyone else.”

“Would you have fucked me?” Joe asked. 

“Joe!” Windham exclaimed. “I’m lying right here.”

Ignoring Windham’s little outburst, Heath answered, “Yeah, probably… I think.”

“You what?” Windham sputtered.

“Look Win, not being funny or anything but if you hadn’t been in the picture then I probably would have fucked Joe, OK?”

Joe looked slightly startled by that, “You… Really would’ve done _that_?”

“Yeah, sure,” Heath said, “I mean, I know I could make it good for you, and it’s not like you’ve sought out any boys other than me or Windham is it?” Joe couldn’t deny that one; he’d never liked any other boys.

The redhead then smiled, “But since you have Windham now I don’t need to feel the need to step up so deeply.”

Justin was momentarily confused, “So you would have slept with him out of pity of him being a virgin in _that_ sense?”

“Not exactly,” Heath pointed out, “I’d have seen it as beneficial for the both of us.”

The South African still looked a bit confused but nodded his head.

“But you won’t try anything now?” Windham asked.

“Jeez mate, way to have faith in your friend and beau.”

“With the history you two have? I’m entitled to be wary.”

“So we’ve sucked each other off! Lots of people have sucked lots of other people off, I mean, I’m pretty sure that Cody’s had way more sexual partners than I have,” Heath said, nodding his head to make it appear more definitive.

“This isn’t about Cody. This is about you and the fact that you said you’d sleep with Joe.”

“No, I said I _would have_ slept with Joe if you hadn’t stepped in and said that you wanted it to just be the two of you.”

“You’d still sleep with him, though,” Windahm said. 

“If you weren’t so insistent upon it being just you two! Are you trying to tell me that you’d never consider sleeping with anyone else?” Heath asked. “Look, if you want to play a game of ‘what ifs’ then let’s do it. Justin, let’s say that, yes, you still grew up with Wade… but instead he was happily married and had no interest in you and you grew up calling them Mummy and Daddy. There’s got to be someone around that you’d sleep with.”

“How exactly did I get sucked into this conversation?” he asked.

“That’s not answering my question. And I picked you because you’re an easy target,” he said to appease Justin so as to get an answer from him. 

“Well, thank you very much,” Justin muttered dryly.

“It’s just a hypothetical situation, like me sleeping with Joe if Win wasn’t around—“ that part was obviously directed at Windham, who huffed lightly and eyed Heath warily, “—it’s not like we’re ever going to tell Wade, so just tell us.”

“There isn’t,” Justin responded immediately, hoping that his expression didn’t give away the fact that the mere thought of not having Wade was painful.

“We’re not saying you have to mean it _now_ ,” Heath said firmly, knowing Justin was dodging, “Just say someone you’d _consider_ doing it with.”

Justin’s face went a little blank and Joe and Windham wondered whether they should call Heath off.

“Well… If I _had_ to be pick someone, hypothetically, and to verify I _don’t_ have _any_ desire to sleep with them now I suppose I would pick someone like…” he hesitated, unsure whether he could bring himself to voice it. For the sake of making a point or not he felt like he would still be betraying Wade somehow. Heath leant in some more, a genuinely curious expression on his face now as opposed to the previously determined one.

“Who is it?” this time Joe was the one to offer the curious prompt.


	54. Chapter 54

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything ~ Oscar Wilde

“You’ll be going crazy. Look at you tonight, Teddy! Do you think you could really have held back? Honestly.”

“If you hadn’t been so… forward, then yes, of course I’d have been able to hold back,” Ted replied. 

“If _I_ hadn’t been so forward?! Ted, we’re sleeping together, and I _want_ to be with you. Of course I’m gonna be forward with you. I want you. I’ll always want you. So, let’s factor _me_ into this equation.”

“From here on out, I’ll have more self control.”

“Yeah, I’ll buy that when I see it,” Cody laughed. “I don’t think you can do it. I mean… when I do this,” he said, beginning to trail his fingers over Ted’s cock, “do you really think that you’ll be able to hold off?”

“Yes,” he said, turning his body so that he was on his side, facing away from Cody. However, Cody rolled with him and continued to stroke him and wrap his leg over Ted’s legs. “Would you stop that?”

“Nope. I’m trying to make a point.”

“I think that’s enough,” Ted said, attempting to push Cody’s hand away, and separate his legs from the other boy’s.

However, Cody’s hand merely followed Ted’s movement, a leg slipping between his lover’s instead of over.

“Sometimes, Cody Garrett, you can be _very_ frustrating,” Ted ground out through clenched teeth, feeling his cock beginning to stir somewhat even though he’d impressively came not half an hour beforehand.

 _Bloody teenage hormones!_ He thought balefully.

“And sometimes, Theodore Marvin,” Cody leant into Ted’s ear, making the blonde shiver as his warm breath brushed over his sensitive ear, “You can be _very_ dishonest with yourself, and with me. It’s _frustrating_ alright.”

“Don’t twist my words back on m-ah!”

A muscle in Ted’s jaw ticked as Cody suddenly moved a hand down to cup his balls, kneading them with a teasing gentleness that completely belayed the confident boldness he used to touch him.

“Oh, but, Teddy… it’s just so much fun proving you wrong,” he whispered, slowly rocking his hips so his own hard cock rubbed against Ted. 

“It’s not my fault that my body can’t follow what I’m saying…” He gasped as Cody continued playing with his balls and his cock. “I could probably have anyone’s hand on me and I’d react the same.”

Cody then pulled his hand away and pushed his body slightly further back on the bed. “What do you mean you could have anyone’s hand on you and you’d react the same?” he asked.

Ted rolled around to face Cody and raised an eyebrow, confused at Cody’s reaction. “I don’t mean I _would_ have anyone’s hand on me. All I’m saying is that my body knows that that feels good.”

“And are you saying that you think someone else could do it _better_?”

“When did I ever say that?” Ted asked. “I didn’t. So stop twisting my words around.”

With a little smirk, Cody them moved himself back towards Ted, wrapping a hand behind his neck, bringing their lips together as their cocks brushed together. 

At first Ted resisted, determined to hold onto his convictions and also because he wasn’t exactly in the right mind-frame for sex… and that was obviously what Cody after. He was _insatiable_ , wasn’t he?

“Cody—” Ted mumbled when he managed to free his mouth, but Cody merely followed him, not allowing Ted to get any distance between them.

“Shh Teddy, don’t argue with me,” the sensual ravenette whispered, running his other hand down Ted’s chest after pushing him down again. “Listen to your body, Teddy, you said it knows what feels good…”

With a smirk Cody rubbed their bodies together, feeling his cock sliding against Ted’s own, his lover now completely erect once more. God, he _loved_ Ted’s stamina.

“I want to make you feel good,” Cody whispered, looking Ted directly in the eyes.

“Cody—stop it—” Ted said, attempting to grab Cody’s hips to make him still, but Cody grabbed his hands first and pressed them down against the bedcovers by his wrists, “Uh, uh, uh, Ted.”

“Seriously, Cody, let go… You _can’t_ want to have sex again so soon, surely?” he asked.

“Are you saying you _don’t_ want to have sex again?” Cody asked him in return.

“Yes,” he answered, “that’s exactly what I’m saying.” 

“You’re lying,” Cody whispered. “If you didn’t want to fuck again, then you wouldn’t be so… _eager_ ,” he said, once more rubbing their cocks together. “Justin’s not coming back tonight.”

“You don’t know that,” Ted replied through clenched teeth. “He could still come back.”

“No, he won’t… I bet you anything he’s bunked with Heath, Joe and Windham. Well, not _with_ them, but in their room.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“He hasn’t come back yet, has he? Teddy… we’ve got the room to ourselves for the rest of the night. Come on, let me make you feel good one more time tonight.”

“Cody, I’m trying to show restraint.”

“And I’m trying to show you that you _can’t_ show restraint. Not when it comes to the things you _really_ want. And the thing you want above all else is _me_. Just admit it, Teddy. You can’t resist me,” he said before lightly pressing his lips to Ted’s.

Alright, technically Cody _was_ the thing that Ted had ever wanted above anything else, even though it had taken puberty and hormones to show him just _how much_ he really wanted his best friend.

But damned if his pride would let him say that, regardless of the persuasive arguments of Cody’s tongue and his own libido.

Pulling back from the kiss Cody undulated against Ted lightly, breathing hard and looking him directly in the eye, leaving Ted in no doubt as to how _he_ was feeling.

“Cody—“ his pride was all he had for goodness’ sake, and even though Cody’s ego would take a bit of a shot if Ted resisted surely he could just let it go, just this once? But then he knew that was a stupid thing to assume even before he really asked himself it.

“It’s OK, Teddy, just let it go, I won’t tell anyone else.”

Somehow Ted doubted that; Cody would probably adore bragging how easily he got him.

The blonde sent up a silent prayer that God would improve his resistance before sighing.

“So?” Cody asked expectantly, watching Ted’s face.

“Do whatever you want, Cody, you always do.”

Cody smirked, ran a hand down Ted’s cheek all before rolling off of Ted and settling on his side. 

“What the hell?” Ted asked, not expecting that _at all_.

“I just said I was proving you wrong,” Cody replied from beside Ted. “I never actually said I was going to do anything if it did get to this point.”

“But… I…”

Then, just as quickly as Cody had rolled off of Ted, he was back straddled atop him again. “I’m only kidding, Teddy. The only problem with getting _you_ all wound up is that it gets me wound up in the process. It wouldn’t seem fair to just let this one go to my hand,” he said, rubbing the tip of his cock side to side on Ted’s belly. 

“So… so what are you doing?” Ted asked, looking into the eyes above him. 

“Whatever I want to do,” he replied, now walking back just a bit on his knees so he was right over Ted’s cock. “Just like always,” he said, now reaching behind him to take Ted’s cock in his hand, aligning it with his hole before slowly sinking himself onto it. “Oh, god, Teddy…,” he moaned, biting his lower lip.

Ted bit down on his own lip to keep in the cuss that wanted out at the sensation of Cody around him again. Impossibly he felt it even _more_ than he usually did, and that was saying something. Reflexively his hands went to Cody’s hips, and Cody allowed them to though he was soon quite clear in doing this how _he_ wanted to do it.

“You’re—going to have---trouble walking—tomorrow,” Ted ground out through clenched teeth and had Cody not known Ted as well as he did he would have thought the blonde was blowing his own trumpet (which he was fully entitled to do, by the way) but in this case it was a genuine point for concern.

Only Ted could still think like that whilst buried balls-deep into his lover’s arse.

“Don’t care,” Cody mewed, pushing off and then back down onto Ted, trembling at the sensation, “If it were up to me I would never get off you.”

“W-What?”

“Mhm, yes, I’d just keep you tied to my bed so I could feel you over and over as often as the mood took me.”

And he could already say that it would be happening _a lot_. 

“Jesus, Cody,” Ted whispered as the words truly sank in. Did he really feel that good that Cody would want him to be inside him constantly? 

“And I thought you never took the Lord’s name in vain,” Cody replied, letting his palms roam over Ted’s smooth chest as he continued to ride Ted’s cock. 

“You make me like this, Cody.”

“I know, baby. I know. I love making you get like this, too.” He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to Ted’s jaw. “Because I know you get like this _just_ for me. Only ever for me. I don’t want you to restrain yourself, Teddy, not anymore.” He rocked his hips forward, eliciting a groan from his lover. “You’ve held yourself in check for way too long now.”

“We— we can’t just do this whenever we want,” Ted forced out as Cody continued to rock his hips, making him feel _so good_. 

“Yes, we can. Teddy, you want it as badly as I do. Just let yourself admit to it.”

“I won’t think any less of you, Ted,” Cody promised, knowing his pride was what was keeping the blonde from just admitting what he _really_ wanted.

“Cody—“ Ted’s eyes closed before he then nodded his head, cursing himself even as he said, “I _want_ you. I want you so often and out of nowhere that sometimes it frightens me.” And it really did. Not as much as when he first realised that he was sexually attracted to his very young, very male best friend, but enough to cause him pause now and again.

“Teddy—“ Cody ducked his head and pressed his lips to his lover’s, letting his tongue roam the depths of Ted’s mouth before pulling back, “Say that again, please.”

“What?” Ted groaned as Cody’s inner-muscles suddenly clenched around him, making him seem tighter than usual, “That I –ah- want you?”

“Yes! Unh, say it again,” Cody moaned.

Hearing Ted saying that made Cody feel as good as he did when Ted told him he loved him.

“I want you,” Ted repeated, but he was still saying it with some uncertainty, his voice low. 

“Say it louder, Teddy. Say it like you _mean it_.” He rocked his hips again, clenching his ass tight as he did so. 

“Oh, _fuck_ , I want you,” Ted told him, hands gripping even harder around Cody’s waist. He would probably have bruises there tomorrow from the strength of the grip, but Cody wouldn’t care. He’d wear them proudly knowing just _who_ they came from, and that he was the one that got Ted to this state. 

“That’s it, Teddy. Mmmm, I want you, too. So bad, Teddy, so bad. I’m gonna come soon… all because of you.”

Ted didn’t know what to say to that. He was close, too, just moments away from coming for a second time in the span of an hour. Instead, he didn’t say anything. He released one of his hands from its grip upon Cody’s hip and brought it up to wrap behind Cody’s neck. From there, he drew Cody down into another deep kiss. As Cody was bent down, Ted’s hips bucked upwards and the groan of pleasure was lost between them as they continued kissing. 

The sounds Cody made into Ted’s mouth seemed to increase in pitch the closer he got and Ted almost predicted the _exact_ moment that Cody came. The sensation of muscles locking around him again had Ted giving a breathless cry against Cody’s lips as he pulled his mouth away, shuddering as he gripped onto Cody’s hips.

An almost simultaneous cry left Cody as Ted’s seed flooded him, the sensation tipping him into climax the same as always.

When he collapsed down onto Ted’s chest this time he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to sit up again.

“That… felt…” Cody shifted then, pressing his lips to Ted’s in a much more tender, sweet kiss.

Even though there was still a small part of Ted that was annoyed he was unable to fight responding to the kiss, reaching up and cupping Cody’s cheeks as he held him close. Easing off of Ted’s spent cock Cody immediately nestled into his side and settled down, yawning and looking perfectly sated. “I love you,” he whispered, pulling the covers up over their rapidly cooling bodies. “I love you too, Cody,” Ted responded softly, and he meant it wholly. 

~~~

“I don’t want to say,” Justin muttered. 

“Why not?” Joe asked. “Are you lying? I mean, there’s gotta be someone.”

“It’s not that, it’s just… ok, ok, I’ll tell you. If I had to choose anyone to sleep with, it’d be… it’d be Cody,” he then admitted.

All three of the other teens in the room dropped their jaws to the floor. “Wait, did you just say _Cody_?! As in our Cody?” Heath asked. 

“Yes. Yes, that Cody. This never leaves this room, this never gets back to Ted or Cody, because I really don’t _actually_ want to sleep with Cody.”

“Oh, so, you really wouldn’t sleep with him ever?” Joe asked. 

“You asked who I would sleep with if things were different with Wade. But things _aren’t_ different with Wade and he’s the only one that I actually want to be with, not Cody.”

“I bet Ted would be so pissed off if he heard this!” Heath said. 

“I already said that this doesn’t leave this room!” Justin exclaimed. 

“I think we should tell him,” Heath said.

“Do it and I’ll smother you with a pillow,” Justin threatened.

“He probably wouldn’t do anything tonight anyway,” Joe pointed out, “I mean, he’s already had Mizanin and Orton thrown in his face… he probably wouldn’t believe us about Justin.”

“He has a point,” Windham said, moving to his bed, Joe immediately following as Heath and Justin got into the other beds, sitting up as they were still talking.

“Why Cody?” Windham asked then, three sets of confused eyes looking to him.

“Well, I don’t know,” Justin admitted, “Ted’s just so…” he flailed a hand, “And you guys are… I can’t really explain it. But, like I said, it’s not _current_.”

“I can’t help but feel like I should be offended,” Joe teased, waving it off before Justin could panic, “But Cody _was_ your _first ever friend_ right?”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” Justin insisted, but paused.

Maybe it _was_ that Cody was sentimentally important to him that he would hypothetically sleep with him.

“Really? You don’t think it’d have anything to do with that?” Joe asked. 

“I don’t know… it might… and, well, we are fairly similar me and him,” Justin then said. “Honestly, I really don’t know _why_ , but if things were different, I’d… but things aren’t different and I couldn’t be happier.”

“What about you, then, Joe? If Win here weren’t the object of your affection, think there’d be anyone else that would be?” Heath asked. 

“No,” he answered. “I mean, maybe you Heath, yeah, but… I’m still confused about that and what we did together… I don’t know, I’d probably still be sleeping with girls I meet here and there.”

“So, this year when we have our big dance with our sister school, you’re going to control yourself, right?” Windham asked. 

“Yeah…” he answered, but with a certain amount of hesitancy that had Windham slightly worried. 

“You don’t sound too sure of yourself there,” Justin observed. 

Joe shrugged slightly. “I miss pussy, ok? I’m still trying to get used to that.”

“Do you have to be so vulgar about it?” Justin asked with a grimace.

“Justin, if you ever fancied a one-off with a woman I know loads that’d be interested in you,” Heath said.

“Thank you for that _charming_ offer, but no thank you Heath,” he replied.

“How can you knock it if you’ve never tried it?” Joe asked the dark skinned boy and he shrugged, looking unimpressed. “Ask Wade; even he must have liked it before you came into the picture.”

A dark expression crossed Justin’s face and Windham placed a hand over Joe’s mouth from where he had one arm wrapped around his middle.

“If he’s not interested guys, then just let it go,” Windham said lightly, though he understood where Joe was coming from… except he was a lot more settled in the idea of being committed to Joe than Joe seemed for him.

“Well, sorry mate,” Heath said, obviously wanting to lighten the mood up some more, “Windham won’t be growing one of those anytime soon.”

“Now _there’s_ a mental image,” Windham said, pulling a face at Heath.

“Yeah, let’s not mention that again, ok? Good,” Justin said, now well and grossed out. 

“It’s true, though! I really do miss pussy,” Joe said. “And breasts,” he added.

“God, I wasn’t talking about _that_ … I was talking about Heath’s comment about Windham having… one…”

“Having one what?” Joe asked, grinning a little as he teased.

“You know… Woman parts.”

“So you can tell Wade to fuck you harder and that you want his cock in your arse—”

“How do you know what I say to Wade?” Justin interrupted.

Joe continued as though he wasn’t interrupted at all, “—but you can’t say pussy? Do you have something against it? I mean, it’s not like you’ve ever experienced it before.”

“Actually… I have,” he then told them.

“What?!” They all exclaimed at once. Heath continued on, “I thought you said you’d never fucked anyone else!” 

“I haven’t! No, I didn’t do anything with her… she was one of the servants Wade had… years back, I must have been maybe twelve? She was sixteen… well, one day she just _showed_ it to me! She lifted up her dress and… there it was.”

“Did you tell Wade?” Windham asked when he’d managed to recover from his shock.

“Are you joking?” Justin asked, looking at Windham as though he were mad, “Wade would have been _furious_!”

Even before getting with Justin, Wade would have found her behaviour completely and utterly reprehensible and she would have probably been fired on the spot. He didn’t want the guilt of such a thing on his conscience; he couldn’t take it.

“Wow Jus’, twelve?” Joe suddenly said, gaining Justin’s confused attention momentarily.

“Yes, what about my age?”

“Nothin’, it’s just that we knew you at that age and though you were cute I wouldn’t have thought—“ he paused, rolling his eyes, “She _wanted_ you, mate, as in, to fuck her.”

Justin looked astounded, as though the thought had never crossed his mind, and honestly it never had done for an explanation.

He hadn’t had his first sexual urges until he had seen Wade and that woman.

The woman hadn’t done a _thing_ for him, of course, but Wade had.

“Hey, if you tell him he might fuck you like Ted did Cody earlier on.”

“What makes you think he doesn’t anyway?”

“He’s possessive then, isn’t he?” Heath said. 

“Very,” Justin replied with a smile. “I’m not saying he does it like that often, but… often enough to remind me why I keep going back to him.”

“I just don’t understand how you could have passed up on it. I mean, she was _offering_ it to you!” Joe declared. 

“First off, I was _twelve_ , secondly… it looked like an… an alien, or something… and thirdly, I just had no interest. Oh, and fourthly, I’m pretty sure she turned me off of women for the rest of my life.”

“It’s really not that bad,” Joe told him, Heath and Windahm nodding. It wasn’t bad, no, but Heath certainly preferred cock now that he’d had enough to compare, and Windham had to admit that fucking Joe’s ass felt _damn good_. 

“And I’m really still not interested. Anyway… Win, if Joe here hadn’t been the object of your affections, who would you be fucking around with instead?” Justin asked, doing just about anything to change the subject.

Windham looked momentarily startled, “What, you mean, in terms of a male lover?” he clarified and Justin nodded.

“Well, I don’t know,” he said honestly, “I mean, before Joe I’ve never really noticed any other boy before…” he then paused and sheepishly admitted, “Except maybe one.” Immediately the other three’s eyes were focused upon him, waiting.

Joe wasn’t sure which he felt more, jealous or curious, but in the end he settled on curious because he wanted to know who his ‘replacement’ would be.

Windham blushed lightly and cleared his throat, “Professor Matthews, the theatre teacher.” It was apparent that none of his friends had expected _that_ , and that they had been waiting for him to say _a student’s name_.

“I can see the attraction,” Heath then mused slowly.

“Is he into guys though?” Joe asked, supposing Windham could have chosen worse. Heath grinned conspiratorially, “I’ve heard that he’s in the midst of a passionate affair with another youngish professor here.”

“Bullshit,” Justin said. “You’re always full of it.”

“Oh, you think I’m bullshitting?”

“Where’d you get your information?” Joe asked, admittedly curious about this new development. 

“Around,” Heath said. 

“You’re lying, then!” Justin declared. 

“I’m not! Look, I heard it from my… friend,” Heath told them. “And he told me that he _saw_ the two of them together!”

“What, like, fucking?” Joe asked. 

“No, not fucking, but he said they were kissing!”

“Who is it? This other professor?” Justin asked. Maybe next time he saw Wade, he could ask him about it and if this rumour is true, or if it’s just that, a rumour. 

“Striker,” Heath answered. 

“Our English professor?” Windham asked, eyebrows raised. 

“One in the same,” Heath said, a smug grin on his face. “They’ve supposedly been together a while. I heard that they knew each other when they were both still in school, so even though Josh Matthews is fairly new here, he and Striker date way back.”

“But, wait, isn’t one of them married?” Justin asked.

“Nope, at least, the information I’ve ascertained on them hasn’t ever mentioned wives. And even if they were does that _really_ matter?”

Monogamy was such a dry concept and didn’t allow for all the different elements that may change the situation.

“Nice show of confidence for commitment, Heath.”

“I have no problem with commitment thank you very much boys,” Heath pointed out, “Just that sometimes love, and _needs_ take hold when you least expect it.”

“I bet they look good together,” Joe commented suddenly.

“Did you just… do you think they’re attractive?”

“Well, they aren’t the worst looking blokes there are.”

Windham stared at his lover slightly, unsure what to make of that.

“Besides, you already said you’d do Matthews so you can’t think he’s ugly.”

“Joe has a point,” Justin said, “I mean, looking at them they’d probably complement one another quite well.” Josh was slighter and seemed quite shy when he wasn’t directing theatre, and Matt was outgoing and jokey, but needed someone to rein him in.

“I’ll have to keep an eye out to see if I can see it for myself… Or ask Cody if he’s ever caught them at it backstage or something,” Heath mused.

“That’s right. I bet Cody would know about that,” Windham said. “Too bad you can’t go ask him now, Justin.”

“Shut. Up.”

“Well, they’re probably finished by now,” Heath said. “I mean, if you want to go back, you can.”

“I’m not sleeping in a room that smells like someone’s clearly just been fucked… The only time I’ll do that is when it’s me and Wade who have done the fucking. And for all I know, they’re at it again,” he muttered. “Besides, I’m not going back just so I can ask Cody about his theatre teacher’s personal life.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll ask him tomorrow,” Heath replied. “Do you think Cody’s ever seen them together? I mean, he’s off doing his theatre stuff constantly.”

“I don’t know. I guess it’s possible. If it’s true at all,” Justin said. 

“Why do you continue to doubt me? My source is reliable.”

Justin shrugged. “Honestly, I’m just surprised you didn’t mention it right away when you first found out. I mean, that’s the sort of news that you usually share with everyone. Though you also never shared the fact that you’d actually lost your virginity ages ago until recently, which, I must say, is very unlike you.”

“What can I say? I had no idea how any of you would take the news,” the redhead said somewhat evasively.

“What did you think we’d do?” Justin asked with a small frown, “We’re your friends, how could you not trust us?” Heath then held up a finger, wagging it from side to side chidingly as he shook his head, “It wasn’t wholly for my sake I didn’t say anything… I was sure you won’t go and blag, but David would get into bother.”

His involvement would have been swept under the carpet no matter what he said, but David would have gotten into some serious trouble over the situation.

Justin looked hurt this time, “How could you have doubted _me_ out of everyone for that, hm?”

Heath let that go because he was entitled to ask such a question.

“Anyway, I’ve told you all now so does it matter?”

“That’s true,” Joe said, yawning heavily behind his hand suddenly.

“I think we should all get some sleep,” Windham said, feeling pretty tired himself and guessing that Justin and Heath seemed to be forcing them up through sheer willpower. “We can continue our conversation in the morning,” on that note he reached and clicked the bedside lamp off, partially plunging the room into darkness.

~~~

The following morning, Ted and Cody woke up next to one another, finding themselves back to back with one another, but still pressed up tight next to each other. When Cody realized he was on his side, facing away from Ted, he rolled onto his other side and let his arm wrap around Ted. “Good morning, Cody,” Ted said as he felt Cody shifting behind him, then felt his arm on him. 

“Morning, Teddy.” He nuzzled in closer, smiling as he pressed his lips to Ted’s shoulder blade. 

“How’re you feeling?” Ted asked, taking Cody’s hand in his own.

“Well, I haven’t tried to stand up yet, but right now I feel amazing. I still feel… a little stretched out,” he whispered. 

“Really? From… from last night you mean? Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yes, I’m _wonderful_ ,” he replied. “Incase you’ve already forgotten, my second time with you was up against a wall… on the same day we _first_ had sex. Remember that? I think I’ll survive last night’s adventures.”

Ted groaned as he remembered last night. He had tried so hard to restrain himself, to show that he could hold back… but he never could. Not when it came to Cody. “We should probably get dressed, Cody… we’ve got a roommate who’s bound to be coming back soon.”

“I think I need to go and get a bath first,” Cody said, then sending Ted a pointed look, “And you need one too, remember?”

A light blush covered Ted’s cheeks as he nodded. How could he have forgotten that? Usually he was so focused on having one immediately after one time… Two must have driven it from his mind momentarily or something.

“Why don’t you go?” Ted suggested, “I’ll stay and apologise to Justin and then we can change over.” Cody wasn’t sure whether he should be annoyed that Ted was still so focused on the apology or not; it wasn’t as though they weren’t going to give Justin one. “ _Or_ ,” he started, “we can bathe together and then come back to change, thusly meaning that we can apologise together?”

OK, Ted had to concede that that made sense to him, and nodded.

Smiling, Cody then took a breath and braced his hands down, pushing himself to sit upright.

With only a mild hesitance he made to stand, initially failing in that.

“Cody—“ Ted said, biting his lip guiltily. Cody however merely smiled sweetly and asked coyly, “Teddy, help me to the bathroom?” all he’d need was to use the other’s shoulder for support since his own movements were a shaky. After getting their dressing-gowns on they left together.

~~~

Justin awoke in a bed that wasn’t his own (or Wade’s) and he wished he didn’t remember why that was. At least he’d _heard_ the noises in the room before he opened the door and actually walked in on them. 

Everyone else in the room appeared to be asleep still, though, so he continued lying there, closing his eyes in an attempt to maybe get a few more minutes of sleep before he had to wake up and begin the day. 

It was a little while later when he began hearing people stirring, and then an alarm clock went off, waking everyone in the room. “I thought you were gonna turn that off,” Joe grumbled, rubbing his eyes so he couldn’t glare at Heath. 

“I meant to,” Heath said, turning the alarm off.

“You say that every day!” Windham exclaimed. “But then you never do… and it goes off every morning. And then we have this argument every morning.”

“Your room sounds extremely tedious to live in,” Justin mumbled, sitting up. 

“At least my roommates aren’t constantly fucking each other,” Heath said. 

“Not yet, anyway. One of these days, you’ll come back to your room to find them just like I did Ted and Cody.”

“What would you do in that situation, anyway?” Windham then asked.

“Why? Are you planning on making sure this happens, or something?”

“No, but it’s a fair question. If you heard me and Joe fucking and it was near lights out… what would you do?”

“Well, I’d stand there listening for a bit to hear what embarrassing pet-names you’ve come up with for each other, and then I’d open the door and ask you both if there was room for one more,” he smiled sweetly at them.

Windham and Joe’s jaws dropped as one, Justin’s eyes widening instead. “You would _not_!” Joe gasped and Heath arched a brow in clear questioning, “And why wouldn’t I? Besides, it’d teach you both to lock the door in future, right?”

“If they haven’t done it before then how can you say it’ll teach them a lesson?” Justin questioned and Heath shrugged, “Out of us all, believe it or not, _I_ am the one who doesn’t leave the door unlocked repeatedly.”

“It was _one time_ and I was tired!” Windham huffed.

“Besides, Heath, we were all in here when I did it so if someone tried to sneak in then we could have just beaten them within an inch of their life for it.”

“Sure thing, Joe,” Heath said, giving both him and Windham disbelieving looks.

“Well, as delightful as this little sleepover was,” Justin said, stretching and pushing the covers back, “I’ll be off now.”

“Make sure they aren’t having a morning quickie,” Windham warned him.

“And if this happens again feel free to room with us anytime,” Joe added.

“Thanks, but with any luck that won’t be all too often,” or he could arrange to stay with Wade instead for the night.

Leaving the room he headed back towards his own, somewhat apprehensive.

Standing outside the door, Justin didn’t hear anything from inside the room. That made him hopeful, though he hoped that if they were still sleeping, they hadn’t fallen asleep above the covers. Once he opened the door, he saw that the room was empty. He headed towards his closet, grabbing a change of clothes and his dressing gown. After lying his clothes out on his bed, he stripped off the night clothes he was still in, remembering that he needed to return those later. 

Now in his own dressing gown, Justin left the room and headed to the bathroom where he saw Ted and Cody in the baths. “Enjoy yourselves last night?” he asked. 

Ted and Cody’s heads both whipped around to face Justin, both actually looking at least _somewhat_ guilty… Ted more so than Cody. “I’m really sorry, Justin,” Ted said to him. 

“Me too,” Cody said. 

“You know, you could have at least let me get my own sleeping clothes and _toothbrush_ before you started fucking like wild animals,” Justin muttered as he began drawing his own bath. 

That statement made Ted feel even more guilty. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t _expecting_ to… do that last night.”

“You weren’t?” Justin asked, checking the temperature, turning the hot water up a bit more. “We were all waiting for it… I guess I should have just gone back to the room a little sooner.”

“Wait,” the blonde paused momentarily and turned to Justin, “You _all_ thought Cody and I were going to…?” he trailed off and Justin actually looked amused for a moment as he nodded.  
“Given the mood you were in it was pretty obvious that that was what was going to happen,” he shrugged lightly.

“Oh Lord…” Ted mumbled.

“But, we promised,” Cody said, stretching a long, slim leg out of the water and beginning to soap it up… admittedly distracting Ted for a moment before he shook himself, Cody grinning slightly to himself as he noticed before turning his attention back to Justin. “—if we’re going to be doing anything like that again then we’ll try and warn you in advance…” he paused, “Because Ted says we won’t be doing it anywhere but our room, so we don’t have any other options really.”

“You’re not going to do it anywhere but our room?” Justin asked him with a slightly incredulous look, shrugging out of his dressing-gown and sliding into his own bathwater.

“Ted said it’d be too embarrassing,” Cody responded lightly, giving Ted a small look that had the blonde looking embarrassed, “Hey, I didn’t say no in its entirety, don’t look like that.”

“It’s not too bad, Ted,” Justin commented lightly, almost to himself, “—doing it away from the bedroom I mean. Wade and I have done it in different places before too.”

“Yeah, well… Cody and I did _once_ and some dickhead ended up watching us!” Ted exclaimed. 

Cody just rolled his eyes. “Where have you and Wade gone at it, then?” he asked Justin.

“Really, Cody?” Ted muttered, though he wasn’t actually surprised. 

“Umm… I guess it’s more like is there anywhere we haven’t yet. At home, anyway. At school we’re a lot more limited than what two students could get up to,” he answered with a little shrug. He would love to be able to fuck Wade in the bathroom or in a classroom or, well, in his own dorm room. “But I can’t tell you the amount of times we’ve fucked on his office desk.”

“I’d love to get fucked over a desk,” Cody said with a wistful sigh. “Is it always a hard, rough fuck when it’s against his desk?” he asked. 

Justin nodded. “Yes, I’d say more often than not he just really… gives it to me.”

Cody sighed again. “Maybe some day I’ll be lucky enough to be on the receiving end of such passion.”

“What the hell are you saying last night was?” Ted then asked him. 

“I meant against a desk, Teddy. Not in general. You’re always passionate when we fuck,” he said. “But don’t you think it’d just add a _little_ something if we didn’t completely limit ourselves to our beds?”

“It’s all well and good for you to sit there and say that, but what about the ramifications?” Ted asked.

“If we pick somewhere well enough then there need never be any.”

“Easier said than done a lot of the time,” Justin mused and Cody turned to him curiously, “Has anyone ever happened upon you and Wade before?” Justin paused in answering when Cody ducked his head under the water to get his hair wet so that he could lather his shampoo into it. “Well, a few times we’ve been nearly caught, but never actually in the midst of it.”

“Which is more than we can say,” Ted groused lightly, slowing washing his own hair because he was admittedly a little curious about the answer.

Cody ignored the gripe and addressed Justin as he let the shampoo sit in his hair a little bit, “Where did that happen?”

Justin then flushed, giving them both warning looks, “You better not mention this to Wade.”

“We won’t!” Cody insisted and Ted looked horrified at the mere thought.

“Well,” Justin suddenly gained a fond, if embarrassed, reminiscent smile, “We were in the garden, Wade likes gardening to relax even though he has a gardener, and, well, one thing led to another and we…”

“He fucked you in the garden?” Cody asked, wide-eyed and open-mouthed in awe.

Justin grinned at Cody and continued recalling the events. “It wasn’t the first time it’d happened there… it wasn’t the last, either,” he added. “But one day… well, he was out gardening and I was out with him in just shorts and a shirt… I didn’t even have shoes on. He ended up taking his shirt off completely and I just couldn’t keep my eyes… or my hands off of him.”

“So then you fucked in the garden,” Cody said.

“Yes. We fucked in the garden. We just finished and he was lying on top of me, he was actually still _in_ me when he heard a twig snapping around the side of the house.”

“What happened? Who was it?” Ted asked. 

“Wade pulled out of me and we both stood up, pulling our pants back up just as the gardener walked out back. That was the closest anyone’s ever come to seeing us. It was awful, though. I had grass stains and dirt all over the back of my shirt and Wade’s knees were stained… at least Wade had the excuse that he’d been gardening and that’s why his knees were all grass stained… then the gardener asked what happened to the grass since the spot where we’d fucked, the grass was all flat… Wade had to tell him that I’d tripped and in trying to not fall forward, I overcompensated and ended up falling flat on my arse. Those were pretty much his exact words. I was mortified.”

~~~  
“Think Justin will be heading right back down here?” Windham asked once Justin was out of the room. 

“Hopefully not,” Joe said. “Not that I don’t want to see him again, but I think for his own sanity, he needs to get into his own room.”

Windham nodded, agreeing. He began getting himself out of bed, the other two teens in the room following suit. “It is too bad, though, that he can’t be with Wade every night like I can be with you, or Ted with Cody.”

“Is that how you feel about David?” Joe then asked of Heath. 

“We don’t sleep together, you know,” he replied. “I mean in the sense that we go to sleep and wake up next to each other in the morning... we can’t do that.”

“Just because you can’t doesn’t mean you don’t _want_ to,” Windham told him. “Do you _want_ to be able to wake up with him?”

“I don’t know. We fool around, we fuck… that’s all, really.”

“But you’ve already said that you have feelings for him,” Joe said. 

“Feelings that won’t ever amount to anything,” Heath replied. “Besides, I don’t know what I feel for him, honestly… it could just be the fact that he was the first guy I was ever with. I mean, I was like that after my _very_ first time. I thought I was head over heels in love with her because I’d fucked her… we fucked a few more times before she moved to America and I haven’t seen her since. Other girls I was with were just one offs… then David and I fucked for the first time.”

“So if you’re not sure what you’re feeling for him, why not fuck that friend of yours?” Joe asked. “I mean, I bet he’s dying to get some cock by this point. You must want some, too, seeing as it’s been some time since your last fuck, right?”

“I guess so…” Heath responded, brows furrowing, “But I don’t know really… I guess it just seems more _personal_ if that makes sense.”

“Not really,” Joe admitted and even Windham looked slightly confused, causing Heath no end of grief really.

“Oh come _on_!” he huffed lightly, “ _You two_ have had sex, surely you understand the emotional significance of being one another’s first men?” he asked, making them to look to each other before then blushing darkly.

“See, you do understand,” Heath said before then sighing, “I mean, it’s like that, you know? David was my first and thus far _only_ male partner, so…” he sighed.

“So _that’s_ what’s holding you back?” Windham asked him.

“Yes,” the redhead admitted, rubbing the back of his neck lightly.

“No need to be embarrassed Heath… it’s only natural that you’d be attached to him,” the other boy said, and Windham and Heath turned towards Joe in surprise. Said boy huffed, folding his arms over his chest, “What’re those looks for?”

“Well… it’s not often you be insightful and sensitive, Joe, you surprised us.”

“Oh fuck you guys,” Joe huffed, shaking his head in annoyance before standing and moving to the wardrobe, getting his outfit for the day.

“Aww, don’t be like that, Joe,” Heath said, watching as Joe pulled his nightshirt over his head, reaching into the hem of his underwear to begin removing that. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Windham’s large hand covered his eyes and Heath pouted heavily, “Oi!” he protested, Windham merely clucked his tongue in response. “If you at least _pretended_ you weren’t ogling him then I’d overlook it but you don’t even pretend anymore you colossal pervert,” he poked the redhead.

“Ya know, it’s not like Joe’s got anything I’ve never seen before,” Heath said in protest, trying to pull Windham’s hand away. 

“Well, you may have seen it before, but it’s mine now,” Windham said. 

“That’s just not fair. You can’t have possession over another human being,” Heath retorted. “I bet you’re staring at his arse right now, aren’t you?” he then asked Windham, scowling. 

“Oh, yeah, and I’m imagining shoving my dick up his bare arse over and over until he’s begging for more,” he answered, even though Joe was already covered back up. 

“It’s just not fair… you tell me all that and you still won’t even let me watch you two? It’s not right,” Heath said. 

Windham then removed his hand and shook his head at the redhead. “I am never taking back what I said about you being a pervert.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to. Mainly because, well, it’s true. But, really, is it _that_ bad to watch Joe change? I mean, he is a really attractive guy.”

“Who just happens to be sleeping with me. You wouldn’t start watching Cody undress just because he’s an attractive guy, would you?”

“Are you kidding me? I’m a lot more afraid of what Ted would do to me than you,” Heath answered. “Ted has to be the most jealous person I know, and I do _not_ want to be on the receiving end of his jealous streak.”

“You wuss,” Windham said, “That’s such a cop-out answer!” Heath immediately arched a brow at him, “You’re saying you’d take the chance facing Ted on the aftermath of the matter?”

“No, because I wouldn’t do that anyway,” Windham said, pointing out subtly that he’d never had a sexual interest in men before Joe, or indeed anyone other than Joe at all.

“You’re just saying that--- you wouldn’t take Ted on when it comes to Cody, no one who wishes to keep their manhood intact would.”

“I’m still not letting you ogle my lover,” Windham said flatly, arms folding.

“Must you two talk about me as though I’m not here?” Joe asked dryly, planting his hand on his hips and looking between them both with an arched brow.

“It’s often easier than attempting to hide the matter from you,” Heath said with a sweet smile and Joe pulled a face at him.

“Are you two going to get dressed anyway? I’m hungry and if we get down to breakfast early then we’ll get the good stuff.”

“When it comes to food sometimes you’re as bad as Ted. Maybe it’s an athletes’ thing…” he trailed off with a rather thoughtful humming sound.

“And what does that mean?” Joe asked and Heath looked somewhat amused at the question, “That you all obviously have bigger stomachs than the academic or theatrical types. I mean, look at Justin and Cody; they don’t eat a lot.”

“Well, I think you need a lot more energy to be able to run around on a field than you do to recite some lines or scribble down some math equations,” Joe replied. “We’re only trying to feed our bodies properly to give it the needed strength for our rigorous practices.”

“So, basically, you’re making excuses so that you can eat more?” Heath asked. 

“It’s not an excuse if it’s true!”

“When’s your practice, then?”

“We start on Monday,” Joe answered, looking slightly sheepish. “But we’ve got to make sure that until then, we take proper care of ourselves and feed ourselves… and right now my body is saying that it’s really fucking hungry and just wants some breakfast,” he said. 

“I agree with Joe,” Windham said. 

“About being really hungry?” Heath asked. 

“Well, that, but mainly the whole athlete thing. We use a lot of energy in practicing and then in the games… plus, we’ve got to try and do our own practicing before the official practices begin. I was thinking we could go to the field today, maybe run some laps, throw the ball around,” Windham suggested and Joe nodded.


	55. Chapter 55

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit ~ Oscar Wilde

Cody and Ted couldn’t help but laugh then, Ted shaking his head in amusement, “I can’t imagine that Wade would use language like that.” He looked too much like a gentleman.

Of course one might think he looked too much like a gentleman to be fucking his ward either, so that probably didn’t hold for much. “I’m glad you two find it so funny,” he pouted, finishing washing the suds from his body. “I was too embarrassed to face the gardener at all and even though we were having excellent weather at that time I found myself hiding in the house. Which amused Wade.”

“He saw no reason to be embarrassed?” Cody asked.

“No, but then, he never does,” he chuckled.

It must be nice to be so bold, Ted thought as the three of them each got out of their bath-tubs and dried off ready to return to their rooms to dress for the day. Justin seemed more inclined to be careful than Wade but even then he was still much more open to things than Ted was. It was sometimes enough to make him really stop and think if he was sometimes too harsh to Cody, but then at the same time he knew he couldn’t let his lover run roughshod or he would get too arrogant and complacent… and everyone knew that those were never good things to be. “Ted!” Cody’s voice suddenly cut through his musings, startling him, “Come on then!” Cody laughed. 

“Let’s get going then,” Heath sighed, heading out of their room and leading the way downstairs. They heard the sounds of their friends coming down the stairs before they saw them, each having damp hair and the fresh pink tinge that indicated a recent bath.

“Good morning,” Heath said with a lascivious grin to Ted and Cody in particular.

“Morning,” Cody said, completely unconcerned.

Ted however blushed darkly, scowling.

“For a boy that got laid last night you sure look moody.”

“Really Heath, really?” Justin sighed.

“If anyone has the right to be moody it’s you, and yet you seem fine,” Windham laughed and clapped Ted on the shoulder, pushing him forward, “Come on, we’re going for breakfast and then Joe and I thought we should go throw the ball around a little bit, practice.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Ted said with a nod, thinking that that would be a good way for him to work off some lingering tension, and distract himself from his own thoughts a little bit. 

Heath, meanwhile, slung a companionable arm around Cody’s shoulders and asked, “Jeez, did you knock his brains out of place or something?”

Cody turned his head to Heath and smirked. “Twice,” he said. 

“No shit, really?” Heath asked, now looking to Ted.

“Really,” Cody replied. “He’s just upset that we pretty much ended up kicking Justin out of the room last night… he said that we needed to show more control, or something like that.”

“He said that? After having what must have been some fantastic sex? Twice?” Heath shook his head in disbelief. 

“Actually, he said it after the _first_ time,” Cody told him with a little wink. “So, needless to say, that thought didn’t really hold up too well.”

“He does need to loosen up,” Justin chimed in. “Not so much that I’m getting kicked out of my own room every night, but… he really does need to loosen up a little.”

“I sucked him off in a bathroom yesterday, does that count for anything?” Cody asked. 

“It will once you get him to actually fuck you in a bathroom,” Heath answered. “It’s a good start, though.”

“He’s just paranoid about getting caught again,” Cody said. 

“Again?” Heath asked. 

“Yeah, well… it was the day of theatre practice right after Ted and I fucked for the first time and he came to the practice… anyway, after that, he came to see me backstage. I was undressing and was in my, uh, _feminine attire_ and Ted seemed to enjoy that quite a bit and we ended up fucking again. Only this time we ended up having an audience.”

“Fuck,” Justin and Heath breathed in tandem, and something seemed to connect in Justin’s mind for he added, “So _that_ was why Ted was in such a foul mood that day?”

“Exactly right,” Cody said, and then chuckled as he added, “That and he’d ruined a part of my costume in his ardour and thus embarrassed himself.”

“Did you see who saw you?” Heath butted in then and Cody almost faltered in his step, taking a split second to consider before answering, “No, neither of us saw who it was.”

Though he trusted his friends with his life he didn’t trust them with that knowledge; one accidental slip to Ted and both he and Mizanin were dead.

“Speaking of the theatre,” Heath said suddenly, Cody immediately perking at the mention of his passionate hobby.

“I wanted to ask you something,” Heath added and Cody looked amused.

“You have a sudden desire to be onstage and want me to put in a good word for you?”

“No,” the redhead said flatly, “Thank you, but no.”

Now Cody looked perplexed, glancing at Justin momentarily.

“What about it then?” Cody asked, unable to read Justin’s expression for a topical heads-up.

Glancing around swiftly to make sure there was no one to overhear them and that for the moment the other three of their little six-some were ahead of them, the redhead asked, “I’ve heard that Professor Matthews and Professor Striker are lovers, and we were wondering if maybe you’d seen them together. This lot didn’t believe me and I need extra proof.” 

“Oh, Striker’s there all the time,” Cody said in a tone that showed no surprise at all. 

“So, wait, it _is_ true?” Justin asked. 

“Yeah,” he answered. 

“Told you,” Heath said, sticking his tongue out at Justin. 

“He’s always popping into the theatre after his classes are finished for the day. He and Josh will sit next to each other in the auditorium and watch us practice and they’ll be all leaned over together talking… it’s really quite sweet.”

“But does that mean that they’re lovers?” Justin asked. “They could just be really good friends. I mean, we all went to those rugby tryouts.”

“I once saw them go into the bathroom, so a little bit later I followed and saw one of them kneeling on the floor while the other was moaning, ‘Oh, yes, oh, yes, don’t stop!’ Obviously, they didn’t know that I was there.”

“Oh,” Justin said. “I guess you were right,” he then admitted to Heath. 

“I know.”

“I saw them kissing once, too,” Cody told them. “It was a weekend practice and I was early. So, yeah, I don’t know how he found out,” he said, pointing to Heath, “but his information is correct.”

“My information network is absolutely flawless,” Heath grinned and Cody looked curious suddenly, “What brought that on anyway?” he asked.

Justin felt a small flare of panic go through him; Cody couldn’t know the _whole_ story otherwise his hypothetical, secret admittance would be told to the very person who should know it the least… apart from _Ted_ that was.

“Oh, we were just saying which members of staff we thought were maybe involved with one another,” Heath lied lightly, “A couple are married, sure, but there’s bound to be some affairs as well as genuine relationships.”

“Oh yes,” Cody nodded his head, and then chuckled amusedly. “You must have been bored last night,” he commented lightly and Justin gave a mildly uncomfortable laugh of his own before nodding, “Sort of.”

“And we sort of cock-blocked Windham and Joe so they couldn’t do the dirty could they?”

“Fair point,” Cody nodded.

“I must say I’m impressed… Striker has such a reputation as a womaniser.”

“How many attractive, single men of that age don’t, boys?”

“Touché,” they nodded.

“I’ve yet to see them having sex though,” Cody said lightly, “That’d be a performance and half.”

“Do you actually want to see them having sex?” Justin asked. “You were watched once, that must not have been a pleasant experience… wouldn’t you feel bad watching someone _else_?”

Cody then smirked. “They wouldn’t be the first people I watched having sex.”

“Wait, _what_? Who the hell else have you seen fucking before?” Heath asked, now highly curious.

“Wouldn’t you love to know,” Cody replied.

“Yes, I would!” he said. 

“Well, if you must know… I’ve seen some of the theatre guys before, you know, before I was with Ted. But that’s not all. That’s not even the best of it,” Cody said. 

“You mean people used to just fuck in front of you?” Justin asked. 

Cody shrugged. “Well, there’d be a group of us and people would just kinda do whatever they wanted so seeing people fuck was pretty unavoidable. I’d just suck people off, though… but like I said, that’s not the best part.”

“What do you mean by that?” Heath asked, even more curious than before. 

“Once, Ted and I saw Orton and Cena fucking each other.”

Heath and Justin both gasped, eyes widening slightly as they looked at their smug friend. “No way,” Heath breathed and Cody’s grin merely widened. “Shit,” the redhead said next, Justin nodding mutely.

“And let me tell you, boys, _that_ was something I’d pay to see happen again.”

“Wait,” Justin asked suddenly, brow furrowing, “How are either of you not in trouble if you saw them?”

Even two confident, unconcerned young men like those two would undoubtedly be unhappy about having a private moment of theirs intruding on… like Ted had been.

“They didn’t see us there,” Cody responded.

“Where?” Justin asked, puzzled.

“Professor Cole’s classroom of course,” Cody said as though it should have been obvious.

Heath suddenly pretended to give a theatrical sniff, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye, “Those two are my heroes, really they are. Man, can you imagine Cole’s face if he were to _ever_ find out about _that_ happening?”

“I spent a good deal imagining that… as well as replaying _them_ in mind.”

“You two have absolutely no shame do you?” Justin sighed.

“Oh, like you’re any better,” Cody said. “You’re really just as bad.”

“I am not as bad as you two are,” Justin protested. He then paused for a beat before asking, “Am I?”

Heath nodded. “You are. I hate to break it to ya.”

“You’re pretty shameless,” Cody told him. “I mean, just think of all the things you’ve told me about.”

“I have told you some pretty… graphic things, haven’t I?” Justin muttered. “I really am just as bad as you two,” he then said. 

“Yes, you are,” Cody said. 

“You should have known that from all the things you were saying last night,” Heath said.

“What were you saying last night?” Cody asked. 

Justin sent the redhead a glare. Nothing about that was supposed to leave that room. “Oh, it was just… things about Wade. Nothing you don’t already know about, don’t worry.”

“So nothing really juicy then?”

“Cody, I’m pretty sure you already know all my juicy stories. Not like I have many, but the ones that I do have, you know.” Justin had to give an internal sigh of relief that Cody didn’t seem to press the issue.

~~~

Evan and Chris woke up together, both of them in really good moods. “Morning, Ev,” he greeted. 

“Morning, Chris,” Evan returned, smiling as Chris’ hand began running up and down his arm. 

“Are you ready to go take that bath?” he asked. 

“Yeah. Let’s go,” Evan murmured, but he didn’t move at all, just wanting to spend as much time as possibly wrapped up in Chris’ arms.

“Mmm, we should go.” Chris didn’t move, either, though.

“We really should,” Evan said, even as he let his eyes fall shut again, curled up warm and comfortable with Chris. 

“Yeah.” 

It was a few more minutes before they finally both got up. “No slipping in the bathroom today, ok? One scare is more than enough,” Chris said to him. 

Evan blushed and looked slightly sheepish. “It’s not like I meant to fall,” he said, rubbing the back of his head as it seemed to twinge with pain at just the mention of the fall.

“But it was enough to give me a veritable heart-attack,” Chris chided gently, drawing Evan in and pressing a gentle kiss to the back of his head.

“Chris…”

“If something ever happened to you, Evan,” Chris murmured, “I’m not sure I could live with myself,” and he wasn’t being dramatic.

Neither of them were under any impressions as to what _could_ have happened to Evan if the fall had even been the tiniest bit harder than it had been.

“But nothing has happened to me,” Evan murmured softly, cupping Chris’ cheek, “So you don’t need to think like that.”

Leaning up he brushed his lips to Chris’ and then pulled away to get his toiletry bag and dressing-gown.

Chris mimicked his movements and the pair set off.

“Hey,” Chris said lightly as they got into the bathroom, Evan looking up from his tub curiously at his lover’s voice. The blonde then grinned at him before starting innocently:

“Think we could share that bath we talked about? No one’s here…”

“Chris! You’re not serious, are you?” Evan asked him, blushing furiously. 

“Why not? I think you showed me last night just a little glimpse into the more adventurous side of yourself,” Chris said.

“But someone could walk in! It’s early and… and people could walk in,” Evan mumbled. 

Chris sighed. “No, you’re right…” he said, turning to go begin drawing his own bath.

“Ok,” Evan then blurted out. 

“What?” Chris asked, whipping his head around to face Evan again. 

“I said ok. I… I want to share a bath with you, Chris and… I don’t want to be scared about it anymore,” he whispered, but the bathroom acoustics picked everything up loud and clear.

Expression softening slightly Chris then motioned Evan to some tubs right in the back corner of the bathroom facing towards the door. “This way we’ll be able to see if someone’s coming.”

_Not that Chris would make an effort for them to separate… he’d just threaten to beat the intruder senseless if he told._

Feeling a little better for Chris’ suggestion Evan then set about running their joint bath.

Removing his robe once it was ready Chris slipped into the water easily.

“Come on Evvy,” he extended a hand out to him, helping him into the tub, “Careful.”

“Yes, daddy,” Evan said dryly.

The blonde grinned, “You kinky little thing you,” he teased wickedly.

“Chris! I didn’t mean it like _that_!” Evan exclaimed, settling himself into the water, back pressing up to Chris’ chest. 

“I know, Ev… but it is such fun to tease,” he said, placing his right hand on Evan’s abdomen and slipping it beneath the water to wrap around his cock. 

“Chris!” Evan exclaimed for a second time.

“What? Something wrong?” he asked. 

“Your hand is—! I thought this was just a bath!”

“Well, where’s the fun in _just_ sharing a bath tub with you if I can’t touch you in the process? There’s still no one else in here,” he whispered. “And I’d say that you’re enjoying yourself here, too… if your cock is anything to go by.”

“I don’t think _that’s_ a very fair judge of anything,” Evan muttered.

“On the contrary my sweet,” Chris murmured, nibbling on the sensitive flesh of Evan’s ear, “It’s the most honest part of all men.”

“But it doesn’t always lead them honestly,” Evan pointed out then trying to maintain his composure, and Chris found that he honestly couldn’t have denied it.

“Fair point, Ev, fair point,” he hummed vaguely.

“You’re not listening are _ah_ you, Chris?”

“Of course I am… but I know something I’d like to hear coming from you more.”

He gave a gentle squeeze to Evan’s balls with his other hand.

The high sound Evan gave sounded even more perfect amplified by the acoustics of the bathroom; something Evan seemed to notice too because he pressed a hand into his mouth and bit down to try and silence his sounds of pleasure.

Chris grinned as he noticed Evan’s hand covering his mouth. “It’s nice, isn’t it?” he asked, casually playing with Evan’s balls. “I mean, us just sitting here sharing a bath… I think it’s pretty relaxing.”

“I don’t know if, _oh god_ , relaxing is the right word,” Evan said. 

“You don’t think so?” Chris asked. “But it is nice, though, you’ll give me that one at least, won’t you?”

Evan nodded, that being about all he was capable of doing at the moment. “Yeah. Nice,” he managed to force out as he fought back making another one of those embarrassing high pitched squeaking noises as Chris continued to all but torture him. 

“Well, we should probably start washing up, don’t you think?” Chris released Evan’s balls and grabbed the soap, dipping it into the water. He then began running the bar along Evan’s legs, working up a slight lather. “You’re going to be sparkling clean by the end of this. Every last inch of you.”

~~~

“Will you three come on?” Joe called lightly, he, Ted and Windham already waiting at the dining-hall doors.

“Alright, calm your passions, we’re coming!” Heath rolled his eyes.

“Seriously, you’d think they hadn’t been fed for a week.”

“Tell me about it,” Cody said, chuckling lightly for he knew why Ted probably had a slightly more increased appetite than usual.

Not to say he wasn’t rather hungry himself that morning.  
Grabbing a lunch tray for the ones stacked before the queue the six-some then joined the small like of people already there.

When Cody suddenly spotted Randy, following behind John who was making a beeline for the front of the queue, his heart skipped a beat or two; even though Ted had been mad at him he _still_ wanted Randy.

_And it seemed Randy and John wanted them both too, even if they didn’t say it outright._

“Stop drooling,” a voice whispered into his ear.

Startling slightly Cody fumbled so he didn’t drop his tray, sending Justin a pointed look, “That was unnecessary,” he whispered back, flushing slightly because he’d been caught out.

“Sure, whatever you say, Cody.”

“I wasn’t drooling,” he muttered. 

“I doubt that. You’re practically burning holes through their heads you’re staring so much,” Justin told him. “I cannot believe you’re still doing that after everything,” he went on to say. 

“Well, I can’t help it! And I still think that Ted wants John.”

“He’ll never cop up to that even if it is true.”

“Unless he hears it from the source,” Cody said, waiting for Justin to grab the last of his food before they went to the table. 

“What is that supposed to mean?” Justin asked. 

“I just think Ted needs to hear from John that he wants to fuck him, that’s what that’s supposed to mean,” he answered. 

“You say it like he’ll be perfectly fine with that idea so long as it comes from John.”

“There’s only one way to find out, right?”

“Only one way to find out what?” Joe asked as the two of them finally got to the table to begin their breakfast. 

“Oh, nothing,” Cody and Justin answered at the same time. “Just some math stuff I was asking about,” Cody lied. 

Joe seemed to buy the excuse, or at least was more interested in the next topic he brought up. “So Heath said that he was right about Matthews and Striker?”

“Yeah, he was,” Cody reiterated again.

“Have you seen them at it?” Joe asked and Windham shoved him lightly, giving a pointed look at Joe’s choice of phrasing to which Joe merely rolled his eyes; Windham always got like that.

He might use bad language but he was oddly reticent when they were in public… but probably because they’d get a caning if they were caught by any of the teachers.

“Yeah. Well, I’ve seen them kissing before,” he said.

“But you haven’t seen them fucking?” he asked.

“Seen them sucking each other off in the bathroom.”

“Really now?” Joe looked intrigued and even Windham had stopped chastising them about language to listen in.

“Do you people have a genetic disorder that prevents you from talking about anything else?”

“Someone really is grouchy this morning isn’t he?” Justin smiled.

“Be quiet, Justin,” Ted said, but his words weren’t unkind. In all honesty he was still a bit knackered and really still a touch embarrassed.

“You coming down with something?” Windham asked with some concern and Ted placed a hand on his forehead lightly, “Possibly…”

“Really?” Cody was immediately concerned, “Oh lordy! That means that I might catch it!” Heath whacked him on the back of the head lightly.

“That was unnecessary!” Cody said, turning to Heath. “Ted said that he might be getting sick!”

“He was joking,” Heath replied. 

“Then what’s wrong with you?” Cody asked, now looking at Ted. He really did look pretty grouchy and overall not that well that morning. 

“I think you know,” he mumbled. 

Cody then grinned. “Teddy, is this about what happened last night? Is this how you’re gonna look _every morning_ after we fuck?”

“Cody!” Ted hissed at him through gritted teeth. “Don’t say… that so loud.”

“Oh, come on, Teddy. Everyone here knows we’re doing it, and I’m pretty sure that there are rumours all over the school about us, anyway. Really, though, is this how you’ll be every morning? Sex is supposed to help you to feel good, not help you look like shit.”

“I just don’t want to talk about it.”

“I think it’ll help if you do talk about it, though. I don’t think suppressing it helps any,” Heath then said to him. “Just talk about it with someone and I bet you’ll feel a whole lot more comfortable.”

“He’s got a point, though. Once I was able to tell you about Wade, I felt a whole lot better,” Justin told them. “It was just nice to be able to talk about it with someone else.”

“That may be,” Ted murmured, but he wasn’t sure how comfortable he was with the idea of confessing such intimate things to people who knew him so well… but then at the same time confessing to a stranger would be equally mortifying. _So, in short, he was stuck._

“I’ll think about it,” he settled on eventually because he knew his friends wouldn’t let it go; they never did when they thought he was holding back on something. He then focused on his breakfast again.

_Having a full mouth was a great excuse to say nothing at all… and he could bet he wasn’t the first man to ever think that before._

“Always willing to lend you an ear,” Heath said lightly with a wink at his friend.

Rolling his eyes slightly Ted then gave a combination of shrug and nod, obviously acknowledging what the redhead had said to him.

“We all do tell one another don’t we?” Justin asked lightly, suddenly looking contemplative, as though it had only just occurred to him how much they told each other normally.

“Yep,” Joe grinned, giving a simpering look, “We just trust each other so damn much-“ he started.

The light smack on the back of his head happened out of nowhere.

“What the--?!” he flared and then paled.

“Um, morning Dad,” he mumbled weakly.

“Mind your language, Joe,” his father said, giving him the eye. 

“Yes, Dad,” he said. 

“What brings you over here, Mr. Hennig?” Windham asked, tuning himself to look up at his friend’s father. 

“Breakfast,” he answered. “But, really, I’d like to congratulate you three on making it onto the rugby team,” he said, looking to his son, Windham and Ted. “Cena is very strict on who he picks to be on his teams. You need to be a supurb athlete for him to even consider you.”

“Thank you, sir,” Ted replied, both blushing and smiling at the compliment.

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Hennig,” Windham said. 

“Thanks, Dad,” Joe said at the same time as Windham. He really wasn’t used to his dad’s praises, so for him to be praised by him twice in the span of a week was something he was certainly not used to.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how you all do in practice. I trust John’s judgement as our sports captain, so I’m sure you’ll all do just fine.”

“Thank you very much sir,” Ted and Windham responding together.

“Thanks Dad,” Joe added.

The squeeze on Joe’s shoulder was a little _too_ firm to be completely relaxed but Joe knew he’d had that coming.

When Mr. Hennig walked away, apparently to talk to John, Heath then turned to Joe and smirked, “Mate, you’re lucky we’re in public or else he would probably have bent you over his knee and spanked you silly. And his pride just saved you a caning from Wade as well.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Joe grumbled, blushing.

“Wade doesn’t like caning people,” Justin said, “But he knows it’s expected.”

“You’re saying he’s never once caned you or laid a hand on you like that?” Windham asked curiously. Sure, now he was older no way but as a child? And it wasn’t as though he didn’t have right to do so.

“Not once,” Justin said, and he didn’t think to mention any spanking that happened between him and his lover was perfectly pain free and playful.

“So, you’re telling me that you grew up with Wade and he’s hit me more than he’s hit you?” Joe asked.

“I was a very well behaved and appreciative child,” Justin told him. “Just as I’m a very well behaved and appreciative young man.”

“And by that you mean you suck his cock, right?” Joe asked. 

“I wasn’t sucking his cock when I was four, now was I? I think there are some flaws in your theory there, Joe. I was never hit because Wade doesn’t enjoy doing it, and I never did anything to deserve it,” Justin said. 

“He’s had to have yelled at you though,” Windham said. 

“Yelling, yes, he’s definitely done that from time to time. He’s not usually too bad, though. How you see him present himself to you is how he really is. He’s very calm and level headed, so he doesn’t raise his voice often. More often than not when he was upset with me he would just get this look on his face, and you knew he was completely disappointed in you. One time when I was really young, I was playing around out back in his garden and I didn’t want to go inside, so I pissed on one of his rose bushes. Not only did I get yelled at, I also got the disappointed face.”

“But fucking you in his garden is ok?” Joe teased. 

“There’s a world of difference, believe me.”

“Sure there is, Jus, sure there is,” Joe smirked, clearly having gotten over his father’s appearance before.

“You’re just jealous ‘cause you’ve never had the scenery change, with a boy or a girl,” Justin threw back softly, not meaning any of it.

“I sucked Windham off in the Sports Cupboard… does that count?”

“Joe!” Windham inhaled some of his drink in shock as Ted exclaimed in surprise, Heath whacking their friend firmly on the back as he sent Joe and Windham appraising looks. “And when did this happen exactly?” he asked.

“About a week ago,” Joe shrugged, acting casual as you please.  
Windham then looked to Ted when he had calmed down, “I’m so sorry I’ve ever made fun of you when Cody can’t keep his mouth shut.” Just one experience of it and he was already realising how not-amusing it was. “Although you don’t mean that I’ll accept the apology all the same,” Ted mused, sending his friend a sympathetic look. “Admittedly though that was quite a tame admission,” even if the subject-matter wasn’t all that time. Joe arched a brow at Windham and then turned to Cody who gave a few small, measured claps, “So that’s the bathroom and the cupboard.”

“Still no match for your scorecard though, aye?”

Cody grinned at his friend and winked, “Not even close.”

~~~

 

“Every—“ Evan choked slightly, shuddering and groaning as the soap bar was traced over his shaft and then to his stomach. “You heard me right, dearest,” Chris said, still grinning widely, “ _Every last inch of you_.”

Somehow Evan didn’t see how that’d work, but when Chris suddenly lathered his fingers up, bringing them underneath the water and swiftly pressing one into him he cried out again in surprise, clutching the sides of the bath-tub to keep himself from slipping.

“I said all of you,” Chris murmured, pressing his lips to Evan’s shoulder and then the sensitive spot behind his ear.  
 _And after last night he needed to ensure Evan was taken care of didn’t he?_

As Chris endeavoured to make sure Evan was clean (inside and out) the ravenette in question was trembling with sensation so hard that the water around them was rippling. Sending up a prayer that no one would come into the bathroom anytime soon Evan released a slight whimper, “ _Chris_!”

“Feels good, doesn’t it, Ev?” Chris whispered.

“Mmhmm,” he choked out. There was just something about the way that Chris was touching him, mingled with the way the water sloshed around them, added to the fact that someone could walk in at any second and catch them that made this one of the single most erotic moments of Evan’s life. 

“Would you wanna ride me right here?” Chris then asked him. 

“ _What_?” Evan’s torso turned right around to face his lover. 

“I think you heard me. Would you ride my cock, right here, right now?” he asked again, eyes shining with lust and mischief. 

“Chris, I… I can’t. Not right here!” he protested, though the very idea of it turned him on probably more than it should have.

Nodding, Chris let that subject go… for the time being. Instead, he crooked his fingers and found Evan’s prostate, causing the brunette to once more let out one of his high pitched sounds of pleasure. 

“Want to ride it now?” Chris asked after pressing his fingers into that spot rhythmically a few times, Evan writhing on his fingers.

“Yes!” Evan whimpered, so close to coming that he would probably have agreed to give Chris a public striptease or something.

“Turn around Ev,” Chris murmured, and Evan twisted carefully.

Keeping a firm grip of Evan’s hips Chris then helped Evan seat himself atop his cock which had grown thanks to the sounds Evan had made and the way he had been touching his lover so intimately beforehand.

“Ngh! Anh!” Evan mewed as he felt Chris finally reaching to his hilt.

“Oh fuck yes…” Chris groaned, pressing his face into Evan’s neck and then kissing the smooth flesh. “I don’t think I’ll last long,” the blonde confessed, attempting to buck his hips and causing the water to ripple. “Don’t care,” Evan groaned, wrapping his arms around Chris’ neck as he started to rock his hips.

“If someone comes in now I’ll kill you Chris,” he gasped.

“As long as we finish first,” Chris gasped as Evan rocked his hips just so, and knew that he’d be finishing sooner rather than later. 

Evan could hardly believe that he was being so bold, actually making love to Chris like this in such a public area. He honestly had no idea that that idea could be such a turn on, but the need to bring Chris and himself off as soon as possible was overhelming. So he continued to rock his hips, rising up and down off Chris’ cock.

“Oh, _fuck_!” Chris cried as Evan dropped himself all the way down onto him, clenching his muscles tight as he actually began sucking at a spot on his neck. Evan had never been so forward with him before, and when he went back and began _licking_ that same spot, Chris couldn’t hold back any longer. Once again he cried, “Oh, fuck!” as he bucked his hips upwards, beginning to come deep inside Evan.

“Chris!” Evan whimpered, feeling Chris coming inside of him, setting off a chain reaction with him as he, too, started to come. Once every last drop was out of him, he smiled softly at his lover as he began rising himself off Chris completely. 

“I think I need to clean you again,” Chris murmured, pressing gentle kisses to Evan’s cheeks and his chin, drawing him close again.

This time he was completely innocent (well, as innocent as said action could be) in his actions to help clean Evan up, and Evan returned the favour. Finishing off their bath languidly the pair then exited the tub, pulling the plug and draining the water away. Evan, though relaxed, was still concerned enough to rinse the tub.

“We have cleaning staff for a reason,” Chris pointed out lightly though he smiled indulgently, adjusting the sash of Evan’s robe from where it had fallen loose as Evan had been bending over the bath edge. “I know, but there’s no need to be sloppy.”

It was something he had first noticed about Evan, that he would go above and beyond the politeness expected of a scholar of the school; he’d tidy most of his own room, he’d rinse the bath after he’d used it and he’d also stack his dishes back onto his tray when they had a meal. Admittedly he’d never really gotten the point, but it was one of Evan’s endearing traits, he wouldn’t be him if he didn’t do such a thing.

“Is this satisfactory now?” Chris asked as Evan straightened himself back up. 

“Yes,” he answered. 

“Good. Now let’s hurry and dress so we can go get some breakfast. I’m starved.”

Evan nodded. He had to admit, he was quite hungry himself, but he imagined that spur of the moment morning shag had something to do with it. “Yeah, me too,” he said. 

They quickly dried off before grabbing their uniforms and dressing. Their hair was still a little wet, but they didn’t really care. As they were walking down the hall, just as they were about to get to the staircase, they bumped into Mark. “Morning, you two,” he greeted them. 

“Morning, Mark,” Chris returned and Evan just nodded. He still didn’t know what to make of him. 

“Heading down to breakfast?”

“Sure enough,” Chris said. 

“Mind if I go with? I’m sure you’re meeting with John and Randy anyway.” They had given Mark an open invite to join them for breakfast, and he was going to take them up on the offer.

“What would you say if we weren’t meeting them?” Evan asked curiously and Mark looked at him confusedly before shrugging lightly, “Well, I’d just walk down with you anyway.”

Evan supposed that was a bit of a stupid question and so merely nodded his head, “Alright, let’s go.”

“Settling in alright?” Chris asked Mark and the taller boy nodded, smiling slightly.

“Yeah, just getting used to things really… It’s pretty different around here and all.”

“A lot more different than your old school?”

“Yes—for one, no room-mate.”

“Consider yourself lucky,” Chris mused, “Usually you have to have a position like Sports’ Captain or Head Boy to get a room to yourself. The fact that you’ve transferred in so late probably saved you that.”

Mark looked puzzled, “Doesn’t John have a room-mate?” Chris glanced at Evan and Evan shrugged; if he’d been with the pair then he clearly knew about them. “Yeah, he does, but often he spends time in Randy’s room. Don’t let on that you know though,” he added.

“How come?” Mark asked.

“They don’t really want it getting out that John’s in Randy’s room at nights,” Chris said. “They’ve been having some issues with this prefect who’s trying to, for whatever reason, catch John out of his room past curfew.”

“That’s a bit mental, don’t you think? Doesn’t that prefect have anything better to do with his time?” Mark asked. 

“You’d think,” Evan replied, rolling his eyes, just as sick of that prefect as John and Randy themselves. 

They couldn’t talk about it anymore as they entered the dining hall, but the conversation did make Mark recall something he meant to let John and Randy know earlier. Once the three sat down, though, a professor came over and spoke to John for a while. It wasn’t until he left that he was able to tell them. After they all exchanged greetings, Mark said, “There was something that I forgot to tell you yesterday.”

“That being?” Randy asked. 

“Remember the other day when you were asking if I had roommates, and I said there were a couple made up beds, but that I hadn’t met them yet?” He waited for John and Randy to nod. “Well, I can honestly tell you that they’re the best roommates in the world… because they don’t exist.”

“They what?” John asked. 

“They don’t exist,” Mark repeated. “I’ve got a three person room… to myself.” 

“Gross,” they all heard Evan mutter, as it didn’t take a genius to figure out where this conversation was going.

“No need to be like that.”

“Can you please all wait until I am out of the vicinity before having _that_ conversation,” Evan requested dryly.

“How did you know we’re going to have a conversation like that?” John asked though everyone knew he was really just taking the mick out of him a little with the jest. When Evan sent him a look he grinned sweetly.

“Because it’s obvious,” he returned.

Chris sighed, lamenting lightly as he ate his breakfast; in one fell swoop it seemed that the excellent mood he had placed Evan in that morning with their bath-tub tryst was already being undone by Randy’s actions… or more accurately the comments of one of the interlopers of his usual actions.

“What’s up with you?” Randy asked the Canadian who shrugged slightly in return.

“Nothing really… just thinking about something that happened in the bathroom this morning, that’s all,” he said innocently.

Evan choked on a piece of sausage that he had been eating, using his napkin to prevent him from making a mess as he coughed.

Thumping his lover firmly on the back Chris fought a smile and leant into his ear, “I’m sorry,” he whispered. Since he hadn’t made any allusions he hadn’t thought that Evan would react so badly to his innocuous comment. “You alright there Evan?” Randy asked his cousin, concerned with the fact that Evan seemed to be turning purple. However one firm thud had him returning to a normal shade… if still a little red around the gills.


	56. Chapter 56

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves ~ Oscar Wilde

“As if any of you could actually compare to me,” Justin muttered. 

“I fucked someone on my parents’ bed once,” Joe then blurted out. 

“You _what_?” every person at the table exclaimed, even Windham, who usually heard every one of Joe’s exploits. 

“It was last year, at one of my dad’s summer gatherings. My mum was out with her friends, shopping, or doing whatever it is that women do. Well, one of the professors brought his daughter along since I guess he didn’t want her staying home alone, I don’t really know. We got bored while our dads drank, so went upstairs and fucked,” he recalled for them. 

“And you decided that it’d be a good idea to do that on your dad’s bed?” Justin asked him. 

“Whose daughter was it?” was all Cody wanted to know.

“O’Neil,” Joe answered with a smirk. Professor O’Neil was one of the advanced math professors, but he was around the same age as Curt and started teaching around the same time, so while they taught completely different subjects, they had still become friends during their time at the academy. “And it was the _second_ go ‘round that we decided to have a little bit more fun and change location.”

“That’s disgusting,” Justin said. 

“It was… a really fun time, though.”

“It’s still disgusting,” Justin repeated firmly and Heath looked confused for a moment after.

“Aren’t you technically fucking in your father’s bed when you and Wade sleep together at home?” he then asked Justin.

“That’s worse than me fucking a girl in my parents’ bed,” Joe insisted.

“Wade is _not_ biologically my father though so there’s a difference.”

“You reacted to that one well,” Cody mused to Justin who merely shrugged and lifted his tea-cup to his lips, draining the last of the liquid. “Well it’s true,” he responded, “-besides, even if I wasn’t sleeping with Wade, I would never even _dream_ of sleeping with someone else in his bed. That’s just… so rude and so wrong on so many levels,” he responded with a nod.

“It’s not _that_ bad!” Joe insisted, “Everyone does it you know!”

“I haven’t,” Windham said lightly.

The others all responded much the same.

“You guys are all so full of it sometimes,” Joe rolled his eyes lightly and then yawned before rolling his shoulders and sitting upright a little more in his chair. “I wonder how much Wade will tell us when we visit your house,” Cody mused aloud to Justin suddenly, causing Justin to both look concerned and then amused. “Well, if he’s had a brandy or two then he may tell you a lot.” He was just joking with them though. 

“Well, I’ll have to make sure that he’s got a couple brandys in him before I start asking him about what you two do together,” Cody said with a grin. 

“I’ll lock the liquor cabinet,” Justin replied. 

“You’re no fun,” Cody muttered.

“I doubt Wade would ever say that,” Justin retorted with a wink, earning himself a ‘hmph’ from Cody. “You’re not really going to ask Wade about that, though, are you?” Justin asked. 

“I have no idea,” Cody answered. 

“So when are you two going over to his place?” Joe asked. 

“Hopefully over some point during our holidays. We sent letters to our parents, seeing if it’d be ok and we’re just waiting to see what they say when they get back to us,” Cody told him. “I practically had to _beg_ Justin to get him to ask Wade if we could go over,” Cody went on. “But I was pretty persistent and didn’t give in.”

“He’s very right about that persistent thing,” Justin said. 

“Don’t I know it?” Ted muttered. 

“No need to be like that, Teddy.”

“I’m not being like anything,” Ted responded.

Cody let the comment pass this time around because the blonde was obviously still in his mood from before and there was no reasoning with him.

“Besides,” he turned to Justin, “If you _really_ didn’t want us coming over then you wouldn’t have said yes,” he pointed out. Justin might be amenable to a lot but he was no pushover.

“When’s our turn to come over?” Heath asked.

“Who said _you_ lot were coming over?”

“Now _that’s_ not fair!” the redhead protested, “We’ve been your friends just as long as those two—“ he indicated Cody and Ted, “What makes them the special ones.” Cody playfully tossed his head in a haughty fashion, “Please, if you _still_ don’t know what makes me special after this amount of time of knowing me you’re a slow one.”

“You’re a cheeky bastard, you know that Cody?” Windham asked.

“It’s not the worst he’s ever been though,” Joe pointed out.

“This is true,” Windham agreed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Cody huffed. 

“That you can be a bit of a self centered bastard at times,” Joe replied.

Cody huffed again. “I don’t know _what_ you’re talking about,” Cody said. “It’s not true, is it, Teddy?”

Now put on the spotlight, Ted didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to upset Cody again, but… “It’s not like he said _all_ the time,” he answered after taking a moment to think about it.

“And _what_ is that supposed to mean?!” Cody asked him. 

“I think you know,” Ted told him sternly. “You know better than anyone else what you get like.”

Instead of being snippy like usual, Cody, for once, took in what Ted was saying. He did know what he was like, and he was, admittedly, a bit of a drama queen. “I suppose I can see where you’re coming from. It’s not like I try and come off as a self centered bastard… that’s just how I am, really,” Cody said with a little shrug of his shoulders. 

“Codes, we know,” Heath assured.

“If we didn’t then we wouldn’t hang out with you would we?” Joe queried.

“They’re right you know,” Justin smiled at him.

“It’s not like you’re like it all the time,” Ted said supportively, feeling bad suddenly that Cody seemed to have deflated somewhat, obviously affected by his words. Cody smiled slightly at him and then their friends. “Well, I really mean it, OK?” Windham chuckled softly, looking amused, “Cody, you wouldn’t be you if you weren’t like it, OK?”

“That’s probably the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Cody said, pretending to wipe a tear away.

“Are we all done now?” Justin asked, starting to stand up to leave.

“Yeah,” the other boys started getting up and headed out of the dining-hall together towards their first lesson. Cody lagged behind, and Ted slowed alongside him. “Cody…” he placed a hand on his arm.

“Huh? What? I’m fine,” Cody smiled. He was just in a reflective mood now, thinking about the previous conversation.

“Are you sure?” Ted asked. “You don’t seem quite yourself.”

“Yes, I’m fine. Really,” he assured Ted. He then leaned in closer so no one around them could hear and muttered, “You realize you’re actually touching me in public, don’t you?”

“Not like _that_!” Ted replied.

Cody’s smile grew. “You didn’t take your hand away,” he said.

“I know,” Ted muttered, but then let his hand drop as they really did need to get to class.

“If you keep on that track, then maybe one day we’ll be able to take a leaf out of Cena and Orton’s book and—”

Ted cut him off before he could even finish the thought. He already knew where it was going. “No. We’re not… that’s not happening. Not in a classroom.”

“You can’t rule it out, Teddy. It’s a very viable option.”

“It’s really not, though,” Ted replied. “We’ve already been seen once… we happened upon them, who’s to say that we won’t be spotted yet again?” he asked.

“No one can or can’t guarantee anything happening,” Cody said. “And that’s part of the fun.”

“Yup, you’re definitely still yourself,” Ted muttered as they approached their first class of the day. 

“I told you. Can’t a guy just think every once in a while?” Cody asked. Once they sat, he leaned over and very seriously asked, “Do you think I’m… _too much_ of a drama queen?”

~~~

“I’m ok. Just swallowed wrong,” he answered. 

“So,” Randy then looked over to Chris, “what exactly happened in the bathroom that’s got you thinking so deeply?”

“Nothing important,” Chris said. 

“Oh, please, you should know that you can’t slip anything past me,” Randy told him.

“I slipped past the fact that I’d started sleeping with Chris earlier this year,” Evan said quietly. 

“Well, honestly, I thought he was forcing you to… but that’s all past us and you’re happy now, right?” Randy asked, to which Evan nodded. “So… what happened in the bathroom this morning?”

“I already told you, it was nothing.”

“I hope you know that I’ll get it out of you sooner or later,” Randy said. 

“He is really persistent,” John said. 

“You know that no one would know better than him,” Randy agreed. “So, if you don’t tell me, I guess I’ll just have to start guessing. And, oh, have I got some good guesses for you. All of them involve you two having sex in the bathroom, for the record. Nothing else would have gotten such a reaction from Evvy here,” he concluded with a smirk.

“Must _everything_ come down to sex with you?”

“It’s not my fault you’re so easy to read, cousin,” Randy smirked back at him.

“I am not,” Evan insisted back to him.

Privately John thought if there was anything even remotely close to a saint on earth then Evan would be the most likely candidate. There was some purity surrounding him that just never faded.

“If you don’t tell us then Chris will.”

Chris arched a brow at Randy and sent him a look that asked whether he had to drag him into it that pointedly.

“If he does I’m never doing anything like that with him again,” Evan mumbled, more to himself.

“Ha!” Randy grinned triumphantly, “So there _is_ something. Come on, you can tell us.”

“Anyone would think you never got to have sex,” John then teased his lover, causing Randy to look at him in clear puzzlement so he elaborated. “Well, if I didn’t know better I’d say your interest in Evan could almost be like that of someone attempting to live vicariously through someone else.” Randy snorted lightly at the sentiment, arching a brow.

“Don’t pretend you don’t want to know.”

“Well, I never said _that_ ,” John answered, “but I’m just not as nosey about it.”

“Why do you even _want_ to know?” Evan asked. 

“Because you’re you,” Randy told him. “And I never thought that you’d even be having sex at such a young age. Young for you, anyway,” he added, given how young he was when he and John started together. 

Evan was blushing, finding his sausage links incredibly fascinating. “Yeah, well…” he muttered.

“Honestly, I thought I’d have to wait until after you married some lady when you were in your late twenties to your mid thirties before I got a single sex story from you,” Randy said, brushing away an imaginary tear. 

“I can’t believe you,” Evan mumbled, still staring and poking at the sausage. 

“You really thought that he’d be a virgin until his mid thirties?” Chris asked. “With a face like that?”

“In case you haven’t noticed we’re _very_ protective of our Evvy at home,” Randy mused, “It would take a very special lady indeed to convince my mum and dad to give him up.” Evan blushed darkly, though he couldn’t deny it.

Auntie and Uncle did love him almost like a third son and he knew that they were to be very choosey about the spouses for all their children. Randy supposed he’d been quite lucky in terms of Samantha meeting their expectations.

_He could definitely have done worse, especially if a marriage of greater profit came along._

“Does that mean I’ll have to work hard to make them like me?” Chris asked with something of a grin.

“Oh yeah,” Randy grinned back, “They’ll make you jump through hoops for him.”

“I take it you had to do that too?” Chris asked John.

“Nah, they _loved_ me on sight,” John said, winking jokingly, “I’m just _that_ lovable.”

“He’s only saying that because they’ve known him for so long… we’ve known each other since _before_ we started coming here together,” Randy told the others at the table. “If they had to meet him now?” Randy shook his head. “I don’t know how you’d fare.”

“That’s a lie. I’d just turn on the charm, and they’d still love me,” John said with confidence. 

“I can’t believe you’ve been friends that long,” Mark then chimed in. “Or lovers,” he added. 

“What’s so hard to believe about that?” Randy asked. 

“I dunno, I guess… this is the third school that I’ve been to. I started at one school, then my family moved when I was eight, that was when I met that next door neighbour I was telling you about, and I transferred to a closer boarding school… that was the last one I was at, the one who kicked your school’s arse in football,” he said, slipping a wink to Randy.

“You mean the school that got their arse kicked in rugby?” John replied.

He rolled his eyes. “It was a very tight game, but yes… that school… and now I’m here. I’m not saying that it’s not nice here, I just wish I’d been able to at least finish out my final year at my last school. And even there, I’d only been friends with any of them for no more than ten years.”

“Still more than some people get,” Evan commented lightly and John nodded, looking thoughtful for a moment, “It could have been more than even Randy and I had,” he said and Randy’s expression suddenly fell slightly, a pout curling at his lips immediately.

“Come again, John?” Mark and Chris looked confused but Evan clearly knew what they meant.

“Well, my family were considering moving to India,” John commented, “Back when I’d just started here. Maybe a year or two into my time here…” he glanced at Randy, moving his foot underneath the table to rest it against his lover’s. “But then mum and dad changed their minds on it.”

“That was a lucky break then, aye?” Mark asked lightly.

Though Randy’s face had smoothed out since the topic had been mentioned but there was still something in his eyes that clearly wasn’t there in the present. It hadn’t been fun for John to have that conversation with Randy, especially since it had coincided just when they had begun getting intimately involved with one another. It’d been a _big fight_ alright.  
Evan remembered, Randy had been moody as heck at home over the holidays until it was sorted.

“I can’t imagine you two without each other,” Chris chuckled in amusement.

“I can’t, either,” Randy admitted. 

“I don’t even want to imagine what Randy would have been like had John actually moved,” Evan told them. “Even when he heard that John _might_ be leaving, he got himself so worked up and was constantly upset.”

“Wow,” Mark said. “You two are… I don’t think I’ve ever met any couple that’s more committed to one another than you are. And yet you two still…”

“I realize that it’s a very strange and unique relationship,” John began, “but we were shown, you know, things we can’t speak of in the public with older students… maybe if we’d done everything completely on our own, we wouldn’t go off and be with others. I don’t really know. But it works for us… and it only makes me realize just how much I really do belong with him,” he concluded with a smile.

“I agree with everything he just said,” Randy chimed in. “I honestly don’t know what I’d have done if John left me. He was my best friend and I thought I had the chance to actually lose it to him… At one point, I remember pleading with my parents that if John moved to India, would they please move, too.”

“It was really sweet,” Evan grinned.

“And what did your parents say?” Mark asked curiously then, having trouble imagining Randy begging for anything… that wasn’t a good fucking anyway.

“Well, they certainly seemed concerned about what I was saying suddenly and I remember throwing some sort of tantrum when they told me no…” of course he’d been young enough to get away with it then without attracting any undue attention or rousing suspicion with the demands; John was the first real friend that he had made after all. Randy’d always been a solitary child despite having siblings.

John grinned softly at Randy and when you looked at the sport’s hero’s eyes you could see the love there plain as day as he looked at his lover. “We barricaded ourselves into my bedroom at one point, remember that?”

“Yeah,” Randy chuckled, “We’d moved that big trunk your uncle had given you against the door and began piling things onto it.” The brouhaha that had followed had been impressive, but everything had worked out for the best in the end and now their parents regarded the episode fondly to embarrass them.

“You really did that?” Mark asked. 

“Oh, believe me, our parents will never let us forget it,” Randy said. “I just couldn’t imagine a life without John in it. And that was even _before_ we started sleeping together… imagine if he’d been in his teen years when they wanted to move,” he went on. 

“Actually, if they moved when I was older, they may have actually let me stay on here,” John told him. “But since I was still fairly young, they would have wanted me with them.”

“You think so? I don’t think they could stand knowing that you were so far apart,” Randy said. 

“Well, it’s what they say, anyway,” John shrugged. “But it really doesn’t matter, does it, since they never moved and I never left you.”

“I wish I could kiss you right now,” Randy said loud enough that only John could hear.

“Same here,” John replied. 

“Hey, what are you two whispering about over there?” Chris asked them. When they both looked at him with innocent faces, he just rolled his eyes. 

“What? It wasn’t actually anything _bad_ ,” Randy told him. 

“That’s a first,” Evan muttered. 

“You wound me, cousin,” Randy sniffed.

“But,” John commented lightly to Chris, “If Randy had somehow managed to convince his parents to move to India alongside my own then you would never have gotten to meet Evan probably.” After all Evan’s parents had passed when he was very young, leaving him with them.

A slightly stricken expression crossed Chris’ face then and Evan blushed, shooting John a small look that asked him why he felt the need to point such a thing out to him.

“So you understand how we felt,” John smiled, dimples appearing.

“I think we should be getting to class now,” Mark cut in lightly, seeing that Evan seemed to be gearing up to give someone a tongue lashing.

“Good point… We’ll meet you there,” Randy stood up, picking up his tray before then glancing to John, “Come with me a minute, will you John?” he asked.

“Alright,” John finished up the last of his food and was immediately up and following Randy.

“Where are they going so suddenly?”

Evan glanced at Mark wondering whether he was playing or genuinely not having caught the atmosphere.

“For a snog probably,” Chris said lightly.

Randy lead John to a nearby bathroom, both going into the farthest stall down. Randy leaned over John, hands on either side of his shoulders, face just inches from John’s. “You know how much I hate talking about that.”

“I know, baby,” John said, bringing his hand up to cup Randy’s cheek. “I don’t like thinking about it either… just how close we were to being separated. But then you’ve got to remember what it led to when I told you we _weren’t_ moving.”

A smile passed over Randy’s lips now. “They say you never forget your first time, right?”

“Right,” John said.

“I have a feeling, though, that if you came to me and said that you were _definitely_ moving, it would have led to the same thing.”

John nodded. “You’re probably right,” he said. “I don’t think I could have left without sleeping with you first.”

“I wouldn’t have let you leave if you hadn’t fucked me first,” Randy told him, grinning. 

“But we didn’t move. And I’m still right here. And next year when we go to Uni, I’m going to be with you and only you. Because I love you.”

~~~

Of course this question put Ted in a bit of an awkward position because although he didn’t like to lie to Cody he did hate when he ended up upsetting him over something.

_And this was a potentially conniption-inducing conversation._

“Well, I think you can be,” Ted started quietly, one eye on the door to make sure he’d see when the teacher was coming and the other on Cody, “-but _not_ all the time,” he added.

Instead of that clearing anything up for Cody it merely seemed to confuse him further still.

“So, when _am_ I a drama-queen?”

“When you have something that sets you off emotionally,” Ted said lightly, really hoping Cody’s relaxed mood held out just a _little_ bit longer.

“How—” whatever Cody had been about to ask was cut off when the teacher suddenly entered the room, greeting the boys as a whole, who stood and returned it.

“We’ll finish this later,” Cody murmured to Ted and Ted sighed.

Justin caught Ted’s eye and arched a brow in silent question, clearly asking what it was that Cody had been asking.

Shrugging slightly Ted then waved a hand slightly, subtly; it wasn’t anything they had to worry about.

It had left Ted thinking though: why did Cody suddenly _care_ about his dramatic tendencies?

Well he’d just have to find out afterwards wouldn’t he?

The class was fairly slow going, but it _did_ eventually end. “Cody, what was it you were trying to ask me earlier?” Ted asked as soon as class was over. 

“Nothing,” he answered, shoving some things into his bag. 

“No, it wasn’t nothing. You were about to ask me something, and I want to know what it was.”

“Look, I thought about everything while we were in class, so it’s nothing,” Cody replied.

“There something going on here?” Justin asked, coming up to the two of them. 

“I already said that it was nothing,” Cody repeated. 

“Codes, you said we’d finish this later,” Ted reminded him. “I’m just… you’re not thinking about… trying to change your personality, or anything like that, are you?” he then asked. 

“Well… I dunno…” he said, sounding unsure for once. “Am I really that unbearable?” he asked.

“I never said anything of the sort!” Ted instantly replied. “You’ve been my best friend for how long now? Do you really think that I’d have remained friends with, roomed with and… become lovers with you if you were unbearable? I just said that, at times, you can make a mountain out of a mole hill, but you always come back to your senses… and frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

A sudden vulnerability showed on Cody’s face and anyone who knew him knew that you didn’t get to see _those_ kind of expressions if you were just _anybody._

“Really?” he whispered almost meekly, looking to meet Ted’s eyes tentatively and Ted was seized by the strongest urge to embrace the little fool until he stopped talking such nonsense.

“Yes, really,” Ted repeated firmly, settling for putting his hands on Cody’s shoulders to make sure he was looking at him since it would be uncharacteristic of him to suddenly embrace Cody even though it wasn’t unheard of for Cody to physically drape himself all over Ted without a care in the world as long as there weren’t any adults present; adults were such killjoys about things.

“If you try to change _anything_ about you then I shan’t forgive you for it,” he added firmly.

“You wouldn’t?” Cody repeated, clearly surprised Ted was going to such lengths to prove a point.

Shaking his head firmly Ted held Cody’s eyes, conveying his conviction on the matter.

“He’s right you know,” Justin chimed in lightly, not wanting to ruin their moment, “It would be odd.”

Something reminiscent of Cody’s old smile started to return.

“Really, I don’t think I’d like you half as much if you were so serious,” Justin smiled. 

“You wouldn’t?” Cody asked

Justin shook his head. “No. You’d be too much like Ted.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ted asked as Cody chuckled. 

“I just mean that you have a really serious personality. But I think that’s why you two work so well together. You’re the serious one while Cody is the fun loving, carefree one,” he said. 

“I like having fun!” Ted told them, though he still sounded incredibly serious as he tried to play up his fun side. 

“Oh, yeah, when I push you into it,” Cody said. 

“I don’t just mean _that_ ,” he muttered with a blush. “I mean… I like playing cricket and rugby.”

“Those are sports, Teddy. You’ve got to be competitive and serious about that, especially when you want to win. Even when you’re just watching a game, like football for example, you’re way more into it than I am.”

“So you’re saying that you can’t be competitive and have fun while doing so?” Ted asked.

“I mean… I suppose you _can_.”

“I have fun playing cards,” he said. 

“But you get pissed off when you lose,” Cody pointed out.

“Doesn’t everyone?” Ted countered. 

“I still think you have the most fun when you’re naked and in bed with me,” Cody whispered to him, leaving Ted a sputtering mess.

“You see?” Justin placed a hand on Cody’s shoulder, “ _That’s_ the Cody we’re used to dealing with,” he smiled.

“Well, if you insist,” Cody said demurely, fluttering his lashes at him.

“Behave you little tart,” Justin chuckled.

However, his laughter was short-lived when they walked into their next class… because instead of their usual professor standing there, their affluent headmaster was standing there instead.

Justin froze in his tracks and it was only a push from Cody that kept him moving as though nothing had happened, as though he wasn’t shocked out of his skin to see his guardian/lover seemingly ready to teach his class.

Once they had taken their seats and the rest of their classmates had arrived Wade then leveled a light smile at the confused boys.

“Morning all,” Wade greeted, receiving a slightly subdued but respectful response, “Don’t worry, I’m only teaching you today.”

Turned out their teacher was ill and they hadn’t been able to arrange any other substitute.

“So,” Wade clapped his hands together, “Who can tell me where you are in your syllabus?”

“I’m sure Justin can,” one brave, or stupid, soul commented.

The laughter that greeted it died quickly though.

Justin bowed his head, cheeks burning.

Cody subtly placed a hand on his friend’s leg reassuringly.

Taking a breath Justin then straightened his posture and informed Wade of their recent work. 

“Thank you very much, Mr. Gabriel,” Wade said. He had managed to find a copy of their syllabus, but wanted to see if they were on schedule, or not. They had managed to stay on schedule, so he began going over the information they were scheduled to go over this week. 

When his back was turned, writing on the blackboard, Cody leaned over and was about to say something to Justin, but, while his back was still turned on the class, Wade said, “Mr. Runnels, please no talking.” That little comment had _everyone_ sitting up for the remainder of the class. 

Leaning back upright in his chair, Cody’s mouth fell open as he looked over to Justin, who was now looking highly amused. “How did he do that?” he mouthed to Justin.

Justin just shrugged. After years of teaching himself, then raising Justin and being the headmaster of a school, Wade had grown another pair of eyes in the back of his head. He had to know what was going on around him.

“This is all new information, right?” Wade then asked of the class, turning around to face them. He didn’t want to be teaching them things they’d already learned. 

“Yes, Sir,” the class said in unison. 

Aside from the Cody incident, Justin hadn’t been able to take his eyes off his lover… this had been a nice little surprise.

But there was still a small part of him that was surprised Wade hadn’t thought to mention that he was substituting--- almost immediately a little voice in his mind reminded him that it was short notice so _of course_ he couldn’t have had chance to give Justin some form of forewarning.

Even though he knew it wouldn’t endear him to his classmates any more than normal Justin did his best to answer questions when he thought he knew the answer and then asked insightful comments at the end. Several times Wade caught other boys looking jealousy at Justin.

The clear display of intellect showed that Justin was working as hard as he promised but it was the first time Wade had actually _seen_ any sign of animosity directed towards his little Angel despite Justin mentioning it to him before.

Once the bell rang to signal the end of class the boys waited to be dismissed before packing up. Even though he cleared up quickly Justin hesitated, lingering just a bit longer.

“We’ll wait up for you shall we?” Cody asked with a subtle wink, a hand going to Ted’s bicep as he pulled him along with him, “Bye sir!” he called back brightly to Wade.

“Goodbye Mr. Runnels,” Wade returned, clearly amused.

His expression softened when Justin approached though he was careful to remain business-like in case, “Well done today.”

“Thank you,” Justin said, blushing slightly. “Umm… when did you find out you’d be substituting?” he asked. 

“Just this morning. Your professor had mentioned to me that his wife has been ill and now it looks as though he’s caught whatever she had,” Wade told him. “And so here I am.”

Justin smiled. “How is it, then? Being back in the classroom?”

“Just like old times,” he answered. “I do sometimes miss it, being up here teaching… but other times I quite enjoy my current position.”

“Will you be doing this tomorrow, too?” Justin asked him. 

“I don’t know. It’ll depend on if he can recover. It’s certainly a possibility, though,” Wade said. “Now shouldn’t you be going along to your next class? The bell’s going to ring in just a few minutes.”

“Yes, Sir,” he said. “I’ll see you later,” he added, though he didn’t actually know when he’d be able to see Wade again. It was already a nice surprise that he was able to see him during the week, especially out of the office and cafeteria.

Outside in the hallway Cody and Ted were still waiting for him and Justin smiled slightly; he had only been a few minutes at best but he would have understood if they’d left ahead.

Ted was as bad about being late as Justin usually was, so he was just a touch surprised Ted hadn’t begged Cody to go with him so they would definitely be in time. “Thanks for waiting,” he told them.

“No problem,” Ted assured him, a gentle sort of smile on his lips; Justin was all but floating just _seeing_ Wade for a few minutes.

“I was expecting some passionate parting kiss though for my efforts… you’ve disappointed me,” Cody teased him lightly.

Justin blushed, swatting at his friend before then looking back to the classroom door once more before beginning to walk with them to their next class. By some stroke of luck they managed to make it before the bell went to signal class starting.

Sinking into his seat Justin sighed softly, smiling to himself.

In a way he hoped Wade would be teaching them again tomorrow. 

Throughout the class, Justin found his thoughts drifting back to Wade. He was fading in and out during the lesson, but picked up enough information to take some notes and get the general gist of what was happening. He was just thrilled that he was able to see Wade during the week like that. 

When that class ended and they packed up, Ted said to him, “You don’t look like your usual self.”

“I don’t?” Justin asked, brow furrowing. 

“You look happier,” Ted then told him. “Usually you look so stern in class and you’re just concentrating on the class… maybe the Headmaster should teach us more often,” he whispered. 

“Does it really come across as that obvious?” 

Ted nodded. “It really does. Not that it’s a bad thing, though! But, yes, you really can tell that there’s something different about you right now. I… I think it’s sweet how much just seeing him can change your mood like that.”

“It’s like you and Cody,” Justin said. “Even when the two of you are having one of your stupid fights and then Cody comes back after cooling off a little bit, you two look so happy to see one another.”

“I guess it is kinda like that,” Ted agreed. “Wait, are our fights really that stupid?” he asked after a moment’s pause.

Giving Ted an amused and yet apologetic look Justin lifted a hand and held his index-finger and thumb about an inch apart from one another, “Just a little bit.” He then waved a hand and shouldered his bag, “But you’re both exactly the same so it isn’t as though one of you picks more than the other.”

“Oh…” Ted trailed off, looking perplexed, but perplexed in the sense that he wasn’t sure _how_ to feel.

“What are you two talking about?” Cody asked.

“You,” Justin responded without missing a beat and Cody immediately looked suspicious, glancing to Ted for either a confirmation or a denial. He didn’t exactly receive either and so he looked back to Justin once more.

“What about me?” he asked immediately.

“Not just you,” Ted cut in then because he knew Cody would get more and more worked up over Justin’s subtle teasing, even if he didn’t realise it himself that their friend was only playing with him.

“That’s right,” Justin conceded, “You and him,” he indicated to Ted and Cody looked more amused now but still a touch weary. “Why?” he asked and Justin shrugged lightly in response to his query.

“We were just having an educated discussion of comparison, that’s all,” he said innocently as he led the way out of the room.

“Do what now?” Cody asked, his curiosity getting the better of him, as it usually did. “What are you saying about me and Ted?”

“Ted and me,” Justin corrected, not touching anymore of the question. 

“Justin, come on! What were you saying?” He kept pace so that he and Justin were walking stride for stride. 

“I already told you,” he said. 

“You were incredibly vague about it,” Cody retorted. “Don’t be such a dickhead, Justin.”

“I don’t think you calling me a dickhead will win you any favours,” Justin told him. 

“Ok, I’m sorry. You’re not a dickhead.”

Justin shrugged, “I was just saying how similar you and Ted are.”

Cody looked slightly surprised by that sentiment. “Wait, you think Ted and I are similar? How so? I don’t think we could really _get_ any more different,” Cody said. “We’re complete opposites.”

“But you’re really one in the same. I just think that you’re far more similar than either of you actually realize.”

“You were just saying, though, that if I were more serious, I’d be too much like Ted!” Cody exclaimed, thinking he’d found a counter to Justin’s argument.

“That is true… but do you really think that you’d be able to be friends and… more,” he said with a lowered voice, “if you didn’t share the same common, fundamental beliefs?”

~~~

“Damn it, John, when you talk like that—“ Randy didn’t even bother to finish the sentence, merely ducked his head and pressed his lips to John’s. The kiss was slow, intimate and passionate, though carefully restrained in the circumstances.

“If we didn’t have class now I think I’d be taking you back to my room for us to repeat that cherished first time,” Randy muttered against John’s lips before giving in to his urge to bite down on the other’s bottom lip.

“When did class ever stop you?” John muttered, panting slightly from the force of the kiss.

“Well, we only have a few months left,” Randy muttered, “And I think some people are catching on to us… we need to at least act like good boys.”

“I like you best when you’re a bad boy,” John grinned, pulling Randy in for another kiss, curling his hand around the back of his neck.

“I’ll make good use of that later,” Randy muttered a little raggedly when they parted, as though insinuating they left then.

It didn’t _quite_ happen that way though. In fact, they barely _made_ it to class on time.

_It’d been worth it though._

“Cutting it awfully close, aren’t we?” Evan asked once Randy sat down next to him.

“At least we weren’t having sex in a bathtub,” Randy replied softly. 

Evan blushed deeply and didn’t say another word to Randy the entire rest of the class. He did, however, lean to Chris and asked, “Why did you _ever_ mention the bathroom to Randy?”

“What?”

“He’s never gonna let me live it down,” Evan muttered. 

Chris wasn’t able to say another further to that, as their teacher began asking them this and that about the homework they did last night. He knew that Randy had to have just said something about it, though, especially when he saw how red Evan was. The blush seemed to linger, too… maybe Evan was still thinking about what they did that morning. Chris liked to think that he was. He knew that _he_ certainly hadn’t stopped thinking about it.

Actually, thinking about the bathroom had admittedly gotten Chris thinking of other areas where they might explore their love for one another. Outside appealed to him, and his mind was quite happy to provide him with several scenarios… almost to the degree where he got caught out once or twice by the teacher but managed to blag his way back through with acceptable answers that had the steely-eyed ex-governess moving on once more.

“That was lucky,” John murmured into Chris’ ear and Chris made a playfully light show of wiping sweat from his forehead and sending John a wink. Randy smirked at Evan after the exchange.

“Behave!” Evan chided his cousin softly and Randy sent him an innocent look in return.

“I didn’t say anything,” he whispered back and Evan rolled his eyes.

“Mr. Orton-”

Evan released a gentle sigh of relief when Randy was called to answer a question, successfully distracting him from his playful torment for the moment.

The questioning didn’t take nearly as long as Evan would have liked, even though Randy ended up answering a series of questions. In fact, the whole class didn’t last as long as Evan would have liked. 

As soon as the bell rang, Randy was right back to teasing his cousin. “Do you ever get sick of poking fun at me?” Evan asked him.

“I’m not poking fun, Evvy. You must know by now that I don’t mean anything by my little teasin,” he said. “And you know that, as I’m always one to dish it out, I’ll certainly always willing to take it.”

“That you are,” Mark chimed in from his side. 

John, Randy and Chris all laughed while Evan’s blush returned. “You just left yourself wide open for that one,” Chris said.

“I did, but… that is true, as well, can’t deny that,” he said, nodding. 

“Randy, you could at least pretend,” Evan chided.

“Didn’t you always tell me that it’s wrong to lie?” Randy asked, arching a brow and Evan sighed slightly, a slight smile twitching his lips, “Touché,” he nodded his head in acknowledgement of his words.

John slung a companionable arm around Randy’s shoulders, grinning, “He can’t help what he is,” he said brightly, dimples on show.

“And you’re any better?” Mark asked in amusement and John sent him a mock-stern look, wagging a finger at him, “Now, I didn’t say that did I?” he asked. Evan rubbed a hand over the back of his head.

Sometimes, much as he loved John and Randy, being around them gave him a headache, and now they had a temporary third to their antics.

If the nurse didn’t scare him so much he’d get something for the headache.

He then remembered he still had some of the pain killers she had given him when he fell a few days ago… “Chris, I’m going to run back to our room really quick,” Evan told him. 

“Wait, why? I can go with you,” Chris offered. 

“You don’t have to. I just… my head…” he trailed off, shrugging.

“It’s bothering you again? I thought you were doing better,” Chris said, worried. 

“Don’t worry, it’s hurting for a completely different reason,” he informed his lover, looking up ahead to where the trio had continued walking. 

“Oh,” Chris said with a little smirk. “You really shouldn’t let them get to you that easily,” he went on. 

“I can’t help it! I just… Randy’s so much… _looser_ than I ever thought he was and…” he stopped, shutting his eyes as his head acted up again.

“So, you really didn’t know what he was like before this year?” Chris asked. 

“Well… I don’t think he’s acting any differently now, it’s just that before I think I chose to ignore it. And I never thought he was serious when he was teasing with John, because… I didn’t ever think that men could be together in the first place,” Evan told him. “Go on to class, I’ll get there when I get there. I just can’t stand this headache anymore.”

“Alright…” Chris nodded, though Evan could still see a faint glimmer of concern in his eyes before he turned away properly and vanished around the corner towards their room again.

Rubbing his temples as he went Evan sighed deeply, rolling his shoulders lightly; he did love Randy to death but his cousin could be trying.

Reaching their room he unlocked the door and let himself in, having a small fight with himself before he forced down a pill or two with some water.

A small woozy feeling went through him as he set the glass down and he rubbed his eyes with some caution.

Matron Gurerro had said that they could cause drowsiness, and since he was a little physically fatigued anyway thanks to his and Chris’ amazing bath he was a bit uneasy, but in the end he merely pushed the thought off and headed back towards the classroom. Chris had taken his bag through for him and had told the teacher in advance it seemed.

At least that was why Evan assumed he didn’t get into trouble for arriving late.

Settling in his seat Evan nodded slightly to Chris’ silently asked question, smiling.

Turning away to face the lesson Evan then smothered a yawn.  
 _Maybe he should take a nap during lunch later._

Well, if he could stay awake long enough during class, then he’d take a nap during lunch. His eyes were feeling droopy the whole time he sat there and he had to force himself to keep his eyes open. He had to tell himself that it wasn’t ok to rest his arm on his desk and his head on his arm, even though he wanted to.

It took all of his willpower just to stay awake, only so, once the bell finally rang (what felt to be about five hours later), he could say to Chris, “I need to lie down.”

“Did you want me to go back to the room with you this time?” Chris asked, seeing how drowsy Evan actually looked.

“I think that might be a good idea,” he conceded. He was swaying slightly just standing up, he didn’t know if walking back to his room alone would be too bright an idea.

“Ok. I’ll bring you back to the room, then want me to see if I can grab you some lunch?” Chris offered as they began heading out of the classroom. 

“That would be amazing if you did,” Evan said. “Even just something small that you can shove into a napkin and into your bag, I’ll be happy with that. Right now, though, I’d be happier to get back to the room.” He couldn’t believe how tired he was, but he was still even more shocked he’d managed to stay awake during class at all.


	57. Chapter 57

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go ~ Oscar Wilde

“Well, yeah, I guess so…” Cody said, brow furrowing. He’d never really thought of it that way before but he supposed it made sense.

“There you go, see?” Justin smiled, “You are similar in those respects.”

It was only as Justin was walking into their next class before lunch that Cody realised something else.

“That didn’t answer my question!”

Justin laughed as he entered the classroom ahead of them and Cody pouted at Ted.

“What’s he on about?” he asked and Ted merely patted his shoulder lightly in a reassuring manner. “It’s nothing sinister, don’t worry…” He smiled slightly himself and then followed Justin into the classroom.

“Men,” Cody huffed lightly without real heat before quickly following them both inside and taking his seat just in time in the grand scheme of things.

After the lesson though Cody was immediately back on the offensive and Justin supposed he should put him out of his misery… if only to get him to shut up about it a little bit.

“I was just comparing how Ted is when he sees you, to us, to how I am when I see Wade to you lot,” he explained.  
Cody’s brow furrowed, “I didn’t get that.”

“I get happy when I see Wade, and you lot can tell. Ted gets happy when he sees you.”

“Mhm,” Cody grinned playfully at Ted, “That he does indeed Justin.” 

Ted could feel a blush coming on, knowing that Cody was right, but that didn’t mean he actually had to say as much. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, mumbling his words. 

“I think you know perfectly well what I mean,” Cody replied.

Justin interrupted before Cody could say even more things to get Ted embarrassed. “So, yes, that’s what he and I were discussing. I swear, it was nothing more than that.”

“So, you really weren’t talking about me all that much at all,” Cody said. 

“No, not really,” Justin agreed. 

“Damn. I thought you were talking about some juicy gossip story you’d heard about me,” he said, actually sounding somewhat disappointed. 

“You mean to tell me that you were flipping out about what we were talking about, actually _hoping_ that it would be some gossip about you and Ted?” Justin asked.

Cody shrugged. “What’s that they say? There’s no such thing as bad press?”

Justin shook his head. “You’re a strange guy, Cody,” he told him as they approached their next class. Well, his and Ted’s next class, Cody was in a different math class. 

Rolling his eyes, at Justin, Cody then looked at Ted and winked. “I’ll see you soon at lunch, Teddy. I’m sure you’ll be so very _excited_ to see me again.”

“You—Class, now!” Ted ground out with a little too much force, swatting at Cody who nimbly ducked backwards, laughter tinkling behind him as he headed further down the corridor.

Justin grinned amusedly at his clearly flustered close friend.

“You really have no hope when it comes to him, do you?” he asked, patting Ted on the shoulder in what was supposed to be a sympathetic manner.

“Have you actually heard gossip about us before though?” Ted found himself asking and Justin looked surprised for a moment before then shrugging, “No more than me and Wade.”

Ted’s expression softened slightly, this time being the one to pat Justin’s shoulder.

Smiling at his friend Justin then led the way into their maths classroom and Ted followed, shaking his head slightly at Cody’s cheeky behaviour. Had he made him worse?

Meanwhile, Cody was still all but humming as he wandered into his own maths class. Heath arched a brow and cocked his head, “Did you two go into the bathroom again?”

“Sadly no,” Cody said, sliding into his seat next to him before sighing and grinning rather dopily, “My Teddy is just so gorgeous though isn’t he?” he mused.

“If I said yes you’d probably claw my eyes out,” Heath reminded him lightly.

“I allow statements of fact, just no touching.” 

“So me answering yes _won’t_ leave me without eyeballs?” Heath asked. 

“Correct.”

“What if I say no?” Heath then asked cautiously. 

“Well, then, I’d have to speak to someone about checking you into the insane asylum, because you clearly don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cody told him. 

“I see. So, then, to answer your question, yes, Ted is quite the looker. Not as though I actually look, because my interests lie elsewhere.”

“See, now that’s a good answer.” 

They couldn’t talk any longer, though, because the bell rang and they all had to quiet down for class. And, because this was their last class before lunch, it seemed to drag on and on as each student could find himself becoming hungrier by the minute. 

When the class finally ended, Cody was one of the first people out the door, heading down the hall to meet up with Ted and Justin as they left their class. Heath was a few steps behind Cody. Joe and Windham were even further behind him. 

“Did you miss me, Teddy?” Cody asked. 

In all fairness, Ted hadn’t even been away from Cody long enough to really miss him, but it was nice to see him again. So, he answered, “Yes.”

Cody beamed, flinging his arms around Ted’s neck as he always did without a care in the world for some of the more scandalised looks they were sent by younger students.

“Good, ‘cause I missed you too,” Cody told him.

“Glad to hear it.”

“Get a room, gentleman,” Joe smirked and Justin immediately clapped a hand over his mouth, shaking his head rapidly, “No! Don’t tell them that!”

Ted immediately looked embarrassed despite the reassuring look Justin sent him.

“So, Justin,” Windham started and Justin turned to look at their friend after releasing said friend’s lover, “Yes, Windham?” he asked him curiously.

“We heard you had a nice surprise in class today.”

“How could you have heard that already?” Justin asked and Windham merely winked lightly as he said, “We have our sources.” Some of the boys in class that had been with Justin when they had had Wade taking the class had mentioned it, warning others.

 _Because if there was ever a time to wind your neck in and behave yourself then having the headmaster teaching the class was one of them._ Justin blushed and rolled his eyes lightly before sighing, “Yes, and it was a pleasant surprise I’ll have you know.”

“Why?” Joe asked, “Did you do it on a desk?”

“Joe!” Justin exclaimed, embarrassed. “Hush up about that!”

“So, you did?”

“No! We did nothing of the sort. I just mean… do you need to bring that up right now? Right here?”

“Oh, no one’s listening to us. You’re just paranoid,” Joe said with a roll of his eyes. 

“Don’t you think I’ve got a right to be paranoid considering the circumstances?” Justin asked, raising a brow. 

“What? I was just asking… you do appear to look a lot happier than normal.”

“That doesn’t mean we defiled the desk in someone’s classroom,” he muttered. “It was just really nice to be able to see him… and to be taught by him.”

“I’m sure he’s taught you a thing or two before,” Joe replied. 

“Joe! That is really _not_ necessary… You know what I mean. I’ve never seen him in a teacher capacity before. He seemed to enjoy being up there in front of a classroom, though.”

“And it seems as though you enjoy seeing him up there in front of a classroom,” Joe said.

Justin shrugged. “I suppose I can’t dispute that.”

“Exactly,” Joe said smugly before then asking, “So, really…?”

“Really nothing happened!”

“They didn’t have the time,” Cody backed him up. At least, Justin thought he was backing him up until he added, “I would have left them a bit longer, but…”

“I hate you all,” Justin sighed tiredly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Don’t lie,” Heath slung an arm around Justin’s shoulders companionably and drew him close, “You love us.”

“Sometimes I really wonder,” though his face was serious they all knew he didn’t mean it; they meant the world to him.

“What’s Wade like teaching anyway?” Windham asked curiously and Heath answered.

“Well, he knows the second someone does something wrong, even if his back’s to you.”

“Don’t be daft,” Joe scoffed though he sounded impressed.

“It’s true!” Cody insisted, and told them how he’d attempted to whisper to Justin before the other man had finished writing on the board and Wade had caught him without turning around.

“Magic,” Heath intoned in a playful voice only to be sharply elbowed by Justin in the ribs. 

“It really is, though!” Cody agreed. “Or some sort of Devil trickery… I don’t know _what_ it is, but he really does have eyes in the back of his head.”

“Are you saying that your parents never did anything like that?” Justin asked them. “I mean, knew that you were doing something you weren’t supposed to be doing without even looking at you?”

“Well, it was nothing like _that_ ,” Cody said. “Has he always been like that with you?”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s not as though I was often doing something I shouldn’t have been doing, but when I was first taken in, there was a lot that I’d just never seen before. You know, you don’t see many ornate flower vases or picture albums when you’re living in a dingy alleyway. So, I was touching a lot of things when I first got there that I shouldn’t have actually been touching… but when he saw how curious I was, he’d take things down from shelves for me and would sit with me and tell me about everything.”

“So, what you’re trying to say without actually saying is that you never really got in trouble.”

“It’s not so much that, it’s more… I was so thankful for him taking me in and off the streets that I didn’t ever want to disobey the things he told me… I didn’t want to ever end up back where I came from.”

“Justin,” Ted was surprised that he would even consider such a thing, and from the looks of their friends’ faces the thought was wholeheartedly communal, “Wade would never have done that to you.”

Chuckling softly Justin nodded, “Well, I know that _now_ don’t I? But back then I didn’t… and I just wanted to make sure Wade didn’t regret taking me in.”

“He wouldn’t have gotten rid of you even if you’d developed into a course hooligan instead of the sweet, mild-mannered little genius that you are today,” Joe said, Justin’s nose wrinkling at the not-quite compliment.

“How do you know?” Justin found himself asking and Joe shrugged; he may have only been young when he had heard some of the conversations concerning Justin, since they would have been roughly the same age and all, but his father had since repeated the thought around him since when they had been home. “Without you people think Wade would have just retreated from society and the school all together. My dad said having you around almost seemed to breathe new life into the man, gave him purpose.”

A blush crossed Justin’s cheeks, shaking his head; he couldn’t believe he’d had that much of an effect on him.

“Apparently he was quite standoffish with people before you came along,” Windham inputted. 

“Really? That doesn’t seem possible. People really like him, and he’s so personable… how else could he have gotten the headmaster position?” Justin asked. 

“I don’t know, I’m just repeating what I overheard my father saying,” Windham told him with a shrug. 

“Maybe he’d always wanted a kid, or something, and couldn’t have one,” Joe suggested. “Then he found you and...” he trailed off, waving his hands around to apparently try and indicate something.

Justin quirked a brow. Wade never indicated to him that he ever wanted to have children of his own. Of course, it was also something that he’d never thought of before, Wade having kid or _wanting_ them. “I don’t know about that, Joe.”

“He’s got a point, though,” Cody agreed. “Think about it, if what they’re saying is true, and Wade really was some… utter prick before you came along, and all he wanted was to have a child and he’d never been able to…”

“He’s never been married. If he wanted children, he’d have married someone and tried with her… I don’t think he’d ever want to be involved in some scandal in which he impregnated someone in wedlock,” Justin reasoned. “Besides, I’d say that he’s _hardly_ infertile.”

“Gross,” sounded from their group. Though they teased Justin constantly about his relationship with Wade, and they didn’t mind hearing the occasional story or two about them, they didn’t really want to hear about Wade’s bodily fluids. 

~~~

When Evan swayed particularly dangerously before they had reached their room Chris threw caution to the wind, caught Evan’s arm lightly to still him and then swept the unsuspecting boy into his arms bridal-style. The sudden motion caused Evan’s head to spin but he knew that Chris hadn’t meant to have that happen.

“This is so unnecessary!” Evan protested meekly, rubbing his temple before yawning heavily, “I can walk all by myself, Chris!”

“Indulge me,” Chris said, much like he had when Evan had slipped in the bathroom and hurt himself in the first place, “I won’t fuss you as much if you do.”

“Liar, you will so,” Evan said, but even as he spoke his head nestled itself onto Chris’ shoulder and his eyes started closing, “Now I know why auntie always makes us take medicine when we’re settled in bed…” it was in case they crashed. Adjusting his hold on Evan, Chris continued on the way back to their bedroom once more.

“If it was that bad you should have said,” Chris chided gently, “Missing a day of classes won’t affect your overall record,” he was oblivious passing by a classroom that someone saw them.

To say Wade was only mildly surprised by the pair’s apparent closeness though was probably not an understatement. He waited until they’d passed to leave the classroom.

“This is ridiculous, Chris,” Evan said, though he could feel his eyes drooping. “You don’t need to _carry me_.”

“You’d be asleep on the floor about two classrooms back if I didn’t,” Chris replied.

“I’m not asleep.”

“Yet. We’re not that much further, ok? If I were Randy right now, would you be complaining as much as you are?” he asked. 

“Yes,” Evan answered. “Yes, I would be. Can’t you just put me down and let me walk the rest of the way?” His voice was so quiet, though, he was barely reaching whisper level.

“No,” Chris said. “Like I said, we’re not _that_ much further. So just indulge me.”

Evan tried to humph, but he was so tired and close to sleep that he didn’t even do that. Chris was right, though, it wasn’t all that far to their room, and they were there soon enough. Evan was trying to hold off on falling asleep, but he was fighting a losing battle. “How many pain pills did you take, anyway?” he asked. Evan hadn’t even seemed that bad when he was taking them when he hit his head.

Instead of verbally answering, Evan just held up two fingers. 

“You know the nurse told you to only take one at a time,” Chris said, but not too harshly… not yet, anyway, once Evan was awake again, though, he would have to speak to him about caring for himself properly. 

Sighing gently as Evan faded off to sleep Chris rubbed a hand over his face; he was glad he had held his ground on the matter this time around, because otherwise it could have been disastrous. Evan would have probably given himself another concussion hitting the ground again when the pills kicked in or something. Adjusting Evan’s pillow Chris lingered a few moments before backing out of the room.

Closing the door behind him Chris then began walking towards the next class he had, a tense-faced Randy waiting outside.

“Is Evan alright?” Randy had seen how out of it his cousin had been and then the fact that the pair had left together.

“He’s sleeping,” Chris sighed, “He took two pills for his headache when the matron said you’re only meant to have one at a time… Mercifully he’ll only need a nap and then he’ll be up.”

Even though he was sure just one tablet over the recommended amount wouldn’t hurt Evan he couldn’t deny that there was a small part of him that wanted to be sitting there with Evan until he awoke just to make sure.

“That little dope!” Randy suddenly exploded and Mark startled, having been sat next to him.

“What?” Chris said, frowning slightly; he was mad but Randy looked close to _livid_.

“He knows better than to—“ Randy cut off, exhaling a breath.  
“It’s nothing; forget it.”

“No, what is it?” Chris prompted again. He hadn’t expected _that_ sort of reaction from Randy, nothing close to it. 

“He’s pulled this before,” Randy said. “When he hurt himself playing rugby, he always ended up taking more than what he was told to. I don’t know _why_ , but he did, no matter how many people told him what the recommended dose was. And given his small size, it’s even more dangerous for him.”

“Really? Once he’s awake, I’m having a nice long chat with him,” Chris said. “He should be more concerned about his own health.”

“That’s what I’d been telling him. He just takes everything to the extreme. He can’t seem to do anything in small doses.”

“That is very true,” Chris said. 

“I knew someone back at my old school who took too many pain killers,” Mark chimed in. “He’d hurt himself really bad during a rugby game, broke his arm, actually, and then took about half the bottle of pain pills. Once someone found out, they poured about a whole bottle of ipecac down his throat so he’d vomit them all back up. It was pretty scary, though. We all thought he wasn’t gonna make it.”

Chris paled significantly and even Randy looked a little on the chalky side as well. “Was he alright afterwards?” Chris asked.

“Yes, but it was a close thing.”

“John will have him as well if he finds out,” Randy sighed suddenly; he wasn’t the only one who had been on at Evan about his daring tendencies when it came to medicines before. “He told him he’d kick him off the teams he’s on if he pulled another stunt like that, though he knows he means no harm.”

“I’m _definitely_ having words with him when he wakes up,” Chris mumbled, rubbing a hand over his forehead. The teacher’s arrival forestalled their conversation, though when the bell went Randy immediately said, “You make sure you get it through his head, Chris…” he didn’t need to voice that one day Evan might accidentally take it too far but the words hung in the air with an unnerving sense of finality for him.

“I’ll make sure he understands,” Chris responded, “Even if I have to sit there and watch over him from now on when he has to take meds.”

“Why do you think my mum does that when we’re at home?” Randy asked, patting Chris on the shoulder before heading off with Mark to meet John.

Chris was left on his own to walk to class. Normally he’d be going with Evan, but his lover couldn’t even stay awake through his last class before lunch time. When he entered the classroom, he saw John give him a curious look. Once he sat, John asked, “Where’s Ev?”

“Sleeping off his headache,” Chris answered. He didn’t have to mention that he took more than the recommended dose of pain pills, and _that_ was why Evan was asleep right then. 

“His head’s bothering him again? He’s ok otherwise, though, right?” 

“Yeah, I think it’s just lingering effects from the fall… it wasn’t like it was _that_ long ago that he nearly split his head open.”

“True.”

“But, yes, I think otherwise he’s ok,” Chris told him. 

As much as he repeated that to himself for the duration of class, he couldn’t help but think about just how Evan was actually doing… and then he couldn’t help but think about what Mark had told them. Of course, it didn’t seem like Evan had done anything to the extent that the other kid at Mark’s school had done, but it didn’t stop him worrying.

As soon as he could get the time to Chris went back to their room, excusing himself from John and the other before heading off. John still looked non-plussed as to why Chris was wound up but when he saw Randy still seemed a bit tense too he knew something was up.

Needless to say he’d get the details from him soon.

Upon reaching their room Chris tried the door and peeked his head in, suddenly cursing that he hadn’t locked it; who knew what unscrupulous character might have seen Evan defenseless and---

He cut off sharply at the angelic sight still sleeping on Evan’s bed.

_Beautiful._

Despite himself his panic abated slightly and he closed the door behind him softly, dropping his bag down before approaching Evan.

He really _was_ the most beautiful boy Chris had seen. He looked as though he belonged immortalised in a church’s stain-glass walls or in some epic ode to the times past when Gods and Humans supposedly interacted in daily life. Gently placing himself on the bed beside Evan he traced the teenager’s features with his fingers. _He really loved him._

He remained there until his stomach rumbled. He knew he should be getting to lunch… and he’d promised Evan that he’d grab something for him, and he couldn’t possibly go back on a promise he made to Evan. A little food when he woke up would probably do him a world of good, as well. 

With a great deal of reluctance, he got back out of bed, taking great care to not disturb Evan in any way. The man was still out of it and probably hadn’t even realized that Chris had been there. After placing a quick kiss to Evan’s cheek, he was out the door, making his way to the dining hall. 

John, Randy and Mark were already there, Chris spotted them as soon as he walked in the hall. There wasn’t much of a line anymore, so he grabbed his tray and made his way through the line, explaining to the ladies working that his friend had injured his head and was resting, so if he could take a little extra food to take back to him… They were all happy to let him do so. 

It wasn’t much longer that he was joining the three others at the table. Randy was the first to ask, “How’s Evan?”

“Still sleeping. He’ll be ok, though, once he sleeps this off.”

“Good,” Randy said, clear relief showing in his eyes momentarily. Mark tilted his head slightly and smiled a little, “You lot really care about your families don’t you?” he asked. John wasn’t the only one who looked confused then, “Are you saying you don’t?” he asked, puzzled and admittedly curious.

Mark looked a touch rueful, “I guess I’m not saying that exactly…” he rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and leant back in his seat a little, his other hand reaching for his drink and gently swirling the liquid around almost absent-mindedly, “It’s just---“ his brow furrowed, clearly trying to figure out how to word himself, “Things can sometimes get a little _tense_ in our household.”

The fact that their family was almost always moving at regular intervals didn’t help matters but Mark had also come to learn that both of his parents had _unsavoury_ activities happening in the background that they didn’t think he knew about that they were always lashing out at each other for.

“So that’s why you can’t wait to move into your own house?”

“That,” Mark then grinned, “And I can drink and play cards as often and late as I want if mother’s not breathing down my neck.”

“That will be nice,” Randy agreed. “Not to mention all the, uh, _company_ you’ll be able to keep once you’ve got your own place.”

Mark nodded. “Yes… absolutely that, as well.”

Chris looked at him, amused. “What kind of company do you plan to keep, exactly?” he asked. 

“Whomever I feel like,” he answered. “I could have orgies and invite you and Evan,” he then said.

Chris snorted, mainly as he imagined what the look on Evan’s face would have been had he been there to hear that. “I think we’d pass on that… though those two, I’m not too sure about,” he said, looking to John and Randy.

“I don’t know… we did say that we’d become exclusive once we got to Uni,” John told him. 

“We could make an exception once in a while,” Randy said with a shrug. 

“You mean like we already do?”

“Exactly. You know, be exclusive to one another until Mark throws one of his orgies, and then once it’s over, we just go back to one another.”

John grinned. “Would you really do that?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never partaken in an orgy before, so I really have no idea how I’d behave. Are you saying you wouldn’t want to indulge at all if it were offered?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, I’ve never partaken in an orgy before,” he said, turning Randy’s words back around on him. 

“You know, you are missing out,” Mark said a grin on his own face.

“You mean you’ve been in one before?” Chris asked.

~~~

“Just accept it for the compliment it is,” Cody commented and Ted nodded; he’d heard a little bit of gossip about the man at his parents’ frequent dinner-parties too once he had been deemed old enough to attend and capable of joining.

“Yeah,” Cody was clearly warming to his point now, “You’ve done him good and it’s a good job you love him too because I doubt he’ll never let you go.”

“You’re wrong there,” Justin’s response was a little delayed but they could tell that he meant it wholly.

“What’re you talking about?” Heath asked him incredulously, “Justin, the man would most likely duel to the death for your honour and you’re always his first and foremost thought and concern, so…”

“And that’s exactly why he’d let me go, _if_ such a time _ever_ came when _I_ asked for it,” Justin intoned firmly and the protests his friends gave seemed to die immediately; they had little choice but to concede that point after all.

“But until then,” Joe cut in, leaning across the table and thumping Justin hard on the back, “You’re essentially already in married life. I feel we should throw you a bachelor party or something,” he teased the other boy.

“That is completely unnecessary,” Justin pulled a face at the thought because he knew _exactly_ what Joe would have in mind for entertainment, “Please don’t. Besides, referring to us as married seems a bit generous.” They could never be as a conventionally married couple could. 

“Well, it’s a bit odd to think of you as having a normal father, son relationship, don’t you think?” Joe asked. “Well, unless someone has a really sick father who’s into molesting their own children.”

“That’s disgusting, Joe,” Ted said to him, face scrunched up.

“What? I was just giving an example. I still say they’re more like a married couple.”

“We are not,” Justin continued to protest. The one thing about that statement that bothered him was the implication that he was nothing more than a kept woman. And while it was pretty much the truth, Wade did so much and took such good care of him, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be thought of, especially by his friends, as a kept woman. 

“He takes you to dinner, he buys you things and you fuck each other… I’d say you’re good and married,” Joe said. 

Justin sighed, knowing that he wasn’t winning this battle anytime soon. “Think whatever you like, Joe.”

“I will… so, about that bachelor party?”

“I don’t think you can have a bachelor party if you’re not a bachelor,” Ted told him. “I mean, you said yourself that it’s as though they’re _already_ married.”

Justin gave Ted a little smile while Joe glared at him.

“Is being a kill-joy a hobby of yours Teddy or are you intending to take it up professionally?” Joe looked clearly put out and Ted worked hard to turn his expression apologetic instead of laughing at him.

“Do you think I could make a career out of it?” he returned.

“Definitely…” he sighed, chin resting on his hand as he pouted, “We could have had a right time with a bachelor party.”

“Are you overlooking the fact that our parents wouldn’t let us go anywhere associated with bachelor parties?”

“Obviously, Justin, we don’t tell them.”

“Have you thought this through at all Joe?” Heath asked him in amusement then.

“No point doing that now is there?” Joe returned, “Justin’s being boring and won’t let us do it will he?” he then sighed and perked up slightly as he asked, “Is anyone having a Christmas or New Year’s Party this year?” clearly he just wanted an excuse to get drunk and act like a div the way he couldn’t at school… his dad would kill him if he ever did.

“Don’t think so,” Justin shrugged, and Cody and Ted also shook their heads. Windham shrugged and Heath shook his head, “We’re going away,” he grimaced.

“See the family in London?” Cody asked and the redhead nodded. 

“Same as we do every holiday,” Heath said. “Be nice, though. How about you? Going to see your brother and sister at all?”

“I hope to. By then, Dustin’s wife will probably have had her baby, and I can’t wait to meet him. Or her,” he added. “Plus, I get to be the godfather,” he said proudly. 

“Really? Dustin’s entrusting _you_ as his child’s godfather?” Heath asked teasingly. In truth he knew that Cody would love his niece or nephew and godchild dearly.

“He is, believe it or not. One of his wife’s sisters will be the godmother, but he told Teil that if he has another, she’ll be the godmother. I’m just excited to meet this little one,” Cody said. “He or she’s the reason that my big brother settled down, after all, so this is something special.”

Ted couldn’t help but smile at the way Cody lit up as he talked about his family. He did love them dearly. 

“So, you don’t have any other plans?” Windham asked Joe. 

“I dunno. As far as I know, none of the holiday parties are at our house this year.” Every year several of the professors would rotate who would throw the Christmas and New Year party. Last year, Joe’s father hosted the Christmas party and it had been a rather enjoyable time, for both him and the girl he took to his bed. Now he had no idea what he was doing for the holidays, if he was going to be doing anything at all. 

“Surely you can go to Win’s place?” Heath said innocently, “I mean, I bet you’ll be missing each other a lot before too long.”

“If you’re insinuating what I think you are—“ Windham started.

“Did I say anything? Honestly Windham, have a little faith will you? Besides… The fact that your mind went _that way_ proves what you’ve been thinking about most.”

Windham’s mouth opened, and then closed, and then his cheeks went red as he glared at their redheaded friend.

Heath merely continued smiling, triumph shining on his face; it wasn’t often that he got such a good one-up after all, and he owed Win for his last loss at their cards.

“How come we’ve not been invited to yours, Justin?” Joe pouted then, clearly trying to take the focus from himself and Windham for the moment, “I mean, what’s so special about those two?” he jokingly sneered at Cody and Ted. Ted looked amused and Cody gave a playful haughty look back.

“It’s not a party,” Justin pointed out immediately, “And they’re only coming because I asked Wade… It’s just the weekend. I’ll invite you lot next time.” Though Wade’s house was large (and despite what Wade told him Justin would _always_ consider it Wade’s house) he didn’t want to overdo it by having too many people over at once. The staff got extra work that way and though they never complained he felt guilty anyway.

“That better be a promise,” Joe said, squinting his eyes slightly as he looked at Justin.

“It is. I promise I’ll invite you over at some point. Maybe over our summer holiday.” He then turned to Cody and Ted. “You _have_ asked your parents if it’s ok, right?” he asked.

“I asked them, but I haven’t actually gotten the reply back,” Cody told him. “But I can’t imagine them having any issue with it. I mean, you’ve been over to my house before and they seemed to adore you, and knowing that you live with the headmaster, of course they’ll say yes.”

“Yeah, same here. But like Cody said, I’m sure my parents will say yes,” Ted said, agreeing with Cody.

“So, when you do invite us, will it be the three of us?” Joe asked. 

“I suppose. Unless you want to come individually?” he said with a slightly questioning tone. 

The three looked at one another and Windham answered, “As a group is fine by us, if that’s fine by you.”

“Well, I’ll have to run it past Wade, but I think he’ll be ok with it. I mean, he seemed rather pleased to have Ted and Cody over,” he said with a shrug. For all he knew, Wade could insist that one time he invite the five of them over at once.

~~~

“Once or twice,” Mark responded in a glibly off-hand manner, “You’d be surprised just how many boys who sit there denouncing,” he mimicked a condemning, whiny tone, “-shirt-lifters and poofs have no problem having a cock up their arse.”

“That’s true,” Randy nodded and even John supported the point; they’d both had their fair share of those in the time being sexually active.

“Isn’t it weird though?” Chris asked, genuinely curious.

“How’d you mean?” if Mark was confused by the response he didn’t show it, merely waited for Chris’ explanation.

“I mean having so many people involved, is it just indiscriminate and you can do whatever you wish to whomever?”

“Pretty much,” the other acknowledged but held up a finger, “But you still reserve your right to reject an advance if you don’t want what is offered.”

Chris still looked somewhat unsure and Mark didn’t blame him; when he’d been first drawn into one he’d been a little bit weary too.

“As long as they’re all attractive and well-endowed I don’t see myself protesting too much at all.”

“Don’t worry,” Mark grinned, “Each participant would be worth your interest.”

“Looking forward to it already,” Randy returned.

Chris looked at John, an almost bemused expression on his face, “And that’s the love of your life?” he asked lowly, only joking of course in his questioning sort of tone.

Chuckling softly John nodded, “That he is, and he’ll always be that way.”

“Good luck with that John, you’ll need it.”

“Oh, I know, but… I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“So,” Chris paused a moment before going on and asking his question, “would you participate, too?”

“Well… yeah,” John answered. “There’s no way Randy would participate in an orgy without me.”

“Would you ever…?” Mark asked, looking to Chris.

“Me? I think… I couldn’t do that to Ev. I mean, he’s opened up a lot recently, but I don’t think he’d ever get to the point where he’d do something like that.”

“Then imagine you weren’t with him. Say it was you before you met him,” Mark said. 

“ _Before_ I met him? Well, before I met him, I’d been with about a handful of girls… all at different times,” he added. 

“There can be girls at orgies, you know,” Mark said with a grin. 

“Yeah, but still… I don’t know. How many people are there even involved?” Chris asked. The whole idea of it seemed so intimidating. 

“There can be a lot of people involved; the first time I was involved I was sixteen and there had to have been about ten people, all older than me, most of them seniors. Needless to say, I was scared shitless as to what would happen, but it was really quite a fun time and something I feel everyone should be involved with at least once.”

“I think I might have to respectfully decline,” Chris said and Randy clucked his tongue a little at him.

“Clearly my dear cousin is rubbing off on you, Chris.”

“Well,” John grinned wickedly, “If you think about it logically then Evan probably _is_ \--“he started.

“Don’t say it,” Chris warned, though his lips twitched.

“Shame, but the invitation’s always open if you do happen to change your mind. And that counts for Evan as well,” he’d heard he was unnervingly flexible.  
And he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t interested in seeing _just_ how flexible he was.

“Saves more for us,” Randy joked and Mark chuckled in response.

“Wouldn’t it be weird for you though?” Chris asked Randy and Randy tilted his head curiously, “Would what be weird for me?”

“Having Evan there in such a situation,” he clarified and Randy considered it for a moment before saying, “Well, no, it wouldn’t really.”

Seeing their curious looks he shrugged, “In case you’re forgetting I’ve seen him naked countless times since we were children and as long as neither of us are fucking each other there’s no problem.” A sweet smile followed his words, Chris and Mark both gaping slightly as John merely looked amused; he was used to Randy’s logic after all.

Chris tried to open his mouth to speak, but no words came out the first time. He attempted again and this time did manage to ask, “But what if… what if one person were to fuck you, then…” he paused as he struggled to even say this, “fucked Evan? Wouldn’t it be like… like you were actually fucking one another?”

“Not at all. We’re two different people. If someone fucked me, then went to Evan, all the more to him. Just so long as my dick and Evan’s ass don’t come into contact, I’d have no issues at all,” Randy told him, and his unwavering voice and appearance spoke of the truth.

“Really? That wouldn’t be strange at all?”

“Not really, no.”

“And it wouldn’t bother you actually watching your cousin having sex?”

“He’s old enough to make his own decisions. And I already know that he’s having sex and who he’s having it with,” he said, giving Chris a smirk. “So to watch him doing it? No, I wouldn’t have any issues with that.”

“So… so even if, say, John, were to fuck Evan…” he trailed off, this sounding even more ridiculous as he went on.

“That’d be his choice,” Randy replied. 

“Thank god then that this’ll never actually happen,” Chris muttered.

Randy shrugged. “I don’t know if you should discount it completely,” he said.

“Which part?” Chris asked then, “The orgy or the John-sleeping-with-Evan bit?” though he wanted to make a joke out of it his voice came out a little more suspiciously than he would have liked. What could he say? He was the possessive type when it came to Evan.

“Well, both,” Randy said and then chuckled when John sent him a pointed look that was almost unhappy, “I told you never to mention that,” he muttered and Randy nudged him. “Hey, if anyone should have been mad about that it was me, but I got over it so now you can get over it too,” he was smirking all the while.

“What? What?” Mark asked, very curious.

“A few years back, when we’d gotten a little tipsy during one of the grown-up parties,” he grinned, they had snuck quite the amount of booze that evening, “We were talking and John confessed that he would sleep with Evan.”

“I didn’t say I ever _would_ ,” John protested, “Just that if the opportunity arose under other circumstances then I may.”

He was a good looking boy and John could appreciate his charms.

Chris looked both amused and surprised, as though he never would have assumed John liked Evan. 

“Did that make you jealous?” Mark asked Randy with a grin on his face.

“A little, but not as an actual threat,” he said.

Neither would do that to him after all.

“So, now that that’s out in the open, how about you do like you said you’d do and not bring that up again,” John said. 

“But it’s such an amusing thought, isn’t it?” Randy asked. “Just imagine if you’d ended up with Evan instead of me.”

“There probably wouldn’t have been any fooling around with anyone else.”

“And you certainly wouldn’t have lost your virginity when you were thirteen,” Randy added. 

“This is true,” John had to agree. “I probably wouldn’t have even had my dick sucked by the time I was _sixteen_ … at least.”

Chris shook his head and rolled his eyes. “You’re making Evan out to be such a prude.”

Randy turned his head to his cousin’s lover and raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t know him when he was younger. And, well, you were the one to take his virginity and he’s seventeen. I’d say most boys here were about fifteen. How old were you?”

Chris shrugged and blushed a bit. “Fifteen,” he answered. “But that doesn’t make him a prude. He was just… scared. And waiting for the right person.”


	58. Chapter 58

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not ~ Oscar Wilde

“That’s because you’re so antisocial a lot of the time it’s unreal,” Joe told him, though he didn’t mean in unkindly.

In a way that had been understandable though; before meeting his friends Justin had been ousted because he ‘wasn’t white’ and because he was the son of the headmaster. In terms of general society he had had a few marks against him… and, well, he couldn’t be blamed for avoiding people.

“I suppose you’re right,” he nodded, recalling how he had been before his friends had come along and indulged him, wanted to get to know him and looked past those stigmas easily.

“So you’d best be getting some decent food and drink in,” Heath grinned and the group chuckled a little.

“I’m quite sure Wade likes the finer things in life,” Cody purred playfully.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just use your ‘seducing Ted’ voice to say that part Cody.”

Ted looked incredulously from Justin to Cody, and then their other friends, “He has a voice for _that_?” he asked and they all looked at him as though he was insane, arching a brow. “Ted, you know that voice that gets you hard as a rock?”

Ted choked, sputtering, but Joe continued, “That’s the voice that he uses most on you.” 

“Oh,” Ted managed to squeak out. He supposed that he’d noticed that voice before, sure, but, truth be told, he hadn’t really… _noticed_ it before. It was just Cody talking to him with a slight bit more of a ‘come on’ tone to it, that was all. 

Cody just rolled his eyes at everyone. “Well, I still say that it’s true. Isn’t it, Justin?”

Justin shrugged. “I guess. He likes his brandy. And the food is… better than what’s served here, but I… I don’t really know what’s… what’s finer, or not.” He knew about picking through garbage to find food, but he didn’t think that really counted, as no one in a normal family home would ever have to resort to that. Other than that, he knew what life was like with Wade.

“We’ll just have to be the judge of that, then,” Cody said, looking to Ted, then back to Justin. 

“I can’t wait to hear all about it,” Joe said. “I’ve heard my parents talking about going to Wade’s before, but now I’ll actually get to hear about it from you two.”

Windham nodded. His parents had also been to Wade’s several times, but the gatherings were for staff and their spouses only. No children. “Ya know, I bet if you’d asked Wade if you could have friends over the same night as his staff parties, we could have already visited your place before.”

“We’d all be stuck in my room, though. We couldn’t do anything, since other people would be all over the rest of the house, and who’d want to see a group of kids walking around?” Justin shook his head. “I don’t think that’d have been too enjoyable.”

“Well, what about his other parties? I know you’ve mentioned before that he’s had other parties.”

Justin blushed. “He hasn’t had another party like that in a while… and those gatherings for people outside the staff usually ended with him bringing someone to bed.”

“I would _love_ to see you put your foot down against that happening again,” Cody mused and Justin arched a brow, Cody shrugging slightly before elaborating, “In all the time I’ve known you I don’t think I’ve seen you genuinely angry.”

“Of course I get angry,” Justin said, brow furrowing, “I’m only human at the end of the day.”

“Sometimes I doubt that,” Cody grinned and Justin rolled his eyes slightly before sighing and quirking a slight smile; it was difficult to argue with Cody when he had one of his random thoughts, especially since he had the uncanny knack of making his logic to explain said thought absolutely flawless. So much so that even Ted and Justin couldn’t argue with it for too long.

“Do you know how many other people he had to bed before you?” Heath asked suddenly, ignoring the looks that he was sent from Ted and Windham that asked him quite pointedly if he had somehow taken leave of his senses out of nowhere.

“Not really… I don’t like thinking about it much,” he blushed slightly at his admittance but Cody nodded sagely; he’d be driven with jealousy if Ted had past partners.

“Still,” Heath clapped his shoulder firmly with a grin, “At least you’re benefitting from that experience.”

“Will you _please_ stop?” Justin groaned, though he still had that slight smile playing around his lips that showed he wasn’t as mad as he would have them believing.

“We need to get going,” Ted said then injecting himself into the conversation with one of his looks that had the others commenting that he should consider taking up teaching when they finished school even though they were all well aware that he was taking over his part of the family business.

“Shame… I would be curious if it was me,” Joe found himself saying, Heath nodding agreement.

“Why would you want to know something like that?” Justin asked.

“Well, I know how many people Win’s been with,” Joe answered, to which Windham and Justin rolled their eyes. 

“I think that’s a little different,” Justin said.

“You mean because Wade’s far older and more worldly and has possibly had hundreds of bed partners even _before_ he took you in?” Joe asked.

Justin and Ted scrunched up their noses. “Something like that,” Justin muttered. “I really just don’t want to think about it, ok?”

Joe smirked. “I bet the first thing you’re gonna do the next time you see Wade is ask him how many partners he’s had.” Heath shook his head along, agreeing. 

“I’m not talking about this anymore,” Justin said, speeding up his walk so he was the first to arrive in his next class before any of his friends.

Ted then stepped into the role that Justin had left. “Was that really necessary? He obviously doesn’t want to know, so why keep pestering him about it?”

Joe then raised an eyebrow at him. “I bet you don’t know how many people Cody’s been with, either.”

“What? He’s only been with me,” Ted told him quietly, worried that people in the hall might overhear.

“I mean how many other dicks he sucked before he got around to sucking yours,” Joe said, just before slipping around the door and into his next class. Heath walked right past Ted, who was now standing stock still in the hall.

Since he’d been busily rehearsing his lines for that evening’s practice in his head Cody was distracted enough to walk right into Ted’s back as he remained in place.

Stumbling, he geared himself up to give the person who almost caused him an injury a tongue-lashing, but when he saw who it was he stopped.

“Teddy?” Cody tried, and the blonde didn’t react, almost as though he couldn’t even hear him. Cody tried again, shaking him a bit.

This time the blonde stirred though he still had the oddest expression on his face; as though he didn’t know whether he wanted to go into a rage of be sick.

“What’s the matter with you?” Cody asked, beyond concerned; maybe he had caught some sort of bug?

The prospect of Ted catching a cold and ending up like his poor nephew was enough to send Cody into a panic.

Before he could get started on it though Ted’s hand suddenly enveloped his and the blonde tugged his startled lover down the hallway with him.

“Teddy—Teddy!” Cody had no idea what was going on; Ted was like a man possessed and he _never_ skipped classes, and Cody should know: he had tried to get him to play truant with him on more than one occasion only to be told no.

Pushing open the door of an unused classroom Ted quickly pushed Cody inside and then closed the door.

“Theodore DiBiase! What the hell are you playing—“ Cody started angrily.

“How many, Cody?” Ted’s voice was eerily calm. 

Cody looked completely confused. “How many what? What the hell are you talking about right now?” he asked. 

“How many people were you with before me?”

“Umm… I think you know that. I’d never slept with anyone—”

“I don’t mean that, Cody. How many others were there?” Ted wanted to know, Joe’s little comment getting the better of him. 

“Why does that even matter? I’ve only ever slept with you; that should be what’s important!” he said. 

“It’s not, though. It’s not the only thing that matters. How many others have there been? How many other dicks have you sucked?”

Cody was highly taken aback by those words coming out of Ted’s mouth. “I don’t know,” he answered.

“So it’s been that many that you don’t know?”

“Goddammit, Ted, haven’t we been over this before? It shouldn’t matter! Those other guys never meant a damn thing to me! And why does this all of a sudden matter to you now? It never mattered when I told you ages ago I got my first blow job.”

“But it _did_ matter!” Ted told him. “I never… I always…” he paused and restarted for a third time, “I always wanted that to be me. But you only just recently seemed to take a look at me like that… only after you ran around with some number of guys that you don’t even remember.”

~~~

“And was that your ego I could hear swelling up there?” Mark grinned at Chris and Randy smirked suddenly, wickedly.

“Are you _sure_ it was his _ego_ you could hear swelling? Because I have the feeling that it was actually something else.”

“You’re disgusting,” Chris blushed slightly and looked around as though expecting Evan to just appear at his shoulder to overhear.

“Really though, it is surprising. I mean, emotions aside there are lots of people that can be overwhelmed by their deepest urges,” it was the biggest cliché in the book after all, though most notably between men and women in those sorts of relationships.

“He’s clearly just someone who has strong beliefs about lovemaking,” Chris said, shrugging.

“Love-making?” Randy repeated, eying Chris, “I’m not sure you’re such a good influence on him. Either that or he’s _too good_ of a good influence for you.”

“Not funny… Besides, if you hadn’t have met John when you did, known him as you did—“

Randy tilted his head as Chris added, “Would you have waited for him if that had been the case?”

“Waited for him? As in not fucking anyone else?” he asked and Chris nodded. “I doubt it. Of course, it depends on when we would have met… it’s really hard to say.”

John had to agree. “It is hard to say. If we were still young when we met, if it’d been when we were teenagers instead of kids, then maybe we would have waited for each other.”

“Yeah, maybe.” 

“But even when we were younger, we had older students, uh, showing us the ropes, if you know what I mean...” John added. 

Randy nodded. “Yeah, if we’d only met this year? I’m sure I’d have fucked someone. I’ve certainly had offers, so it wouldn’t be unlikely. But that’s not how it happened, so there’s no way to know for sure.”

Chris could understand them. There were many times when he wished that he knew Evan sooner. Maybe then, if he’d come to England a few years ago instead, Evan would have been his first, not just his first man. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” 

“Having some regrets?” John asked as they began readying to leave lunch and Chris sighed slightly, looking as though he wasn’t sure how to phrase what he was thinking right then.

“I guess I just feel a bit _guilty_ you know? Evan was my first man but not my first partner… and I sort of wish I could have given him the same level of commitment.”

“I don’t think he minds too much,” Randy said, “It’s kind of something expected after all… not many boys have his level of self-control,” he didn’t sound as mocking as he normally would because he respected Evan’s ability to hold back on his urges.

“It doesn’t really matter that you didn’t wait then,” John told him reassuringly, “What matters is that you commit right to him now.”

“You’re probably right.”

“Can’t say I’ve ever been too good at that whole commitment thing,” he admitted and then added, “But it’s not as though I’ve had someone inspiring me to try it before now either,” maybe that would change.

“Well, if there’s anyone to be completely committed to, it’s Evan,” Randy said. “When he does something, he puts his all into it.”

“I learned that in a very short amount of time,” Chris told him. “But I wouldn’t have him any other way… and I couldn’t imagine not being one hundred percent faithful to him.”

“That’s good,” Randy said. “Because if you ever do anything to him, I will kill you.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t think you’ll need to worry about committing murder anytime soon. I really do love him… so much that if I could, I would go back and he’d be my first and only partner.”

“I think Randy knows that already,” John said, then gave him a quick wink. “He’s not serious about trying to scare you off; he’s a big softy who thinks you’re great for Evan to have.”

Randy rolled his eyes. “Stop giving away all my secrets, John.” He then glanced to Mark and said, “Especially not in front of the new kid.”

Mark snorted, standing up with the rest of the table to go head off to their next classes. He then leaned over to Randy and whispered, “I didn’t think there was any part of you that was _soft_.”

“Are you two talking about what I think you’re talking about?” John asked, having overheard Mark’s comment. 

“I’d say it seems like you already know the answer to your own question,” Randy replied. “And I really do think we need to discuss a bit more about what we were talking about before… you know, about an encore performance.”

“Now’s not really the time, Randy,” John said.

“After dinner, then?”

“And here you talk about me being totally loyal and committed to my partner,” Chris said to them.

“We are a totally different case,” Randy said without a moment’s pause, causing Chris’ brow to furrow somewhat in obvious query, “And how is that precisely?” he didn’t get it.

“Simple really,” Randy said and Chris had the bizarre thought that for a moment he was going to do as the fictional hero Sherlock Holmes did and, ‘Elementary my dear Watson!’ him. It was a strange moment.

“—as John and I have been together so long and experienced other partners since we were together it’s not the same standard as to be considered unfaithfulness between us two.”

“Sounds to me like you’re just justifying it to yourself,” Chris said, still not understanding what Randy was getting at. Randy shrugged.

“I know at the end of the day John will always be back to me, and I him,” he then lowered his voice, looking almost embarrassed as well as staunchly smug, “And I know he’ll never love another like he loves me,” he nodded firmly.

It seemed to make at least a _little_ more sense to Chris then because he nodded, slowly, and said, “So that’s why you’re so confident?”

“Of course. And by contrast you and Evan couldn’t do that. Not only would I seriously maim you should you play my cousin, and I mean maim at the very least, Evan would never be able to be casual.”

“Casual? You mean have casual relationships right?”

“Correct. Even if you gave him permission whilst you were together he’d never do it, and he’d be hurt if you did.”

“You’ve never been hurt by John going off with someone else?” Chris had to admit Randy’s logic was fascinating if nothing else.

“Of course not,” Randy replied.

Though Chris was sure he heard him mutter, “Though I do question his taste in other men sometimes.”

“What was that?” Chris asked as they walked into the classroom.

“Nothing,” Randy said, giving Chris a little smile. It was true, though, he’d never minded that John was with other men, but there always seemed to be men who wanted more than what John was willing to offer. That Frenchman Dupree being one of them. He had to be somewhat thankful he only saw him every now and again.

John soon followed in with Mark. They were still missing Evan, though. He would need to be checked on soon, just to make sure that he was still doing ok. They all figured that he’d be doing fine, but that didn’t make them any less concerned.

“I’m checking on Evan after,” Chris said to Randy as they began taking their things out of their bags.

Randy nodded. “Good. Let me know how he’s doing… and when he’s completely ok, let me slap him and tell him not to make me worry like that again.”

Chris now gave Randy a little smile. It was nice to see this side of Randy. He truly cared about the ones he loved most. “I will.” They didn’t have the next class together, but the one after that they did have, so Randy would have to wait a little while before he got an update, but so long as he got one, that was what really mattered.

~~~

“I have _never_ wanted to hit you as much as I do now,” Cody said, voice shaking with barely suppressed anger, startling Ted.

Before the blonde could think to comment though Cody was walking away from him—as though he didn’t trust himself to stand close.

“Only _just_ looked at you? So many I can’t count? Thanks for making me sound like a complete whore, Ted!”

“But that wasn’t—“ Ted started, mouth slamming shut when Cody sent him a dangerous look.

“Just how _fucking oblivious_ are you, Theodore?”

Ted winced and fell back a step, his own anger rapidly dissipating in the face of Cody’s own slowly growing rage. Something told him he had stepped over a line, and though he still felt entitled to his own anger, and to know how many other boys Cody had experienced, he’d gone about it wrong.

Opening his mouth, Ted willed his voice to sound, but nothing came out so he closed it again after a moment.

“In case you’ve _completely_ forgotten _you_ have been playing straight until recently and you always acted so _disgusted_ by the prospect of fooling around outside of marriage with anyone--- what the hell did you expect me to think exactly?” he snapped.

“You’re _blaming me_ for your running around with other boys?” he stared.

“Not entirely, but you are responsible for the start.” 

Ted stood there, stunned. “You’re saying that it’s because of _me_ you started fooling around with other boys?”

“Well, it’s not like you’d do it with me!” Cody exclaimed. “Do you remember when I first asked you if I could just see your cock? And you told me no?”

“Of course I remember that,” Ted replied. “But I was _twelve_! And you were eleven... I didn’t know what business it was of yours to be looking at my cock back then.”

“And that’s your problem. I obviously wanted _something_ to do with you back then, so don’t you dare say I never looked at you until recently.”

“Well, I didn’t want anything to do with anyone at twelve, male or female. You can say all you want that I’ve been playing straight for all this time, but… I always knew deep down that it was you that I wanted, no one else.”

Cody raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed. “Right. Because that explains why you always said that people should wait until they’re married… or why you never actually said anything to me about not wanting me to mess around with other people.”

Ted really didn’t know what to say. He knew that Cody had a point. “I guess I just wasn’t ready to do anything like that… with anyone… not even you… so I just let you be.”

Huffing Cody moved and grabbed his bag from where he had placed in onto a table, “And because of that you think you have the right to have a go at me about a past I have been _completely honest_ with you over?”

When Ted made no response Cody snorted softly and reached into his pocket, pulling out a cigarette and lighter, much to Ted’s surprise and immediate annoyance, “Cody…”

“I’m not going to smoke it in here,” Cody dismissed him immediately, tucking the items into his chest pocket, “I’m going for one outside.” No sense in trying to go to class now since they’d already missed about a third of it thanks to their chat.

Not even thinking about what he was going to do Ted moved to Cody, quick, sportsman hands shooting into the other’s pocket and removing the items.

“Hey!” Cody protested, outraged, trying to snatch them back, “That isn’t mine!” it was Joe’s spare lighter he’d borrowed.

“Don’t care,” Ted said tartly and Cody faltered a little then; he could count on one hand how many times he’d heard Ted use _that_ tone of voice, especially towards him of all people.

Ted hesitated then before squaring his jaw, snapping the cigarette in half (much to Cody’s horror) and pocketing the lighter, “Did you like any of them better than me?”

“Come again?” Cody asked, still very much in shock from what was happening. 

“I asked you if you liked any of them better than me.”

“No!”

“You don’t have to lie. Like you said, you’ve been completely open and honest about your past,” Ted told him.

Cody rolled his eyes. “Look, some of them had more experience than you, but that doesn’t mean I like them any better or worse. Now can I please have Joe’s lighter back?”

“You didn’t really answer my question.”

“Yeah, I did,” Cody said, now more annoyed than before. “How many times do I need to tell you that I love you and not any of those others? Even when you’re being a stupid dick like you are right now.”

“Just because you love me doesn’t mean that you didn’t enjoy being with one of them more.”

“On an emotional level, I’ve never had anything like what I have with you.”

“But on a physical level? Are you saying that you have had better?”

“I never said that,” Cody told him. “Now give me the goddamn lighter so I can go have a smoke.”

“No… You told me before that you’d want to be with Orton and Cena, too. Just for fun… does that mean that I’m not enough for you physically?”

“Argh!” Cody buried his hands into his hair in frustration, doubling over a moment before straightening up and dropping his hands, then moving towards Ted determinedly.

Hands going to Ted’s shoulders he shook the other lightly, “Theodore, try to hear me, OK?” he requested firmly.

Ted looked mildly suspicious and confused but nodded.

Cody exhaled, and then drew in another breath, holding it as he considered how to get across to Ted what he meant; as an actor making things up to say himself wasn’t a strong suit, yet he had no script here.

“Just because I am attracted to Orton and Cena doesn’t mean you’re not enough for me physically. It’s nothing to do with that,” he stated pointedly.

As Ted was opening his mouth, undoubtedly, as always, to offer some sort of protest, a thought occurred to Cody.

A sudden look of annoyance crossed over his face again and Ted tensed.

“You’re attracted to Cena,” Cody said then, a statement of fact, nothing less.

“I don’t—“ Ted started.

“Yes you do—and you don’t see me having a fit and accusing you of not thinking me enough!”

Ted’s mouth opened, and then closed a slight scowl forming on his face.

He couldn’t lie to Cody; he already knew that.

“I wouldn’t want to sleep with him, though. It’s just… I can’t really help that attraction,” he said softly.

“So you really wouldn’t do anything with him, even if he wanted to do something with you?” Cody asked.

“He doesn’t want to do anything with me.”

“But he _does_!” Cody told him. “I saw how he was looking at you and touching you at your tryouts… and Orton practically told me in exact words that Cena wants you. Would you really pass up the chance to fuck Cena just because you love me?”

“I…”

“I told you before that I would love to watch that happen,” Cody said. “If you want to do it, I wouldn’t stop you.”

“I just don’t know, Cody. I love you, and I love being with you. How would we know that doing goodness knows what with Cena and Orton wouldn’t push us apart?”

“Look at them. They’re still so in love with one another and yet they’re with other people all the time. And they want to be with _us_.”

“Just because it works for them doesn’t mean it will work for us.”

Cody shook his head side to side and rolled his eyes. “You’re thinking about things too much. If you stop thinking and just _do_ , then maybe you’d realize just how incredible it’d be to see you and Cena fuck. Or me and Orton… or Cena…”

Ted brought his fingers to his temple, massaging it as he could feel a rather powerful headache building. It didn’t help that he knew he had brought it upon himself by challenging Cody as he had done regarding his past sexual experiences again.

“I don’t-”

“Don’t even think of telling me again that you’re not interested Ted because we both know it’s a big stinking lie.”

Ted sighed, shoulders slumping, “It’s probably not worth going back to class by this point is it?” he asked.

“You’re not running away from this, Ted,” Cody said flatly and Ted resisted the urge to whine or/and roll his eyes at the other’s attitude.

“I’m _not_ trying to run away from anything.”

“Oh really?” when Cody arched his brow as he did Ted knew that the other was going to go ‘in for the kill’ as his uncle referred to it. Apparently his wife did it _a lot_ and it was just best to agree with her and appease her for she’d soon forget.

He wondered if that same tactic would work in that instance with Cody.

“Then say it,” Cody challenged, Ted looking blank almost the second the words left the ravenette’s mouth. Cody rolled his eyes and huffed out an irritated breath.

“Say that you’re attracted to Cena,” Cody repeated, “And to Orton, and we can leave. We’re not going until you do.” 

Ted’s expression instantly morphed into one of disbelief. His mouth was hanging open. “I… I’ve already…” He trailed off, turning his back to Cody, taking a few steps further into the classroom.

“Is it really that difficult Teddy?” Cody asked to Ted’s back.

“It was hard enough for me to tell you that I was attracted to you!” Ted replied. “And I’ve already told you before that I’m… that I’m attracted to Cena,” he muttered.

“You have… and I suppose I can give you that one. Now, what about Orton?” Cody prompted. 

Ted paused, sitting on a desk, head turned towards Cody. He couldn’t deny that Orton was attractive. “I… I do think he’s good looking,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean that I like the idea of someone else’s hands on you… or, you know, someone else being… _inside you_ ,” he whispered. “I don’t like the thought of that at all.”

“I do like how possessive you are, Teddy,” Cody told him. “But you know it’s not like we’d have much time to act on this attraction towards Cena and Orton. They’ll be graduating at the end of the school year…”

“You really want to be with them, don’t you?” Ted asked, still really unsure about his own feelings.

Cody sighed, moving over to where Ted was sitting. The blonde’s cheeks flared up a little in a blush when Cody smartly parted his thighs and stepped between them so he was leaning into Ted, eyes on his.

“Yes,” he finally said, “I do,” Ted found himself wincing at the pointed admission, but before he could get too caught up in it Cody suddenly reached a hand out and cupped his cheek tenderly, “But I wouldn’t go behind your back about it, and I wouldn’t want to do anything without you there,” and he meant it. He wanted Ted part of it.

“I sure as sugar like to think you wouldn’t either,” Ted said a little numbly, Cody’s proximity always slowing his mind down.

“Of course I wouldn’t. I told you: I want to see _you_ with them as much as I want you to see me with them,” he then sighed, face gaining that sort of closed expression that denoted he was thinking quite deeply about something.

Though loathe to interrupt Ted mumbled, “Cody?” after a moment.

“I want to sleep with one of them at least,” Cody said and Ted winced again, “But if it’s the sex part that bothers you… What about if it was something else?” he asked.

For a moment Ted didn’t know what to think; were they really going to negotiate on _this_?

~~~

Chris was impatient for class to finish, wanting more than ever to go and make sure that Evan was OK. Had it been anyone else he would have been concerned, certainly, but he was sure that it wouldn’t have been such a gut-wrenching concern as it was when Evan was the one he was concerned about. It was a unique feeling.

And not an overly pleasant one he wanted to experience often either.

“I’ll let you know next lesson how he is,” Chris offered to Randy as he packed his things up and Randy nodded, clapping a hand onto Chris’ shoulder lightly before he headed off with Mark and John, John splitting off soon to go to his class.

As he was making his way towards his and Evan’s room though the very object of his thoughts was stood outside of it, locking up after himself, and Chris almost fell over in surprise; he had been half expecting that Evan would be asleep still, or at least resting. He had not been expecting that he’d be walking around like this.

“Evan?” he queried, wondering for a moment whether his eyes were somehow playing tricks on him somehow.

Evan turned though and dropped his head sheepishly; he had been hoping that he wouldn’t run into Chris later when he could apologise for his mess up.

“Ev?” Chris said again, this time reaching a hand out, placing it underneath Evan’s chin and lifting the young man’s head up towards him. 

Evan allowed Chris to move his head, but he still looked incredibly embarrassed. “I’m so sorry, Chris,” he said. 

“Hey, don’t worry about. You’re ok, that’s what matters.” He then developed a more serious expression. “But, for the love of god, don’t ever do anything like that again. Randy’s threatening to kill you for doing something so stupid.”

“I didn’t _mean_ to do anything stupid,” Evan mumbled. “I didn’t think I’d be that badly affected. Did I miss a lot in classes?” he asked in his best attempt to change the subject.

“Nothing you won’t be able to catch up on,” Chris told him. He then looked at Evan square in the eyes. “But I hope you know that I agree with Randy and I don’t ever want you to make me worry like that again. I think you’ve made half the hairs on my head go grey in the past week alone.”

“If it helps you make grey hair look good,” Evan tried to joke but his smile slid when he saw how genuine Chris’ unhappiness was right then.

Bowing his head again he mumbled, “I promise not to do anything stupid again,” though even as he said it he knew he’d be hard put upon to know _everything_ that could potentially end up like this situation, just like he hadn’t known this time.

“Good,” Chris nodded his head and then dropped his satchel to pull Evan into his arms properly, Evan dropping his own bag in surprise, hands resting automatically on Chris’ chest.

“Chris!” a mildly panicked look appeared on Evan’s face as he looked around the hallway but they were completely alone; everyone else was already in class. “We’re fine,” Chris dismissed without even turning, letting his fingers gently slide through Evan’s soft dark hair to cup the back of his skull.

The wince was only minor, automatic, so Chris supposed at least that the medication had done its job for him.

“You had me so worried, Ev,” Chris whispered as he leaned his forehead to rest against Evan’s. 

“You didn’t have to be. I just got a little sleepy, that’s all.”

“And if I hadn’t been there, you could have passed out in the hallway,” Chris reminded him. “That was the most frightening part,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” Evan told him. “I didn’t mean to worry you like that, you know that.”

“I know. But… just don’t do that to me again,” Chris said before pressing his lips to Evan’s. “Now let’s go to class. You are ok to go to class, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I feel better now. Much better,” he assured Chris. “Let’s go.”

“Ok.” As they walked, Chris said, “Randy really is pretty pissed off.”

Evan cringed. “Is he?”

“Yeah, that threat about slapping some sense into you? I think it might have actually been real.”

“Oh,” Evan managed to squeak out. “I guess I’ll have to talk to him soon, then.”

“Or avoid him,” Chris suggested.

“That might just make things worse,” Evan said, praying he didn’t have another headache coming on. 

“Don’t worry so much,” Chris commanded softly, already recognising the look Evan was getting on his face.

“I’m not,” Evan responded but they both knew he was lying.

As they walked to class together a small part of Evan felt like he should be annoyed everyone was on his case… but he knew he’d been stupid as well.

So he’d just man up, apologise to his cousin and friends and they could move on from this episode.

“Was he really mad?” Evan asked a little meekly afterwards and Chris tilted his head, thinking, “He’s mad, yeah, but he’s more worried I think.”

“Oh dear…” Evan sighed and then stilled a moment, “Oh _no_ …” he pressed a hand to his head and sighed.

“Another headache?” Chris asked, concern and unease growing immediately.

“No, I just… I realised now how bad the timing of this has been, what Randy thought…”

Chris frowned, puzzled, “What are you talking about Ev?” he asked.

Evan’s walk slowed until he stopped, reaching for Chris’ hand, stilling the blonde too.

“This weekend it’s…” he stopped, tried again.

“It’s the anniversary of my parents’ deaths.”

“What?” Chris asked, taken completely aback. Obviously, he knew that Evan’s parents had died, but he had no idea that the anniversary was so close.

“Yeah, the date sort of snuck up on me this year,” Evan said.

“Oh, Evan, I’m so sorry,” Chris told him.

“It’s ok, Chris… it was all part of God’s plan.”

“That can’t possibly make it any easier,” Chris said.

“It helps a little…”

Chris wanted so badly to lean in and press a kiss to Evan’s lips, but he knew that with them being closer to the classes, there was a greater chance of being seen. Instead, he leaned in and whispered, “Tonight… I’m going to fuck you so hard that you forget about _everything_ … except for _my_ name, which you’ll be screaming into the pillow.”

Evan’s eyes grew wide when Chris pulled back and began walking towards their classroom again. He still hadn’t completely overcome his shock when he hurried along to meet up with his lover. “Do you mean that?”

“You’ll find out tonight.” 

The teacher didn’t seem overly surprised to see them late and Evan wondered if Randy had worked the HB charm and informed him of Evan’s ‘sickness.’

Glancing across the room he met his cousin’s eyes and ducked his head guiltily. The sad thing was Randy wasn’t exactly jumping to conclusions regarding Evan taking too many pain pills and the time of the year…

He had… had a hard time coping when his parents had first passed, and he’d done some things that he knew most would see as silly, but his auntie and uncle and other grown-ups would probably pack him off to a doctor or an asylum (Evan shivered at the mere thought even though the classroom was warm) should they find out about some of the activities.

Randy turned his attention back to the front, but Evan knew that wasn’t it.

The second the bell rang to signal the end of class...

Randy would want to talk.

Underneath the cover of the table Chris squeezed Evan’s knee.

As class progressed a thought came to Chris that he felt terrible for not having before then:

He should ask Evan if he could accompany him the next time he visited his parents’ graves, to pay their respects.

Chris tucked that thought away, though, for when they were alone together later. He knew that Randy would want to speak to Evan right when the bell rang. And it was only a few minutes later that the bell did ring.

Randy was out of his seat and by Evan’s side before his cousin had even packed his books away. “I think we need to talk.”

With a sigh, Evan stood up, giving Randy a little nod. As they walked out of the room, he said, “There’s really not much to talk about, though.”

“Do you know how worried I was about you?” Randy asked, speaking as though Evan hadn’t said anything. 

“Randy. I had a headache. I took some pain medicine, which turned out to be too much. I didn’t know that would happen,” he tried to explain.

“After everything you’ve done in the past, Ev… how could I not be worried?”

“I… to be completely honest, it wasn’t until I woke back up that I realized how close it was to the anniversary. It’s been years since I’ve done anything like that intentionally, you know that.”

John and Chris were both trying to listen to their conversation without blatantly listening in on the conversation. But both of them had to look at Evan at that comment. Had Evan hurt himself intentionally when his parents died? Not even John had known about that, and Randy told him everything about his family.

Evan’s cheeks coloured a little as he noticed the looks that John and Chris were sending him; he may not have told Chris but he was somewhat surprised that John apparently didn’t know, because he told Randy _everything_.

Randy’s lips were still pursed in displeasure and Evan knew that as of yet he hadn’t entirely convinced the other it had been a mere lapse in judgment.

Drawing Randy down a slight alcove in the hallway, John and Chris at the entrance sort of ensuring their privacy but undoubtedly listening all the same.

“Why would I want to hurt myself _now_ Randy?” Evan asked, a hand resting on his cousin’s arm as he held his eyes seriously.

“I’m, _so_ sorry I worried you all, I promise I would never have done it if I had known that that would happen.”

“I don’t want to _ever_ see you like you were last time,” Randy mumbled, John and Chris almost missing the words, “Not even close. Not ever again,” his words resonate in the small space. Evan bowed his head then, guilt flooding through him. Last time there had been talk of sending him to an asylum, though briefly.

Auntie and Uncle had put their proverbial feet down on the doctor’s recommendation though and insisted he remained at home in their care. If they heard that this had happened, although accidental…

Evan felt tears starting, a little panicked, “Please Randy, please don’t tell them.”


	59. Chapter 59

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect ~ Oscar Wilde

“So… what? Do you think I’d be ok if you were to _just_ suck them off? If you were to _only_ have their dicks down your throat?” Ted asked him.

“You know, it’d probably do you a whole hell of a lot of good if _you_ got _your_ dick sucked by one of them,” Cody replied. “Because then you’d know what I’m talking about.”

Ted continued to look utterly confused. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“I mean if you let someone else other than me touch you, then you’d know for sure just how much you love me,” Cody told him.

“Cody. The thought of another man having his hands on you the way that I have… it makes my stomach twist into a knot,” he explained. “I never thought that I’d ever actually… make love to you. I thought in my life I’d sleep with one person, that being my wife. But now that I have made love to you, I just can’t imagine someone else doing any of those things to you. It’s something so special to me.”

Cody sighed. That was Ted’s problem. He’d never been with anyone but Cody, he’d never been able to experience the hand or mouth of someone that wasn’t the one person he loved above all else, whereas Cody had been and knew how good it could feel to change things up every once in a while, so long as he could always go back to Ted. “It’s special to me, too. There’s no better feeling in the world than coming due to your touch. But Teddy, you should let yourself live a little bit before settling down.”

“You say it like I have the option of when and whom I settle down with,” Ted mumbled, and it did pain him that he and Cody could never be together in the way he and a girl would be.

Cody arched a brow, “Teddy, you know your parents will give you some sort of choice which woman they set you up with. If I had my way though…” he paused.

“If you had your way?” Ted asked, momentarily distracted from their previous conversation.

Cody rolled his eyes, “I would be expecting that I would have your family ring on my finger the second we had graduated, Ted.”

Sighing, Cody rested his face against Ted’s neck from where they stood, the blonde tensing slightly in surprise and then easing up slightly to wrap an arm around Cody’s shoulders. “You’re going to be so restrained when we graduate Teddy,” Cody knew their parents were respectively considering prospective brides for them the moment they graduated, possibly before, “I want you to have some freedom.”

“Even freedom from you?” Ted asked, because that was sort of how he was seeing it. He loved Cody and wanted to remain faithful to him, and it was hard for Ted to believe Cody valued their relationship as much as he did when he wanted to be ‘open’ like this. Cody snorted, “Of course not. If you think I’m letting you go, even when you’re married, you’ve got it completely wrong. But that’s the problem Teddy; what I’m suggesting isn’t permanent, just something fun we can do together,” he insisted.

When Ted didn’t say anything, Cody went on, “Now that we’ve been together, I couldn’t imagine fooling around with anyone without you right there with me. It’d be fun. Think about it… you and me bringing someone else to completion _together_. Not only would it be enjoyable for them, it’d be enjoyable for us.”

“But… I never thought of myself touching another boy like that,” Ted muttered.

“Maybe it’s time to start,” Cody said. “Like I just said, it’s nothing permanent. It’s not forever. The only forever I’m looking for is with you. And the same goes for Cena and Orton. They’re certainly not looking for anything permanent. They’re just looking for a little bit of fun.”

“I don’t know, Cody.”

That was when Cody knew that Ted’s resolve was breaking. That wasn’t a flat out no like it’d been before. “And you’ll never know until you try. And they _want_ to fool around with us. It doesn’t have to be anything too much at first, obviously we don’t have to jump into bed with them right off the bat, but… you could let one of them touch you… stroke your cock a little.”

“Cody…”

“Teddy. Don’t live your life regretting _not_ doing this. Don’t spend time thinking about ‘what if.’ Just… try it. I’ll be there right with you.”

“What? Getting your own dick sucked by Orton?”

“Possibly. But I’d be watching you and I already know I’d get enjoyment out of seeing pleasure on your face.”

Still Ted hesitated and Cody looked slightly rueful, “You really don’t know how attractive you are in the throes of ecstasy Teddy. And I think I’d really like seeing you enjoying yourself,” especially since on both sides they would (or should) know that there was no threat from the temporary partner to the other partner as he’d said.

“Wouldn’t you get jealous?” Ted asked, unsure how he felt about the thought.

“Of course I would, silly.”

“But you want to see it anyway?”

“Of course… you’re really thinking too hard Teddy. Look, let’s just do it this way OK? We try it, one time, and if at _any_ point you don’t like what’s happening we’ll stop everything. I mean it, I’ll stop, whatever I’m doing at the same time as what you’re doing. Finished.”

_Well, that was a reassuring sort of thought at least._

Silence descended between them again but Cody was already readying himself for victory; he recognised that look growing over Ted’s face slowly.

“Alright—“ Ted started, not sounding altogether too happy about it even so, “We can try—but—!” he cut in just as Cody went to give him a very large kiss of delight, “The _second_ I say I’m not comfortable you’d better stop.” Cody found it slightly amusing that Ted would dislike what he would experience enough to stop, but he knew he owed his lover the reassurance he was seeking.

“I promise, the _second_ you say that something’s wrong I’ll stop whatever’s happening,” Cody recited sweetly. 

“You’d better,” Ted muttered, unable to believe that he actually _agreed_ to such a thing.

“I swear it to you, Teddy. Now we just need to let Orton and Cena know,” Cody said with a shit eating grin on his face. 

“You look far too happy about it.”

“Well, I am excited. This is huge for us. You and I will be sharing something between us with other people.”

Once more, a look of reluctance crossed Ted’s face. “I just… I don’t want to share what’s between us with other people.”

“I do appreciate that you’re going to give it a try, then,” Cody said to him. “But I do think you’ll enjoy yourself more than you think you will. It _will_ be different to feel another man’s hands on you, but that doesn’t mean it will be any less pleasurable.”

Ted took a deep breath. He did want to make Cody happy and this seemed to be what would make Cody happy, so he was going to try it. Just once. “One time only, Cody, that’s it.”

“Unless you find that you did enjoy it and want more?” Cody questioned, finding it terribly adorable when Ted’s face grew bright red. “Do you think you’d ever fuck one of them?”

“ _What_?! No!” Ted protested. 

Cody was still grinning, however. “I’ll ask you that again after we fool around with them the first time and we’ll see if your answer changes.”

“Sometimes you make it hard for me to remember why I’ve never put you across my knee,” Ted muttered.

“Mhm, kinky… I didn’t know you had it in you Teddy,” Cody smirked, seeing Ted’s cheeks immediately turning bright red.

Of course he knew what Ted was referring to, but even then Cody couldn’t honestly say being spanked by Ted would be a bad thing.

“You--!” Ted sputtered as he huffed at him.

Moving forward Cody allowed his lips to brush over Ted’s ear and then started nibbling the lobe. For a moment he thought that Ted was going to be too keyed up to respond to him, but then he heard the little catch of breath that meant he was getting to him.

“I _really_ appreciate you giving this a go for me Teddy, you’re the best,” he all but purred.

“Somehow I’m doubting that right now.”

Rolling his eyes with fond exasperation Cody then wound his hand around Ted’s tie as he pressed closer into the other, his free hand settling in Ted’s hair, “Let me thank you, Teddy.”

Before Ted could respond Cody was leaning up and pressing their lips together, not even hesitating as he pushed his tongue through the surprised blonde’s lips to enter his mouth.

It was really hard to stay mad when Cody kissed him, because each kiss was like Cody was making love to his very mouth with his wicked tongue.

When Cody pulled back, Ted let out a slight whimper, missing that tongue and those soft lips instantly. Cody continued with the kisses, though, pressing them all over Ted’s face, down his jaw and neck, all while he was undoing Ted’s belt.

It wasn’t until Ted felt Cody’s hand upon his cock that he even realized the younger teen had been undoing his trousers. He gasped when Cody wrapped those long fingers around him, and Cody said, “I said I was going to thank you.” With one more kiss to the lips, Cody then sank down to his knees in front of Ted right there in the empty classroom. 

“Cody… you’re going to… here?” he asked.

“There’s no time like the present,” Cody answered. His hand was still pumping Ted’s cock, feeling him twitching as he grew harder under his palm. He knew that they were limited on time. This class may be empty this period, but there were no guarantees that it would be empty for the next. While he didn’t want to rush things, he knew they had to make it fairly quick. Not like Ted could ever last all that long when he was in Cody’s mouth, though, so he didn’t think it’d be much of a problem.

He wasted no time in opening his mouth, taking Ted all the way down. A choked sound escaped from Ted’s lips as the tip of his cock struck the back of Cody’s throat. It didn’t matter that Cody had done this close to every day since they began their relationship, it still felt _unbelievably good_.

~~~

“Don’t worry. I won’t say a word,” Randy assured him, seeing visible relief on Evan’s face. “Just don’t fucking do it again.”

“I won’t! Randy, it was an accident. You probably would have been fine if you took two,” Evan said. “But given my size… it just put me to sleep. I didn’t know that it would do that! I swear.”

Randy placed a hand on Evan’s shoulder. “I believe you. It _is_ a logical thing to do to take pain medication when you’ve got, well, pain.”

“Thank you,” Evan said in a breath. “You have to know that I’m in a good place right now.” He looked to Chris and smiled. “A really good place. I wouldn’t do anything to risk that.”

“I know, Ev.” The bell then rang, and none of them were anywhere near their next class. “Dammit,” he muttered. “I guess we need to get moving.”

“I’ve been late to class far too many times this semester,” Evan mumbled.

“Well, it’s a good thing your cousin’s Head Boy, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to get yourself talked out of those late appearances,” Randy told him. “Oh, and this conversation? It’s continuing after class,” he said before stepping through the doorway, turning on his charm for the teacher.

Needless to say class passed much too quickly for Evan, and it barely seemed like five minutes since he’d taken his seat when the bell was ringing to signal the end of the lesson.

Shouldering his bag Evan sighed as he noticed that Randy had already packed up and was waiting for him by the door with John, Chris having lingered behind to wait for him to go.

“I, um, guess you heard some of what we said earlier…?” he asked a little tentatively; he’d never wanted Chris to find out that episode in his life.

In retrospect he was embarrassed and ashamed of what he had done both for his parents’ memories and for his immortal soul’s state should he have done it.

“I heard a little,” Chris conceded and Evan felt his heart swell slightly that Chris didn’t seem intent on pushing for an explanation.

But Evan knew he owed one, and since Randy wasn’t going to let it go soon...

“We can take dinner up to mine and John’s room this evening,” Randy told him, “So just come straight there after your last class, understood? We’ll handle the rest.” Their charm and rapport with the dinner-ladies certainly came in handy. Evan sighed and nodded, relieved Randy was smiling again at least.

“Good. Now you better get to class before you’re late again,” Randy said. He and Chris headed off in one direction while Evan and John headed off the other way. 

Now apart from his lover, John had a chance to talk to Evan. “I’ve never seen him look so worried before.”

“He looked mighty worried when you had your accident,” Evan reminded him.

“And I couldn’t actually see him then. But you’re his family, Ev. You’re like a brother to him and he doesn’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I know. But I already said a million times over that I didn’t mean for anything to happen this time.”

“But there have been times before?” John asked delicately. He knew that it must be a difficult time in his life to talk about. Adolescence was a difficult enough time, so John couldn’t imagine what it’d have been like to lose his parents during that time. 

“Yeah, there have been,” Evan admitted. There was no point denying it now that it was out there. “Those days are long behind me now, though. Never again. I thought it was the best thing to do at the time, but now that I’m here, living this life that I’m living… I couldn’t imagine not being here… not having Chris in my life or having Randy and you as my closest friends… I can hardly believe I nearly threw all that away.”

“Don’t do it again aye?” John lightly tapped the side of his cheek with his finger and then chuckled, “Otherwise I think Chris and Randy’ll both take you over their knees.”

“John!” Evan tried to sound firm but he broke into some giggles, feeling more relieved than he would have expected to have the other segueing so neatly.

“Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” John grinned, pleased to see Evan smiling again; he hadn’t been so serious in so long, and now he understood in total what it was that had been keeping the young man under such heavy clouds at one time or another.

“I don’t even want to know. Please, I’ve told you before: you two share too much.”

The pair’s conversation ended when they reached class, and Evan was beginning to feel more at ease now.

John watched the other during class though, wondering whether any lingering pain or negative thoughts plagued Evan.

He seemed fine though and was even participating in the lesson the way he always would by the time they were halfway through, although John noticed the teacher was just a teeny bit lenient if Evan lost his train of thought a moment; clearly word had been spread that the top student had been having an off-day and they were making slight but kindly concessions. John wondered if the influence of Randy as a relative held there too.

When the bell rang, John met back up with Evan. “You look like you’re doing better.”

“Well, I feel a lot more awake than I did before,” Evan replied. “And I don’t have that headache like I did earlier in the day.”

“You know, you were probably pushing too much and too fast after you knocked yourself on the head,” John said. “You were up and about instead of resting like you should have been while you were recovering.”

“I didn’t want to miss anymore classes. Between the injury and my trip away…” he trailed off when he saw the look John was giving him.

“And look at where not wanting to miss classes got you. You still missed class and while in this one you may have been participating, have you been focusing in all the other classes you attended today?”

Evan frowned. “Not really… I know I should have stayed in bed longer when I got my concussion, but… I didn’t… and now I guess it’s biting me in the arse. I didn’t know it’d be like this, though,” he said. “I thought that I’d be fine.”

“Well, next time you’re sick or if you ever do whack your head again, promise me that you’ll just take it easy for a bit?”

“I promise. Now, I guess we should go to Randy’s room?”

~~~

When Ted’s fingers wound into his hair Cody moaned around him, knowing the vibrations would drive his lover close to crazy and he knew he was right when he felt the way Ted’s thighs quivered from where they rested either side of him. The blonde really had no idea how sexy he was but hopefully he’d open his eyes a bit more before long.

Not to say that Cody wanted Ted to realise that he could probably find some boy better than him (not that his ego allowed him to believe such a thing exists) but to realise that he didn’t need to be so moral and uptight about everything.

“Oh—Cody---“ Ted shuddered, biting his lip.

Knowing the signs of Ted’s body by now Cody doubled his efforts, hollowing his cheeks as he took Ted into his mouth as deeply as he could go, rolling the other’s balls around in his hands as he did so. Ted groaned, growled almost, and then shuddered and jerked, spilling himself down into his welcoming throat.

Pulling off slowly when he was sure Ted was finished Cody swallowed and then lovingly tucked Ted back into his pants. The blonde looked as though he had been struck by a heavy object, dazed and breathing hard. Cody preened as he straightened, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand and then dusting off his knees. As Cody gathered their bags Ted snapped back to himself, realising that he was the only one who had gotten something from their moment. Cody cut him off though, “You can make it up to me later.”

“Oh… ok,” Ted replied meekly. “Are… are you sure?”

“Positive. We’ll just make sure that Justin’s out of the room for a bit… or we could wait until he’s sleeping and we could see how quiet we could be while you fuck me,” Cody suggested.

“ _What_ ” Ted asked, hating that his voice squeaked a little.

“Judging by that reaction, I’d say you heard me perfectly well. It’d be fun, Teddy,” he said with a grin on his face. “A bit of an… experiment…”

“An experiment that could end up with Justin seeing us! What if he wakes up and _hears us_?”

“And what if he does?”

“Then he’ll know that we’re… having sex!”

“He already knows that we’re having sex, Teddy. I’m sure, sooner or later, he’s expecting it to happen while he’s in the room,” Cody replied.

“Well… I think that’s a little rude. Why should we be able to be together while he’s not able to be with Wade? It just seems like it’d be rubbing it in his face that you and I could do that anywhere we wanted, while he has to sneak around to see Wade.”

“You’re just saying that now because you don’t want Justin to see us.”

“Well of course I don’t!” Ted protested. That first occasion where someone had been spying on them still lingered in his subconscious and he quelled it down firmly, frowning at Cody.

_Who had the cheek to roll his eyes at him._

One of these days, Ted vowed silently to himself in his head, he was going to take Cody over his knee and spank that impertinence right out of him.

_If only temporarily anyway._

“Are you coming?” Cody’s voice broke through his wickedly black, exciting thoughts.

“I said are you coming because if you want us to make our next class we need to get going now,” he arched a brow at his lover, at the door.

Grabbing his bag Ted quickly crossed the room to follow him out.

“We’re not finished talking about this by the way,” Cody pointed out and Ted sent him a pointed look; the bell had just rung and people were slowly but steadily beginning to fill the previously silent hallway again, “Yes we are Cody. I told you, no way.”

“I bet that I can change your mind,” he responded confidently; he knew what Ted liked best after all.

“You keep thinking what you like,” Ted dismissed him. 

“I will,” Cody replied. “You should know by now that I can be _very_ persuasive when I want to be.”

“Cody, don’t you feel as though that’s invading someone’s personal space?” The three of them shared a room, and if the roles were changed and it was Justin and Cody in the relationship, he couldn’t even begin to think how mortified he’d be if they were to have sex while he was still in the room.

“You worry too much,” was all Cody said in response. “And would you look at that, we made it to class on time.”

They headed in, Justin giving Ted a confused look, while Windham did the same to Cody. “Where were you?” they both asked at the same time. Ted was supposed to be in Justin’s history class, Cody in Windham’s English class. 

“We were busy,” Cody answered for them both. He then smirked a little and added, “I don’t think any further details can actually be discussed.”

The three teens glanced to Ted who had turned a very bright shade of red. “Really?” Justin shook his head as he turned back to Cody. “You skipped class to fuck?” he asked Cody in a whisper so no one else could hear.

Cody replied in the same low voice, “We didn’t _fuck_. Not yet, anyway.”

“ _Yet_?” Justin repeated and then sighed as he leveled Cody with a look that was eerily similar to the one Wade gave students when he knew full well that they weren’t being entirely truthful to him, a sort of amused and mildly exasperated look that never failed to have them spilling the truth.

Cody returned back one of his most innocent looks and Justin outright rolled his eyes in response then.

“Is that code for you want me out of the room tonight?” he didn’t want to impose upon Windham and the others again and he knew there was little chance he could get to Wade… he’d have to sleep in the common room most likely.

“No!” Cody insisted, and then lowered his voice hastily as it looked as though they had attracted the teacher’s attention, “I’m not saying that.”

Justin’s eyes narrowed, “How can you not have had sex yet, but not want me out of the room later on, Cody?”

Just as Cody was attempting to form an excuse that would be plausible to his over-intelligent friend the teacher called them to attention and he sent up a silent cheer of victory; with any luck Justin would forget by the end of class.

Ted meanwhile was keeping his head down, trying to keep focused on his work.

Justin, though focused on his own work, thought that Ted was paying _far_ too much attention to the class work for the duration of the class period. He figured it had something to do with what Cody was talking about earlier before their professor had so rudely interrupted their conversation. 

When the bell rang, signaling the class, Cody was quick to pack up his things to try and get out and get to his next class before Justin could catch up with him. He didn’t have such luck. “I do hope you’ll explain it to me, Cody,” Justin said before he’d even taken three steps towards the door.

Cody sighed and replied, “Wait til we’re out the door.” At least he’d gotten sufficient time to think should Justin continue to ask about the comment he’d made. Ted had lingered behind, hoping to not become a part of the conversation, but wasn’t too successful. They were waiting for him right outside the door. Once Ted was with them, Cody continued, “I never said that we’d actually be _in_ the room.”

“Oh?” Justin looked amused. “Like you’d ever actually convince Ted to take you elsewhere.”

“He had me in his dressing room, incase you forgot,” Cody whispered to him. He then went on, “And did I tell you about the time I sucked Ted off in a classroom?”

“You what?” Justin asked, wide eyed, which had Ted wondering just what Cody had told him.

Cody stopped whispering and said, “Oh, right, because that just happened before this class.”

It was then that Ted knew what Cody had said to Justin.

“Are you sure a career in the theatre is what you’re best suited to Cody?” Justin asked when he had recovered from his shock and for a moment Cody was so stunned he couldn’t speak. He then flung his arms around Justin’s neck and pretended to sniffle into his shoulder, “Oh, my boy’s growing up!” It was a rarity for Justin to be bitchy although he was mostly unfailingly honest to his friends and peers.

It was one of the reasons why many, aside from the snideness towards him and Wade, why people targeted him so much. But it was because it was such an unfaultable trait that people faulted him; poor thing just couldn’t win. Ted shook his head, uncomfortably loosening the silk cravat at his neck.

It may just be a friend but Cody’s openness with their sexual activities was still awkward for him… especially when he thought back to the agreement that had gained him such treatment in the first place. His stomach knotted most uncomfortably and for a moment things seemed to blur at the edges.

“—shocked he’d even let you get that far,” the words cut through his thinking, bringing Ted back to the moment in question, finding Justin looking at him pointedly.

“What?” he asked somewhat dumbly and Cody snickered.

“I was just saying how I can’t believe you’d sanction Cody doing something so open to you.”

“Oh, it wasn’t just a gimme,” Cody smirked and Ted sent him a suddenly dark look to shush.

“Why do I have the feeling that I don’t want to know what you mean by that?” Justin sighed.

“Because you probably don’t,” Ted muttered.

“But we all know that you probably _really do_ ,” Cody added. “It’s never easy at the start, but I do usually convince Ted to let loose eventually.”

“Do you really need to talk about this now?” Ted asked. He hated that he got so embarrassed talking about such things, even when they weren’t being discussed in public. But they were currently being discussed in public, so he thought that gave him some right to try and put an end to such conversation.

“You know what? Just leave me out of this,” Justin said. “I stick to what I said before: I don’t want to know. Even though you’ll probably tell me everything later anyway,” he added to Cody.

“Most likely,” he agreed. 

“Why do you need to tell everyone about us?” Ted asked him, still blushing.

“I don’t tell everyone. Just our friends. And I do it because I like talking about you and I want them to know that you’re mine,” he said leaning in close so no one else could hear. “And that I’m yours.”

“Oh.”

“Besides, if they can tall about the things they do in all the sordid details, so can I,” he added with a little grin.

~~~

“We probably should,” John agreed, knowing that for all Randy was pretty lax when it came to his own promptness unless it matter he was always bothered when other people were even a minute late when meeting him.

“I guess you’ll be visiting them soon, huh?” John asked, not wanting to linger on the conversation topic but knowing that visiting his parents was Evan’s previous way of really coping with it all.

Of course, now he had Chris he might be able to let that demon in his past go, just enough, to be able to move on with his life properly.

It wasn’t a question of forgetting, it was a questioning of living on for the deceased ones.

“I think so, probably over Christmas when we head home so I—“ he trailed off as John spoke with him, “-don’t miss any more classes.”

Grinning sheepishly Evan nodded his head, “Yeah… Right.”

When they reached Randy’s room John merely opened the door and went in, finding Chris and Randy waiting already for them.

Finding himself being pulled into Chris’ arms Evan smiled shyly and flushed a little as his cheek was kissed, glancing to see John and Randy sharing a kiss of greeting. “Come on Randy,” he told his cousin, “Let’s get this over with.”

“You make it sound as though you’re about to march off to the slaughter house,” Randy said. “All I want is for us to have some dinner,” he went on, which is when Evan noticed that there was a decent spread of food on a few plates on Randy’s bed (wondering just when Randy had gotten it, figuring that he probably left class early using his Head Boy privileges, “and for you to talk.”

Evan felt Chris hold him just that much tighter, but he pulled out of Chris’ grip, much to the surprise of the other three men in the room. “Sorry, I just… I thought talking might be easier over here,” he finished lamely as he leaned against a wall, looking at his cousin, his cousin’s lover and his own lover. He took a deep breath and began, “Well, Randy knows everything… but I guess it’s time that you know it, too.”

Randy and John sat upon Randy’s bed, John picking at the food. Chris sat on the chair at Randy’s desk, giving Evan his full attention. Gripping John’s hand, Randy gave his cousin a little nod, encouraging him to continue.

“My parents died when I was thirteen years old. One day they were here and the next… they were taken from me. I never even had a chance to say goodbye to them. I know when you first met me, I was always so happy, but it wasn’t always like that. Far from it. When I was informed that I’d suddenly become an orphan, I was sad, so unbelievably sad. But then I grew angry as I realized that I’d never see them again. They were taken from me, never saw me grow up, graduate from school, get married... all the things that a parent should see of their children. Turns out that being depressed and angry at the same time leads to bad things. Only bad things can come of those bad feelings,” Evan told them. “In the eyes of God, suicide is a sin… but I didn’t care. It didn’t stop me from trying to take my own life.”

Even though the allusions had been kind of clear up to that point hearing it spoke aloud had a profound effect upon the men in the room. Randy sighed heavily and looked down, John was rendered speechless for once and Chris had gasped before paling. Evan gave something that was supposed to be a laugh, but the sound was much too bitter and filled with self-loathing in truth.

“I know, me, a devout follower, was ready to disregard the Almighty and send my soul to hell, if only to escape this world…” he sighed and then glanced at Randy, “A doctor managed to stop me after auntie and uncle found me. He wanted to put me in an asylum but they refused. I don’t like to think about what may have happened to me if they had taken his advice. Thanks to them I began to live again.”

“Oh Evan…” Chris’ heart was breaking for his beautiful broken angel, feeling awful that he had never noticed the other’s sadness even though he had paid almost obsessive attention to him from the moment he had first laid eyes on him.

“You helped me too,” Evan smiled softly then, addressing Chris, “But I ran away from you at first. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help it. Just when I was getting myself back onto some normal track you came along and confused everything,” he didn’t sound angry but Chris certainly felt a little guilty. “And John, you never hesitated to welcome me into things, to occupy my time and to also be my friend. At first I know you did it for Randy—“ John had the grace to blush but Evan merely smiled, “But now I know you really mean it when you say we’re friends. I’m sorry if I frightened you all but I wasn’t trying to hurt myself this time. My head just really hurt and I didn’t consider the way that increasing the dosage of my medication might affect me, I only wanted the headache to go away…” he trailed off. “I’m sorry,” he repeated weakly.

“I know, Ev,” Chris told him. Once more, he moved closer to his lover, and this time he stayed in his embrace. “Thank you for telling me.”

“It was time,” Evan replied, embracing Chris back. “For you and John both.” He looked around Chris to his cousin and added, “And thank you for not telling anyone, not even John. That must have been hard for you.”

Randy nodded. “When it was all happening, I wanted someone to talk to about it that wasn’t just Mum and Dad. But all I told him was that my Auntie and Uncle passed away and that you were coming to live with us. Even though I’m sure I could have trusted you with it, it wasn’t my place to talk about it.”

“I know,” John told him. “I can admire that about you.”

“So, now that it’s out there… can we eat now?” Evan asked. Reliving that part of his life took a lot out of him emotionally as it just brought back so many horrid memories. A little food and some time talking about other things would hopefully make him feel a bit better.

“Help yourself. John has already,” Randy replied. “The dinner ladies were quite generous tonight… I told them that some friends of mine and I were having a study party in my room.”

“You are _such_ a little liar, Orton,” John teased. “How you ever got made Head Boy is still beyond me.”

“It’s because I’m fucking fantastic and ol’ Wade was smart enough to realise it. And there wasn’t a teacher in this school who argued with him.”

“I dare you to call him ol’ to his face,” John smirked and toasted Randy with a nearby drink that he decided to tax as his own, Randy arching a brow back as though considering the challenge. “I’d do it after Justin’s been to see him,” he compromised and John snickered a little, admonishing, “You big poof.”

“See if you call me that later when you’re taking my cock up your— “ Randy started but Evan cut across them both, confusion etched all over his face. “Justin? Little Justin Gabriel?” Chris couldn’t help but quirk a slight smile then, “I dunno if you’re in a position to judge.”

Swatting Chris’ arm lightly Evan addressed his cousin again, “Why would you need to wait until he’s been to see him before calling him old?” he repeated and John and Randy exchanged a grin before their eyes widened.

“Wait—“ John stared at Evan slightly, “You mean you don’t know?”

“Don’t know what?” Evan was beginning to get frustrated, and it was only the fact that Chris didn’t seem to entirely know what they were on about either that had him keeping his cool.

“Wade and Justin are lovers. As in, have been, and are, actively fucking, every time they get a chance to,” Randy shrugged.

Evan’s eyes grew wide. Chris not so much as he didn’t exactly know Justin _that_ well, or know the full extent of their story. Until Evan said, “What? Isn’t Wade practically like Justin’s father?!” 

“He is?” Chris asked, this time his own facial expression was one of confusion.

“Not biologically,” Randy answered. “When Justin was little, his parents came here from Africa. Well, they didn’t have anywhere to go and ended up on the streets… no one’s really sure what happened to Justin’s parents, if they had to flee from England for some reason or another, or if they were forced back to Africa… either way, Justin was left behind and had to grow up on the streets. I don’t know exactly how old he was when it happened, but Wade found him one day and something about him made him want to take the little boy in. At first he was living in the servants’ quarters to be trained by them to, well, be a servant. Eventually, Wade decided to begin teaching him and soon discovered how smart he was. And so Justin came here… it was years after that that they became lovers, though.”

“How long have they been lovers?” Chris asked.

Randy looked to John, who shrugged. “I don’t know exactly,” Randy answered honestly. “I just know that they’re lovers now. Though it’s been rumoured around the school since Justin was about fourteen.”

Evan looked shocked. “Rumours have been going around for that long about them? How have I not heard them?”

Randy grinned. “Rumours have been going around about John and me for even longer and you’d never heard those either… and those ones were true. I don’t think Wade and Justin have been together for that long,” he said. “Maybe a year or so.”

“Good lord,” Evan breathed, eyes wide as he stared across at his cousin and John.

“What?” John asked curiously, “Surely you can’t be condemning them for it?” Evan wasn’t a hypocrite by nature, not intentionally at least, and if he said something about Justin and Wade being lovers...

“Of course not!” Evan looked almost hurt for a moment before exhaling a small breath and rubbing the back of his head, Chris noticing that he seemed to have subconsciously chosen the spot wherein he had banged his head when he had fallen out of the bath before, “I was just… I mean, he’s his father figure, and Justin’s just a boy and…” clearly he had difficulty in choosing the way to express himself without crossing some sort of boundary that was established from the other relationships he interacted with. “They love each other,” Randy shrugged and Chris had to admit given all that he had heard about Randy he was shocked that he wasn’t blasé or dismissive of love as a sentiment, “And they’re careful. Besides, it’s not as though Wade gives him special attention is it?” he asked then.

Slowly, Evan shook his head; he had never seen Wade singling Justin out for special favours in school because of his connections to him, and he vaguely recalled at least once that he had been impressed by the fairness of Wade’s integrity at the time.

“I guess… that’s really kind of sweet,” Chris nodded.

“I always thought so,” John laughed, “We think we interrupted something the other day—we went in and Justin had a book upside down and Wade was looking distinctly edgy. I thought he might kick us out.”

Randy chuckled too at the nostalgic moment, popping a piece of bread into his mouth as he broke it from the entire slice.

“Justin had his book upside down?” Evan asked, looking amused, grabbing some food of his own. “Yes, I’d say that you did interrupt something. Is it really… wise though? I mean to be doing things of that nature at school? Considering Justin _is_ still a student.”

“Like I said, they love each other. When you see the two of them together, it’s clear to see,” Randy replied. “I think it’s great that Justin’s found someone. You hear too often stories of orphans growing up on the streets knowing nothing about love, girls ending up pregnant or dead, the boys turning violent… Wade did a great thing and I think they both found something unexpected.”

“You know, it’s really sweet hearing you talking about love,” Evan told him. 

“Well,” Randy began, smiling at John, “I do know a thing or two about it.”

Chris snorted, causing them all to look at him. “Sorry, it’s just amusing that one minute you go from talking about how you’d partake in an orgy to the next minute talking about true love.” 

“You’d do _what_?” Evan asked, mouth gaping.

“It was just something that we got discussing with Mark,” Randy said with a shrug, ripping himself some more bread. 

“This Mark guy just seems to be nothing but trouble… and how was Chris a part of this?”

“Mark is fun,” Randy told him. “He’s not tied down to anyone and he wants to have a good time. And you’ll be happy to know that Chris turned down any future orgy invitations.”

“ _You_ were invited?” Evan stared, and had Chris not understood where his lover was coming from he might have teased him by acting affronted by the fact that Evan could have appeared to be insinuating that he wouldn’t acquire invites to such activities for whatever reason.

“Well, sort of,” the Canadian shrugged, not seeing an issue since he’d refused.

Evan pouted slightly and Randy grinned, “It’s so cute when he gets jealous.”

“Don’t call me cute, Randy!” Evan tried not to whine; Randy knew that he had hated being called cute ever since they were children thanks to his inadequacies over his stature and baby-faced looks.

“But it is. I mean, I’m impressed really; I’d never sanction him cheating on you, but the fact that he turned down even the experience being given to him once just to say he had… I’m impressed.” Chris mocked a bow but although they were merely larking around each piece of praise he received from Randy concerning his and Evan’s relationship meant a lot to him for many reasons.

Now more than ever Chris understood just what a precious jewel Evan was, and how fortuitous he was to have gained his affections, let alone had his own returned, and he wanted to keep him.

He wanted to protect him, to always keep him smiling and to provide him with anything and everything he may ever want.

Practically he knew it’d be hard, impossible, but in his mind he was allowed to imagine wasn’t he?

“He invited you along too Evan,” John added innocently.

“ _What_?!” Evan blurted out in his shock and surprise. Now that was something he never thought he’d hear. 

“It’s true. Randy said he’d have no issues with the both of you being there. Though he knew you’d never actually go,” John told him. 

“Oh, well… that’s good… because he’s right… I would never do that,” Evan said, highly embarrassed, unable to believe he was actually taking part in such a conversation. “But you really would?” he asked to John and Randy. “I mean, you’d have to see each other with… with other partners.”

“I just did that the other day,” John reminded him. “And it’s _not_ that bad. In fact, being able to just _watch_ Randy while getting fucked was… it was… stunning,” he said. 

“Ew,” Evan said, scrunching up his nose. 

Randy chuckled. “I told them that if I saw you having sex while at that orgy, I wouldn’t even blink twice.”

“But I’m your _cousin_! How could you be ok seeing that?” he asked.

“I may know people who have gone to orgies with siblings before. Besides, sex is perfectly natural and it’s not as though I don’t know you’re having it. So why should it matter if I saw it, or not?”

“As far as I’m concerned, my love life will be contained behind the door to Chris’ and my room and _not_ on display for the public eye.”

“Oh, dear cousin, you should try and spice things up just a little bit every once in a while. The bathroom’s only just a start,” Randy said with a wink. He did love getting Evan all wound up.


	60. Chapter 60

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible ~ Oscar Wilde

“But I don’t want _them_ to tell me either!” Ted groaned softly, sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. Immediately Cody clucked and pulled him to the side of the hallway, nimble and experienced fingers immediately setting about righting Ted’s hair without a second thought, oblivious to the few looks got.

Justin rolled his eyes slightly as he lingered waiting for them, although a small smile played at the corner of his lips; Cody might be a mouth piece but it was clear they loved one another truly and utterly.

The easy contact started a sharp pang of longing in his chest and for a moment Justin found himself actively lifting his hand to rub the spot to ease it.

_Wade._

“There,” Cody nodded and tugged Ted’s arm to get him walking again, the blonde still rather pink in the cheeks at the touch.

“Are you sure you won’t need me out of the room?”

“Yes!” Ted squeaked out.

Cody said nothing although the look he sent Justin had the younger man wondering whether it really would be better for him on numerous counts to sneak down to Wade’s office to sleep.

And he did just mean genuine sleep if Wade insisted on no ‘hanky-panky’ happening.

“I really don’t have any issue going elsewhere,” he told them. In fact, he could do with seeing Wade again. And even if they didn’t get up to anything, simply having his arms around him while they slept would be a comfort.

“You really don’t have to,” Cody insisted. Part of the fun of having Ted while Justin was in the room was the fact that Justin was actually _in_ the room. Though they could be a tad more vocal if he wasn’t there. And he’d of course never complain about having Ted at all, so if Justin did end up leaving, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Justin shrugged. “The more you talk about it, the more… the more I kind of _want_ to go and find, um, another bed to sleep in.”

Cody raised a brow, though he couldn’t say he was all that surprised. Now that he and Ted were fucking and Joe and Windham were together, it had to be even harder on Justin to be so close to Wade, yet so far away. “Like I said, you don’t have to… but if you want to, I won’t stop you.”

The whole time, Ted was a nice shade of red. Now Cody was giving Justin the ok to leave, which meant they really would have the whole room to themselves, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what that implied. For him and Cody _and_ Justin and Wade. “Let’s just get to class,” Justin then said. “We can talk about this after.” They only had this and one more class for the day before they were done.

Honestly Cody didn’t see what more they had to talk about regarding the matter but he nodded anyway, letting the other know he was up for carrying on as needed. Ted meanwhile mentally prayed that something, anything, distracted them. After the lesson he believed he had been granted some lenience; they had a lot of homework.

“It’s going to take forever to do all of this!” Cody bemoaned dramatically because he couldn’t even push it back a day so he and Ted could have all evening; he had a full first-act dress-rehearsal the following night after dinner.

“The sooner you get started on it the sooner it will be over,” Ted tried not to seem too pleased. It wasn’t as though he didn’t want to have intercourse with Cody again but he was guilty enough over chasing their friend out without Cody pretty much telling him what they were going to do.

Cody pouted, “Just because _you_ don’t struggle with it,” he muttered. Ted arched a brow slightly, “You don’t struggle with it Cody.”

“Yes I do!” Cody protested as Justin fell into step on his left as Ted stood on his right, “I struggle to concentrate because it’s so boring!” Shaking his head somewhat Justin leveled Cody with an amused half-smirk, “It’s a good job you already have a life plan that doesn’t involve academics,” he teased, playfully pinching Cody’s cheek, “You can be like all the other actresses and make a living modeling for postcards.”

“I would look good on a postcard, don’t you think?” Cody asked of the both of them. “I could pose with the best of them.”

Ted’s jaw had hit the floor. “You… I… you’re not modeling for anything!” he protested.

Cody pouted. “Teddy, don’t you think I can do it?”

“I never said that,” Ted muttered. “If anything… I think you’d be _too good_ at it,” he added.

“Please, Teddy, they can all look, but they can _never_ touch. But you’d probably rather have pictures of me that only you could look at, wouldn’t you?” he asked. 

Ted could feel his face flushing. “I’d rather not talk about that right now,” he said. “Let’s just go to class.” It was their final one before they’d be able to chat a bit more freely as they ate dinner. 

“You’re no fun,” Cody said as Ted stopped by the classroom door, wishing he could give him a quick kiss before he headed off to his own class. “I’ll meet you in our usual spot?”

Ted nodded and quirked a little smile. “Yup.” He headed into the classroom alone as Justin and Cody headed to their own. Just seconds later, Windham joined him.

Finally, what seemed like ages later, the classes finally came to an end. The six friends met up in the dining hall and as soon as they were all seated, Cody asked them all, “Do you think I could be a successful model?”

“Why do we have to stroke your ego?” Heath asked him.

“Yeah,” Joe spoke around a mouthful of Yorkshire Pudding that had Windham sending him a pointed look for his manners, but was pointedly ignored, “Ted not stroke it enough?”

“Ted strokes plenty for me, thank you,” Cody sniffed as Ted choked on his forkful of mashed potato, “But answer the question.”

Justin shrugged, “I suppose you would,” he was attractive and wasn’t all that shy at all.

“Justin—“ Ted groaned, leveling the other with a look of almost annoyance that Justin just shrugged at, “Why are you encouraging him on this stupid fancy he’s considering right now?”

“I’m surprised he’s never said anything about it before considering how vain he is,” Heath grinned.

Cody stuck his nose in the air as he speared a piece of carrot on the end of his fork, “If you looked as good as me you’d be vain as well,” he said with great dignity. Heath snorted, “Please, _you_ wish you looked like _me_.”

“Why the sudden interest in modeling anyway?” Windham asked; everyone knew what people said about actresses that posed for postcards that were sold to the public.

“Because Justin suggested that it would be a good career prospect for me and I have to say that I quite like the way he thinks,” lying there and having his picture taken for money sounded easy.

“Aren’t they all whores, though?” Heath asked. “I mean, those women that do get their pictures on the postcards.”

“You don’t know that they’re whores. They’re attractive young women who aren’t ashamed of their bodies. I just happen to be an attractive young man who’s not ashamed of my own looks. That doesn’t make me a whore.”

“I’d think you wouldn’t want anyone but Ted to look at your body now, though,” Windham added in his own two cents.

“Win, I have no issue with others seeing my body. I’m an actor, I _want_ people to look at me.”

“But don’t you think that’d make people to look at you in the _wrong_ way?” Heath asked, unable to resist taking a glace over at Ted, seeing him with his head resting on his arms upon the table.

“It doesn’t matter what people think of me. They can look at me whatever way they like. What matters is that I know how I am and that how Ted knows how I am,” Cody reasoned. 

That caused Ted to lift his head a little to look at Cody. He was actually being figured into this? “What do you mean?” he found himself asking.

“That the both of us know that I’m only a whore for _you_.”

“Cody!” Ted groaned and his head slammed down onto the table momentarily as he tried to hide how his face bloomed red, the rest of the group smirking somewhat at Cody’s boldness and Ted’s embarrassment.

“Considering he’s always been like this I’m surprised you can even _get_ embarrassed anymore Ted,” Windham mused.

Ted mumbled something that was unintelligible to the others, his head still down on the table-top.

“But seriously, do you think I could do it?” Cody asked after taking a moment to revel in the extreme responses he got from Ted.

None of them had actually said that he _couldn’t_ do it after all and now the idea was in his head Cody knew that he wouldn’t be getting rid of the urge so suddenly. He had always been proud of his looks, why not profit from them?

“Oh you could do it,” Joe smirked slightly as he watched Ted starting to sit up, “But I’m afraid any profits you made would be counterproductive, especially if you intend to share with Ted.”

Cody immediately looked suspicious and their other friends confused, “What do you mean?” Heath finally queried the other boy after a moment’s pause.

“Well, Ted’ll be the one buying all the postcards so no one else can.”

Ted found himself blushing yet again. "Aww, Teddy, you wouldn't let _anyone_ else see me on the postcards?"

"What would your family think?!" Ted asked him, not exactly denying that he would, indeed, be buying every last one of those postcards if he could help it.

"Well, they're pretty accepting of the fact that I'm involved in theatre. They'll come to the show and they'll see me dressed as a lady, kissing another boy." At that comment, Ted felt his jealously making itself known, but he tried to keep it under control. "I think they'd be pleased I'm making a living for myself," he ended with a shrug.

"Do you really think that they'll be completely ok with it?"

"I do," Cody answered. "Honestly, though, would you buy everything? Teddy, you can have me anytime you like, the real me, you don't _need_ pictures of me! Could you imagine if they were sent over to America?" Cody then asked, eyes now wide and far off as he daydreamed.

"Now that would expand your head so much I don't think you could fit though a door," Heath chimed in.

Cody let out a "hmph" and said "You just wish you were as good looking as me!"

~~~

“What’re you talking about?” Evan asked.

Momentarily Randy seemed to be considering whether to answer Evan or to tease him, but then he seemed to relent and answered honestly, “You can’t just restrict yourselves to the bathroom and the bedroom, although by your standards Ev a somewhat public bathroom was daring indeed.”

A slight frown marred Evan’s lips; he knew he wasn’t exactly experienced, but hearing Randy say it like that suddenly had him feeling rather worried: did Chris find him boring in bed?

“Where have you two gotten up to dirty deeds then?” Chris asked, seeing Evan was staring to flounder and hoping to save the moment.

Randy and John shared a laugh and significant look before John toasted the other couple, “Where _haven’t_ we?”

Chris looked bemused and slightly impressed as Randy began to tick places off on his long, capable fingers:

“The pitch, the changing room, Cole’s desk, in the bathroom, the broom cupboard—” if he was left to it he could probably name more places too.

“Oh my god…” Evan stared, “And you’ve had other partners with the other present? How can you do it?” he knew they had explained it over and over so his question was more for effect than genuine.

“We did it on the carpet of the study at home… that had to be one of my favourites.”

Stolen liquor had made them bold, but so had his parents being out for the night. At the time the staff had been preoccupied with Evan, and his little brother and sister, so Randy and John had been free to… play.

“You did _what_?! On the _carpet_?!” Evan sounded completely outraged.

“We had sex. On the carpet. In the study. At home,” Randy repeated. “We’ve done it on the couch at home, as well. Honestly, if you were to name a place, John and I have probably had sex there.”

Evan looked rather suspicious as he hesitantly said, “The dining room table?”

Randy’s eyes lit up, his grin one of sheer amusement. “That’s a good one, Ev. And, actually, we haven’t. Not at our house, anyway.”

“My parents were out and my brothers were away… we fucked in every inch of that house. Aside from my brothers’ rooms, though. I didn’t feel right doing that there.”

“Only your brothers’ rooms?” Chris asked. “How about your parents’ room?”

John and Randy at least had _some_ shame as they blushed a bit. “We’d just finished on the stairs and were going to back to my room when we just sort of, uh, ended up in there.”

“You haven’t… on Auntie and Uncle’s bed? Or _my bed_?” Evan asked. A lot of the time when Randy had John over, he’d hang around with them for a while until after dinner when he’d retire to his own room. But there’d been times when John was over and he was out with his Auntie.

“Never yours, no,” Randy answered. “You can christen your own bed,” he added with a wink.

“How gracious of you,” Evan muttered, cheeks scarlet. He still wasn’t too sure if he would have the courage to encourage that sort of behaviour in his Aunt and Uncles’ home when Chris stayed.

“Actually, I trust that you two will become somewhat more adventurous too,” he added and then looked to John, “Think we can manage my dining room table before we graduate John?”

“Don’t see why not if we get everyone out of the way for a bit,” he grinned.

“Good lord…” Evan murmured, shaking his head, “I’ve never known anyone as bold as you two are.” Something he was thankful of really; these two gave him stress aches.

“I told you before,” Randy said, “A change of scenery can do a world of wonders for your sex life,” he nodded, John mimicking him in tandem.

“I think I’ll stick to a bed thanks… _My_ bed,” Evan hastened to correct himself.

John grinned then and glanced at Chris who sent him a warning look when he noticed the gleam of mischievousness that was building in those usually bright blues. John happened to garner a small secret from Christian when he and the other Canadian had had a drink together once.

_That had been before Randy had come back and made his intentions known to him of course._

“Chris has always wanted to make love in one specific place within the home, can you guess where?”

“You have?” Evan asked, wondering how John knew that before he did… but then, given how he was just a few weeks ago, he supposed it made sense. “Where?”

Randy chuckled. “You never guessed.”

“Well… I don’t know! Where in a house aside from a bedroom would you want to make love in?”

“Are you saying that, if you owned your own home, you wouldn’t want to fuck _anywhere_ but your own bedroom?” Randy asked, unable to believe that. If he owned a house, he and John would _never_ have on clothing.

“I never thought about it before,” Evan answered. 

“Well, now’s your time to think about it,” John said.

“Umm… the, um, bathtub?” Evan asked rather weakly.

“Evan,” Randy began with a shake of his head, “you’re disappointing me. Use your imagination a little! Get creative! Like John and I have.”

“You two are filthy,” Evan muttered.

“And we know you secretly want to aspire to be like us,” Randy replied. “Now, come on, let’s have some more guesses.”

“I don’t know!” There were only so many rooms he could think of at the moment. “The… study? The kitchen? I’m really bad at this.”

“Well, the kitchen can be fun… Especially if you have one of those big ol’ tables but it’s not there.”

“Oh God… When did you two do it on the table?!”

“That’s not the issue under discussion here,” Randy prompted with a smirk, glancing at Chris who was still sitting silently, sheepish, “So keep guessing dearest cousin.”

“I don’t know what other rooms there are!”

“Yes you do, you’re just being lazy… Besides, when you get your own home you’ll want to Christen every room in the house so get thinking.”

“Uh—“ Evan floundered, looking to Chris for help automatically.

Chris grinned ruefully, “They’re really making a big deal out of it but it’s nothing special; I’ve just always wanted to make love in either the lounge, or in a conservatory.” And both because of their respective risk factors involved.

A conservatory was just glass, anyone outside could see, and everyone always had guests automatically shown into the lounge if they were expecting them...

Evan’s eyes widened, “But people would _see_ you!”

“I think that’s the point,” John laughed.

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea actually… John, doesn’t your family have something like a conservatory we could use?”

“We do, yes.” He turned to Chris and told him, “It has the loveliest view of the gardens. I honestly can’t believe we’ve never fucked there before,” John said then to Randy as he tried to contemplate just _why_ they’d never done such a thing before. 

“I know. We’ve never even really tried it there, either. See, even we’re still working on expanding our horizons,” he said to Evan. 

“Thank you, Chris, for giving them ideas.”

“Sorry,” he said with a shrug, though the smirk on his face said he wasn’t actually sorry at all. He’d wanted to do such a thing once he’d lost his virginity and truly learned what sex was all about. Though none of the girls he’d been with before had been anything particularly special, not at all like Evan, they did spark a sense of adventure in him. And, yes, getting Evan had been a challenge, keeping him even harder, but it was worth it. He knew that when Evan finally came out of his shell, the one that had been repressing him since childhood, he could fulfill all of his greatest sexual fantasies.

“You lie,” Evan muttered and Chris shrugged again.

“I’m not complaining about the new ideas,” Randy said. “I live for the thrill of things. And, well, I’d quite enjoy it if someone saw John and I in the middle of fucking. I mean, not just anyone,” he amended. He’d probably be kicked out if his father saw him. “But someone I know who either wouldn’t or couldn’t say anything about it.” Of course, they had no clue that they _had_ been seen (and highly enjoyed) just days prior by the two teens they were attempting to persuade into bed with them.

“You are both just perverts deep down right?”

“Evan, I hate to tell you this, but we’re all perverts deep down; it just depends on who draws you out and when for you to be able to say so.”

“I am _not_ a pervert!” Evan insisted, blushing darkly.

Chris sincerely hoped that that wasn’t the case and that over Christmas he would make some further progress in showing Evan that he was as sensual and adventurous as any other red-blooded man, but he had his work cut out for him and that he’d already known so it wasn’t a shock to him. As the two cousins fell into playful bickering John clapped Chris on the back and sent him what was supposed to be a reassuring look Chris was sure but mostly he just looked amused, “Good luck with him, Chris.”

“I’m quite sure I won’t need luck when it comes down to it but thanks for the support.” He then jokingly wrinkled his nose and pretended to cover his ears when John offered that he would advise him as best he could on tips and tricks if he wanted them.

“Can I ask a question?” Evan asked then and the humour of the prior situation died down almost immediately because they could tell that he was serious. Randy spread his hands slightly in invitation and Evan exhaled before rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. He glanced at Chris briefly and then looked back to Randy and John, “Aren’t you ever frightened that you’ll be taken away from one another eventually?” Whether it be physically if they were ever discovered or when their marriages were arranged and they had other obligations to consider than one another. “Doesn’t that scare you?”

"John and I nearly were," Randy said, speaking of John's family moving to India.

"But you weren't. And you weren't actually together then. Now you are and you've been together so long and--"

John was the one to cut him off. "This is because of your parents, isn't it?"

Evan nodded once, leaving his head hanging. "Yeah."

"Ev," Randy said, moving so he could pull his cousin into a hug. "You can't go around thinking that sort of thing. I know you were young when you lost your parents, but you _can't_ let that loss rule your life. You have to live each day to the fullest, take advantage of the life you have. And now you have Chris. You love each other and you'll have each other for as long as God sees fit. Just enjoy your time together. Don't worry about losing each other. No one would get very far in life if all they did was worry that they'd lose the ones closest to them. Look, I've thought about it," Randy said. "What if John goes to a different university than me? What if our future jobs separate us? But I won't let those thoughts of what if hold me back. That's no way to live."

Although that made sense to Evan he couldn’t deny that the prospect of losing Chris still frightened him. Actually, losing Chris frightened Evan, if possible, even more than the concept of accepting the attention and affections the other possessed towards him when he had been in the midst of his religious conflict. He looked up in time to see Randy brushing his lips tenderly over the scar that John had on his throat, John’s hand cupping the back of Randy’s neck in a subtle gesture that spoke volumes as he quirked a slight smile at Evan. “Life’s too short Ev, Randy’s right: enjoy it whilst you can and don’t over think it.” Chris reached over and laid a hand atop Evan’s, squeezing.

“You shouldn’t be worrying because I don’t intend to go anywhere anytime soon.”

That was probably a promise that fate wasn’t going to allow him to keep but Evan appreciated the fact he tried.

“Besides, when we have our own houses we’ll just have less chance of being caught together.”

“Randal for goodness’ sake is that _all_ you think about?”

~~~

“Well, whatever Cody decides to do with his modeling,” Justin said as their plates were cleared aside for dessert to be served, “He won’t be doing it until after graduation so Ted may have a chance to talk him out of it before then.” He pretended not to hear the whisper-snort of, “No chance,” that Joe let out as he wiped his mouth.

“Mhm,” Heath grinned as he saw the sweet treat they had that evening, sending Cody a sly look before saying, “Want me to take the sweets off your hands?”

Cody had a tendency to worry about what sweets would do to his figure, although he hadn’t a weakness for them like Ted did.

_Not that Cody minded; sweets were why Ted had the fantastic ass he did after all._

“No chance,” Cody said, taking a deliberately big bite of it.

Heath pouted and Windham looked amused, “He needs all the energy he can get clearly,” he joked lightly.

Justin was about to cut in but the sight of Wade entering the dining-hall distracted him, his smile slipping when he saw Wade looked slightly frazzled, as though he had just left a particularly uncomfortable situation. Maybe he shouldn’t go and try and stay the night with him if he didn’t appear to be in a good mood? Maybe he’d had to cane someone?

“Justin?” Cody said for the third time when the teen in question finally turned and looked at him. 

“What?”

“You look like you’re off in la-la land. Is everything ok? You were just fine, I thought,” Cody told him. At least he _thought_ Justin was fine. Maybe he’d been feeling under the weather and food just made him feel worse?

“Oh, um, no, it’s just… it’s Wade,” he answered. “He looks upset and I’m thinking maybe I shouldn’t try and spend the night.”

Joe let out a low cat whistle when he heard of the plans in the works. “Why not, though? I bet if anything could cheer him up, it’d be you,” he said.

“I don’t know, I just… I thought maybe he’d rather be alone,” Justin replied with a shrug.

“You know, for being so smart, you can be kinda stupid sometimes,” Joe told him. When he saw Justin appearing as though he were insulted, he went on to explain, “He’s upset, right? And you make him happy, right? Well, wouldn’t it just be logical that you should go see him and maybe try and talk to him and then, ya know, bend over for him? I think it sounds like a good plan, anyway.”

“You know, you lot actually give quite sound advice until you add on bits like that,” Justin said dryly.

“What better way to cheer him up though?” Heath asked him, “I mean, the thought alone beforehand would certainly cheer me up so I’ll bet the spontaneous visit would be even more welcomed by him if he is a bit down tonight.”

“Maybe…”

“If worse comes to worse,” Ted offered after a moment, “Then you could just come back to the room after seeing if he wants some company or not.” 

Justin was somewhat surprised; Ted didn’t often get too involved on directing him when it came to his relationship with Wade.

“Maybe you’re right,” Justin conceded. After all even if they didn’t do anything he couldn’t just leave the matter if he knew there was something that Wade might need someone to talk to even. Running a hand through his hair he glanced towards the staff table agitatedly, recognising Wade’s carefully crafted fake smile from a mile away. Something was definitely wrong with the other man.

_And he hadn’t the faintest idea what could rile him up to such a degree in honest truth._

"Does that mean you're going?" Cody asked. He certainly wouldn't complain about having the room to just him and Ted, but he really did want Ted inside him while Justin was still in the room. Well, at least this would give him some more time to work on Ted and wear him down to the point where he inevitably gave in.

"I think so," Justin said resolutely, nodding as he did so. There was something obviously wrong (obvious to him, anyway, he didn't know if the professors noticed anything) and he had to give Wade the opportunity to talk. Wade always listened to him when he needed to talk about whatever problems he was having; it only seemed fair that the reverse should be true, as well.

"Like you'd ever actually pass up the chance to talk to him," Heath teased lightly.

"Talk to him, or get laid?" Joe asked.

"Probably both," Cody answered. "Even if it was just a visit to talk, there's always the chance it could end up in him getting laid."

Justin blushed, but decided to speak for himself anyway. "This time I really am going to see him to talk. I have visited him from time to time where my sole intent was to get laid, but not this time... but if it happens, I won't stop it."

“If he’s in something of a bad mood you could be in for an interesting night,” Cody smirked slowly and Justin really wasn’t sure whether he wanted to know what was going through the devious mind of the actor before him. However, since he knew he’d just be told anyway, he asked wanly, “And just why is that Cody?”

“Because he’ll probably be all masterful and demanding…” he shivered and sent Ted a look, “I think you know exactly what I’m talking about,” Ted could get fantastically demanding of him when angered. Said blonde went beacon red and looked as though he was contemplating seeing whether it would be possible to drown himself in the jug holding their allotted drinks’ portion.

“That’s a little too much sharing Codes.”

“Like you all don’t want to know all of the sordid details Heath,” Cody scoffed in return.

“I’d eat up then Justin,” Joe said, toasting him lightly with his goblet, “You may need all of the energy you can get before the night is out.”

Rolling his eyes slightly Justin concentrated on his meal as best as he could although his stomach was suddenly knotted up something dreadful. And for once it wasn’t out of complete, unfettered anticipation to see Wade again soon.

"Are you just gonna head there after dinner, then?" Cody asked.

"I should probably go back to the room first. I need to make sure I have all my things so I can do some work incase I do wind up staying."

Cody rolled his eyes in his typical overdramatic way. "You're such a goody two shoes. Actually going to do work when going to visit your lover."

"I just want to be prepared."

"At least you're planning on spending the whole night... that's at least a little sign that you're not just an uppity little brainiac."

"Wait, what?" Justin asked. "Since when have I been uppity?"

"I never said that."

Justin just shook his head. He should know better than to question Cody, because his logic was never conventional. "Well, I don't even know if he's going to want to talk at all, but I don't want to risk not having what I need just incase."

"Well, if you do come back sooner than expected, make sure to knock on the door first."

"You're so crude," Justin muttered. He did hope he wouldn't be going back to the room that night. He wanted Wade to talk to him, to tell him what was wrong and trust him with whatever he felt was bringing him down.

After dinner Justin headed up to the dorm with his friends, making a beeline for his bedroom and then collecting up his satchel with his books and pens.

“For a moment there I had considered that you’d go without you know?”

“We’ve been over this Cody,” Justin muttered, shouldering the item.

“I was just saying,” he said innocently.

“Of course you were.”

Waving to Justin as he headed out of the room Cody called sweetly, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Not that there was many of those instances.

Ted looked after their friend with a light frown of concern, “I do hope it’s nothing too bad,” he could only imagine how it might affect Wade and Justin’s relationship for whatever period if Wade lost his temper with Justin over something else and sent him away.

The sound of the bedroom door closing drew Ted from his thoughts, the blonde’s eyes widening as Cody confidently (and, of course, seductively) sauntered over and planted himself directly onto Ted’s lap from where he sat.

“Cody,” he started weakly, “We’ve just eaten, can’t you wait for a little bit?” he couldn’t handle such vigorous activity right after a meal.

“Oh Teddy,” Cody smiled, revealing the sweet gap in his teeth, “We have all night alone now.”

"Well... that doesn't mean we need to start on this now, does it?" Ted asked. "We have work due tomorrow."

"Teddy! What if Justin comes back because Wade doesn't want to talk? Then we'll have missed our chance! Unless... unless you do want to fuck me with him in the room."

"No. I'm not doing that," he answered, despite Cody's pouting. "I just know that if we don't do our work now, you'll want to do nothing but stay in bed the rest of the night. So, let's finish our work while our food digests and then we can consider... other things."

"Like fucking me?" Cody asked.

"Yes, like that," Ted answered, blushing.

"Say it. Say you want to fuck me."

"After homework... I... I want to fuck you," Ted admitted.

"Ok. But let's make this fast."

“See? You keep rushing and you make silly mistakes Cody!”

Snorting disdainfully Cody sneered at his open mathematics book, “I’m no good at math, you know that Teddy.”

“You _are_ good at maths and that is the most _basic_ maths so don’t even try that one with me,” Ted warned as he penned an answer into his own homework without pause.

“What does an actor need maths for anyway?”

“To count the pages of your script?” Ted asked, though the expression on his face denoted that he was still less than impressed about listening to Cody still hanging onto this belief that he was going to go into the theatre when he graduated from his schooling.

“Not needed,” Cody dismissed him.

“Surely that’s important?” he pressed.

“I only need basic math to count how many orgasms you give me now I think about it…”

~~~

Justin cautiously made his way down the halls, as it was late in the evening and he didn't want to be stopped. He got to Wade's office soon enough and paused out in front of the door, hesitating for a while. There was still time to turn back. But he didn't come this far to turn back. Raising his hand, he knocked on the door.

It was just a few moments later when the door was opening and Wade stood there, still with a somewhat upset look on his face. "Justin?"

"Hi," he greeted. "I, um..."

"Come in," Wade said, stepping aside, closing the door once Justin was in the room. "What are you doing here? Did you need help on your work?"

"No," he said shaking his head. "I... I came to see if you needed to talk to me. You look upset." He placed the palm of his hand on Wade's cheek. "What's wrong? You can tell me."

“You noticed?” Wade looked mildly stricken and Justin hastened to reassure him that he doubted any of his friends would have noticed had he not mentioned the fact to them.  
Sighing, Wade exhaled softly and indicated that Justin should sit down as he pulled away from him and took his usual seat on the opposite side of his desk.

_The sinking feeling in Justin’s stomach increased._

“I had a visit today,” Wade’s lips compressed slightly, “Mr. McMahon.” Justin’s brows rose; Mr. McMahon was a cantankerous and shrewd old man with money to burn and an interest that had been founded in their school ever since his own son Shane had attended. “What did Mr. McMahon want, Wade?” he asked him, voice puzzled.

“To tell me… that he had found a suitable bride I should consider, and to put forward the belief that you needed your own marriage candidate.”

~~~

“I think you should know that by now,” Randy said with a wink. “What can I say? I love fucking.”

“Didn’t you say you’d been with a girl before?” Chris then asked, looking to John. “I thought you two only fooled around with others?”

“Yeah, I was. When we were younger, he knew we loved each other, but at the same time, we didn’t really know it for sure… so we decided that we could fuck other people. And so I did. I was fifteen at the time, so I’d already been with only Randy for a few years. It was awkward and… not a very good experience. I told Randy right away that I did it and that I don’t think I’d ever do it again. It meant absolutely nothing to me and she just kinda _lied there_ , unlike Randy who’s always just as into it as I am. So, after that I stuck with other guys and I never fucked anyone else.”

“Yet you’ll sleep with your wife once you get married?” Chris went on questioning. 

John nodded. “I’ll just have to hope that she’ll be better than the girl I was with. Who, by the way, claimed I was her first, but I knew there was no way that could be true.”

“A whore who’s no good in bed? What good is that?” Randy asked.

“I know. She actually had a bit of a reputation around our school for taking boys’ virginities,” John told them. “Maybe that’s why she was no good, because the only boys she was ever with had no experience at all.”

Evan’s face scrunched up. “So you mean that there are most likely other boys here who’ve slept with the same girl you did?”

“Most likely,” John answered. “She’s in our year in our sister school, so you’ve probably seen her before at dances.”

Evan looked suspicious. He’d had to dance with the girls before and suddenly wondered if he’d ever interacted with her before. “What’s her name?”

“Kelly.”

He could clearly remember last year’s end of the year dance when he danced with a pretty blonde girl named Kelly. She flirted with him the entire time. Now he knew why. “Yeah, I’ve seen her before.”

“Oh? And I’m guessing from that tone she tried to sink her talons into you as well?” John mused lightly.  
“In retrospect that was clearly what she was doing,” Evan said with clear distaste; having so many partners so young was bad enough, but to be so callous in your choice of why?  
“For once your overly chaste behaviour saved you instead of hindered you Ev,” Randy grinned although he was really glad as he said it.

_Lord only knew what he might have caught off of that school bicycle._

“I wonder how she gets so many boys though if she isn’t any good.” Chris mused.

“Oh come on Chris you can acknowledge it; most men become so desperate at the thought of finally getting that first time out the way that they’ll sleep with anyone just to do so. I’m just shocked she didn’t charge me.”

Randy smirked wickedly, “I bet she’ll have to start charging once any potential fiancé finds out she isn’t quite so untouched at all.”

“Now, now, Randy, I wouldn’t wish that life on any girl,” John chided lightly although he too was smirking to himself.

Evan shook his head slightly and stretched a little before exhaling a breath and tilting his head as he glanced at Chris momentarily. He was honestly concerned about the day he became betrothed because he had no desire to lose Chris, and yet he didn’t want to feel like he was somehow cheating either Chris or his bride to be somehow. And Evan would do his duty, if only to get the children that he wanted to parent one day. Deep down he had always known, like he knew John and even Randy acknowledged on occasion, that they wanted to be fathers one day. Eventually.

“Something wrong?”

“It’s nothing wrong per se,” Evan mumbled shyly, looking down and reaching for Chris’ hand, lightly playing with the other boy’s strong fingers to avoid his eyes. Chris quirked a little smile at the action, “What is it?”

"I was just thinking..." Evan said, looking around the room.

"It's always dangerous when you start thinking," Randy said. "What about?"

"The future," he replied, rather evasively.

"What about the future?" Chris asked, feeling the grip Evan had on his hand tighten.  
"Just that... you've said you want to stay here at least through Uni... but after that, well, we'll be expected to be married not much later. And after going through all this, all the coming to terms with the fact that it's _ok_ to be a man in love with another man, I don't want to lose you."

"And I don't want to lose you, either," Chris assured him. "I know there was a girl back in Canada my parents hoped I would end up with... but I plan to stay here. And whether I get married one day, or not, and if you get married, I don't want to give you up. Call me selfish all you want but no woman will ever get you, not completely, anyway."

"I already told you I'm giving my future wife permission to fuck anyone, so long as I can, too. Just do the same with yours," Randy chimed in with his two cents.

“Somehow I don’t see her being alright with that kind of arrangement, Randy.”

“You won’t know unless you ask her,” Randy returned back.

“What about you John?” Chris asked curiously, “Are you going to have a deal like that with your future bride too?” It was certainly ballsy, he’d give them both that.

“Perhaps… As long as she’s discrete about it.”

If anyone called her up on the affair then even though he had given permission in private it would be expected that he would do something in retribution in public. And he didn’t want it to have to come down to that for obvious reasons. “It’s not fair if I’m the only one having extra fun.”

“That’s almost generous of you… in a twisted sort of way,” said Evan a little absently.

“We’re never selfish when it comes to the bedroom,” Randy said pointedly before then chuckling, “And I don’t mean because we can be generous with our partners. Once we’re married John and I know the only partners we’ll have are each other and our wives anyway,” that was as faithful as they could ever be together after all once they’d graduated.

"So, would you be against something like that sort of arrangement?" John asked them.  
"But... what if they don't approve of the fact that I want to sleep with Chris? They could completely ruin our reputations."

"I think if you're honest from the start, saying you don't want to be exclusive to each other just because you're married, then they'll agree," Randy replied. "I don't think they'd go to anyone saying we want to sleep around because then that could make people think they've been fucking around already. No woman would want to ruin her own reputation with something like that, even if it's not true."

"I don't know," Evan said with some reluctance. He wanted kids and he wanted to be a good dad, but he also wanted Chris in his life... without feeling guilty about messing around on his wife when he was eventually married. "It all just seems too complicated."

"Such is life, Ev," Randy replied. Hell, Evan would know better than anyone the truth of that statement.

Evan pouted and Randy knew that he had struck a chord with the other boy even if he didn’t quite want to admit to that fact.

“But what if she _did_ go to her father, or to uncle, and told them about me asking her such a thing, Randy?”

They might be so confident the lady would keep quiet, but what if she _didn’t_ do so?

“You deny everything and she’s the one who looks bad,” Randy said without hesitation, then pouting himself when John smacked him lightly across the back of the head. “Don’t say things like that to Evan,” John chided, “You know he’ll think you actually mean it.”

“I _do_ mean it John,” Randy said and then sighed when his lover continued to level him with a look, “Oh _alright_. But, really, Ev, think about it… what do you think would happen if she went to uncle and her father?” Evan paused, clearly looking confused. Randy clucked his tongue, “Ev… I doubt we’re the only men to have ever considered such a situation with their brides, even if just temporarily and all that.”

"What? Do you think her father would actually agree with you? Say it's ok to fool around on his daughter?" Evan asked.

"Well, they could," Randy said with a shrug. "But, if you ask me, I'd think that she wouldn't bother going to her father. She would just find some other people to fuck."

"I just can't believe that."

"Do you not think any of those girls at our sister school would go and sleep with men from here that they maybe had flings with before?"

"Do you think most of those girls have fooled around with boys here?"

Randy nodded. "Oh, absolutely. I've never slept with a girl before, but..."

"So do you think most women, who get married would be more than ok with that sort of arrangement?" Evan asked, having no idea his cousin had such beliefs. But then, until a few weeks ago, he didn't know that his cousin was even having sex with anyone, much less that he'd messed around with a great number of people.

"I would say... it depends on the girl that's to be your bride."

“You’ve never slept with a girl?” Chris asked curiously and Randy nodded, apparently unfazed by the question and the Canadians’ apparent (and understandable) surprise.  
“No,” Randy repeated lightly.

“What about you John?” Chris asked curiously and John looked only mildly embarrassed before nodding his head slowly.

“Well, you learn something new every day don’t you?” Chris mused lightly.

“I think I’ve learnt far too much from you two as late,” Evan sighed slightly and rubbed a hand over his forehead, shaking his head somewhat.

“Do you have another headache?” Randy asked, distracted for the moment.

“Trying to understand your logic _always_ gives me a headache.”

“Minx,” Randy shot back before shrugging, “I’m just saying you shouldn’t sit there and think that just because she’s a woman she’s more likely to be faithful and not want other partners herself. It happens a lot more than you realise, that’s all.” John nodded, and even Chris nodded; he’d learned growing up that adults weren’t exactly as subtle as they’d like to think.


	61. Chapter 61

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information ~ Oscar Wilde

“No!” Justin actually shouted upon hearing that news. “He can’t do that! He can’t just tell you that we need to marry! I’m still a few years away from finishing here and you…” he found himself getting more upset the more he spoke. This wasn’t what he was expecting to hear when he came to see Wade.

“Justin… maybe we should consider it,” Wade replied.

“There’s nothing to consider, goddammit! There’s nothing wrong with you being a bachelor. Right now, our life at home couldn’t get any better.” He felt tears welling up in his eyes as he talked and thought about what life would be like. “I don’t want a woman living there with us. She would just ruin everything.”

Trying to be the responsible adult that he was supposed to be, Wade tried to tell Justin that it might not be so bad and that maybe Mr. McMahon was right. “You never know how it would be.”

“Yes, I do! I’d never be able to make love to you again, that’s what it would be like. You two will fuck every night in the bed that you and I used to share and then she’ll get pregnant and you’ll start a family and then your kids will become the center of your world and I…” Now the tears were actually coming, his words garbled as he tried to finish, “And I’ll just be forgotten about.”

“Justin!” Wade grabbed his young lover by the shoulders and shook him somewhat, his gel apparently wearing thin because several riotous curls were currently bouncing with the motion, “Stop that right now! You stop it, you hear me?” though his heart was breaking that he was the one to make his angel cry.

“B-But I will!” Justin hiccupped, sniffling, tears still going.

“I wouldn’t just abandon you!” Wade scolded, slightly incensed that Justin believed that he would discard him so easily, “You know I would never kick you out of my house, you’d always be welcome!”

“You wouldn’t need to get rid of me, Wade!” Justin sobbed, “It would be torture enough watching you and this woman with a family, but your children would take precedence over me!” he shook his head so hard a tear flew loose, “Everyone would just think--- would just think I was your servant or something!”

And though many people nowadays tried to pretend they were progressive and accepting not that many were, and Justin knew that that was how they would look to people who didn’t know the fact that he had technically been adopted by Wade as his ward. It was excruciating to consider that too. “I can’t believe you’d even consider this!” he pulled away, “Why now all of a sudden?”

Wade, still holding Justin, spoke into his teenage lover's hair. "Mr. McMahon said he was concerned that I had yet to marry, that me being a bachelor could raise eyebrows with parents who want to know that their child's headmaster is a responsible man with a family of his own."  
"Well, I don't fucking _care_ about what he thinks or what parents think! You do your job and you do it well, it shouldn't matter if you're married or not! Wade... is that really all there is to the story?" He could feel Wade shaking his head.  
"He may have also said that there could be better people for the job than me."  
"What?!" Justin exclaimed, outraged, pulling back to look at Wade now. "Who is he to make such a suggestion? You've been doing this job for years now and no one's had any serious complaints. He has no right. Your personal life has nothing to do with what you do while headmaster!" He could feel his tears returning; he couldn't remember ever being so upset.

“Don’t cry angel,” Wade pleaded; he could barely take it when Justin got teary-eyed hurting himself as a child, seeing him in full-blown sobs was veritably breaking his heart. “Please, don’t cry,” he reiterated, still embracing the younger man firmly.

“What reason have I to be cheerful?” Justin asked, voice sounding hollow and echoing even to his own ears. “It sounds to me as though I should just take my saved allowances and buy myself somewhere to live now since you’re no longer going to have anything to do with me. And please don’t tell me that this wouldn’t change our relationship because it will, entirely.”

And Justin wasn’t just talking about the sexual aspect, although losing that would be devastating.

“I just want what’s best for you, Justin. You’ve never known anything but me, and whilst I might have resigned myself to a life of bachelorhood without children you shouldn’t restrict yourself because of your love for me. There are many lovely ladies who would adore to be chosen by you.”

“But _you’re_ what’s best for me!” Justin insisted. “You’ve always been the best thing for me.”

“You don’t know anything but me. For all you know, there’s a young lady out there who could make you far happier than I ever could.” Just saying those words, Wade felt a knot forming in his stomach at the thought of losing Justin to a woman.

“I can’t believe you could even say that,” Justin whispered, turning away from Wade. “You’re the only person I’ve ever been with and you’re the only person I’ve ever _wanted_ to be with. I love you, Wade.”

Wade stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Justin from behind. “And I love you. But, perhaps we should consider this.”

“There shouldn’t be anything _to_ consider. It’s nobody’s business whether you’re married or not. You do your job and you’re the best man for the job…” He turned in Wade’s arms, talking into the man’s neck, “Make love to me right now and tell me that it isn’t the most _right_ feeling in the world.”

“Justin—“ Wade murmured softly, a large hand rubbing up and down the younger man’s back. He _couldn’t_ deny that being inside of Justin, or having Justin inside of him, were the most right things he had ever felt.

But at the same time he still felt as though he would awfully be taking advantage were he to sleep with him when he was so upset, no matter how much his libido was already screaming its support of the idea, “I don’t know if that would be—”

Justin pulled back to look Wade in the eye and he looked positively stricken, “Y-You’re already pushing me away,” he whispered, the wounds sounding strained and painful even to his own ears. “Oh god, have you already agreed to someone? Is that what this is about?” had Wade just been leading into it?

“No!” Wade panicked immediately at the mere thought, “No, Justin, it’s nothing like that!” he assured.

“Then make love to me!” Justin grasped Wade’s lapels with desperate hands, “Make love to me and tell me then that you could give up our love!”

~~~

“Cody!” Ted yelped in surprise. “You need math for a lot more than that!”

“Not really. Let me give you a word problem. If you suck me off once in the morning, once in the afternoon in the bathroom and then fuck me that night, how many orgasms will you have given me in a day?”

“Knowing you, it’ll be some trick question,” Ted muttered, face blushing a deep red.

Cody stuck his tongue out and answered his own math problem. “No, this wasn’t a trick question. Three times. But I bet you could do even better than that, couldn’t you?”

“Let’s just finish up our homework ok?” Ted asked.

“We need to try that sometime and see, over the course of one day, how many times you can get me to come.”

“Maybe we should try and finish our homework sometime,” Ted said, trying so hard to ignore Cody’s lewd suggestions, though his body wasn’t doing what his mind wanted it to do.

“But I’m _bored_ with homework. I want to do something a little more exciting.”

“Then we can move onto our literature work.”

“That is _not_ exciting Teddy,” Cody said, tone clearly less than impressed.

“But it is more necessary than… _that_ kind of thing.”

A snort left Cody, “If that’s the way you think then clearly I have not been doing it right.”

“Cody for the love of God—“ Ted started but almost immediately Cody overrode him the way he was wont to do, “God’s love has nothing to do with it Teddy. The only love I want is the love _you_ give me.”

A flush started creeping down Ted’s cheeks and neck; he was an absolute fool for Cody and he knew it, especially when he came out with sentiments like the one he’d just said.

“The faster you do your homework the faster we can… see about doing something like that,” he finally attempted to barter.

Pouting Cody sulked all throughout attempting the homework he had, knowing that that was probably as far as Ted was going to let him wear him down. He had his pride after all.

One day though Cody hoped to replace that pride.

Preferably with fraught, animal passion that he could provoke from Ted with a mere look.

"There! I'm done!" Cody said, pushing his work away.  
"Did you do it correctly?" Ted asked, having finished up his own work minutes ago, but he didn't let on to Cody that he had. Not that he didn't want to have sex with Cody, but he wanted his lover to be a bit more disciplined.  
"Yes."  
"Maybe I should double check it," Ted suggested.  
"No! Dammit, Teddy! I just want your cock in me and we're wasting time!"  
"I'm not wasting time. We need to do our work, otherwise we'll get held back and then we'll flunk out and I don't want that."  
"I'd much rather you fuck me right now. I don't know how you can not want me," Cody said with a pout.

“It’s not a question of not wanting you, Cody,” Ted sighed.

“Then what is it?” Cody demanded, “Because to me it just sounds like you’re making any excuse you can.”

“You might like swanning around this place,” Ted said as he continued to look over Cody’s work, “But I don’t like it enough that I would want to spend another year here more than I had to,” he wouldn’t sell himself short, or let Cody do so.

_Which was why the theatre clap-trap was such an issue._

“Do me.”

“Cody—“ Ted started, cheeks flushing somewhat at his lover’s crude mouth.

“Do me right now Theodore or so help me—“ Cody was beginning to get annoyed, and when he was horny that was never good.

“Cody! You can’t just drop everything and have sex whenever you want to!”

“But I’m not. I’ve finished my fucking homework, just like you wanted me to and we’re in our own dorm room for the whole night! Alone! So would you please just fuck me before I’m not even in the mood anymore? And believe me, I’m getting close enough to pissed off that I _won’t_ be in the mood much longer.”

“Now I feel like it’ll be forced if we do anything,” Ted replied.

“And that’s why we should have fucked an hour ago! Dammit, Ted!” Cody exclaimed, kicking the foot of his bed. “I might as well go play a game of poker with Win if this is how the rest of the night is going to go.”

“There’s no need to get worked up, ok? Just… relax and take a moment.”

“You know, we could have both come already and I’d have been much better about doing my work.”

Ted narrowed his eyes as he glanced at Cody. “You and I both know that’s bullshit. You’d not want to get out of bed the rest of the night if we did _that_ first.”

“Well, are we going to do _that_ at all? God, Ted, all I want from you is for you to lose control like you did in the dressing room when you just took me against the wall and damn everyone else. You suppress yourself so much instead of just letting go whenever the mood strikes. I want you to let go.”

~~~

Evan shrugged. He always pictured himself as the loving, faithful husband to a wife who felt the same of him. But now, he wouldn’t even be faithful to any wife going _into_ any marriage. So, he figured that it would probably be likely with women, as well. “I guess when I was younger I just never figured, you know… having someone else before marriage, much less a man, would even be an option,” Evan admitted.

“Well, you’re growing up and things have changed a bit,” Randy said. “For the better, I say. Since now you don’t have to wait until marriage to have sex.”

“Oh, like Samantha thinks you’re doing? How’s that going to work, anyway?” Evan asked him. When Randy just raised a questioning eyebrow at him, he elaborated on his thoughts. “Well… you’ll probably be marrying her straight out of Uni, right? And by then you’ll have been sleeping with John for over ten years. She’ll have to know that you’ve… done that before, don’t you think?”

“He raises a good point,” John said. “You’re far too good at fucking to be a virgin.”

“What? Are you suggesting that I intentionally have bad sex on my wedding night?”

“It’s either that or you tell her that you lied about being a virgin and haven’t been once since the age of twelve,” John replied. “I mean, it did take us a while to get the hang of things before it got _really_ good. Maybe you should just tell her the truth… I’m sure she’ll want to know just why it’s ok for the both of you to have other partners.”

“Somehow I believe the prospect of me sleeping with another man would bother her than me sleeping with another woman. Still, honesty would be the best policy.” 

It would mean he’d never have to explain anything should he get caught out by her one day.

“I don’t think it’d be very fair if you performed badly for her on your wedding night anyway,” Chris then chuckled, “And besides, if she’s supposed to be a virgin too then she could always just believe that you might be naturally talented. How would she know if you were good or bad? Just act really nervous and then you’ll probably be convincing enough.” Evan stared at his lover slightly, “That sounded very thought out, Chris.”

“Not really,” Chris returned back though didn’t shy away, “It’s just common sense really.”

After all wasn’t it common sense to believe that your first time you were nervous? Chris remembered being nervous, and he remembered being nervous his first time with Evan--- though he wasn’t in any way nervous because he was second-guessing himself or how much he wanted Evan; he was concerned because he knew it was his partner’s first time and was concerned for his wellbeing. Nervousness happened for all reasons, yes.

“I guess I could see how it goes,” Randy mused, not especially concerned. After all, if she went and told everyone then he would deny everything--- and he could be a damned convincing actor when he wanted to be. Being before people all the time as Head Boy had only cemented his confidence and ease under pressure as well over all.

"If you think about it, it will be like your first time... you've never slept with a girl, so..." John trailed off, shrugging.  
"So it's like losing my pussy virginity?" Randy asked.  
"Something like that. It's like those girls who'll only get it up the arse so they can still tell their husbands they're virgins," John said with a grin. He had some buddies on the rugby team who told him about some girls they'd been with like that.  
Evan's jaw dropped. "There are girls that do that?"

“You are so sheltered Ev. Yes, there are girls like that. _I_ have never had one, but the boys on the team talk about things.”

“Well, at least you know you’ll get a potential chance in unused territory… or a lacking chance of disease depending on which girl you end up paired with,” Randy wrinkled his nose. Some girls, for all they acted self-righteous, were far from choosey.

“Safe to say I think Evan could top any woman,” Chris grinned.

“You already have him in your bed,” John teased as Evan blushed, “Why all of the added flattery?”

“Shut up, John,” Evan squeaked.

“To assure that I get to stay there,” Chris replied, winking at Evan.

“Of course you’ll get to stay there,” Evan muttered, finding himself blushing even more, especially since he was saying it in the presence of his cousin. 

“See, a little extra flattery never hurts,” Chris said to John. “Though I’m sure you already knew that, especially being with that one,” he added, jerking his head in Randy’s direction.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Randy asked.

Chris just raised an eyebrow. “We may have only just started really getting to know one another recently, but I do think I know you well enough to know that I’m sure you love a little flattery every now and again.”

“Well… yeah, that’s true,” Randy replied, trying to fight off a grin. “I do rather like it when John tells me how good looking I am, or how big my cock is.”

“Randy! If your mother knew the things that came out of your mouth…”

“She’d be very proud of the standard of man I have gotten myself.”  
“Way to make me sound like a trophy Randy,” John snickered.  
“I think you’ll find, dearest, that _I_ am the trophy,” Randy winked and then looked to Evan in amusement, “Would you be even more shocked to know I learnt such language from my father?” he arched a brow at him.  
“Uncle does _not_ talk like that!” Evan said, genuinely looking aghast.  
Randy wrinkled his nose, “Much as is pains me to consider, he talks like that to my mother. Of course as I never stay longer to hear anymore once I realised.”  
John looked amused, “Does that mean you would have listened in more if he had been with someone else?” Chris snorted with laughter, looking amused and disturbed in equal measure.  
“When I was about thirteen yes, of course I would,” Randy said without shame, “I was intending to see if there was anything I could take onboard myself.”

~~~

“Justin, my sweet Angel, I could never give up my love for you,” Wade told him, hands moving around to his front to grip Justin’s.

“Then why won’t you just make love to me?” His eyes were shining with tears still unshed, the trails of fresh drops still glistening on his face. “I’ve never had to plead with you so much.” His lower lip trembled when he continued, “And you’re just going to turn me away, aren’t you?” His hands let go of Wade’s lapels and he dropped them from Wade’s grip.

Before the young man could actually turn around and leave, though, Wade grabbed his shoulders and brought their bodies together, bending his head down to meet him in a fierce kiss. He had never seen Justin looking so dejected, so hurt. He had made his little angel cry. While he considered letting Justin go, he simply couldn’t. Pushing backwards, they walked until they were against the door.

Justin flung his arms around Wade’s neck, back pressed firmly against the door. He put everything he had into that single kiss, as he didn’t know how else to prove to his older lover that they were it for one another. They didn’t need wives or children to complete their lives, because together, they had it all.

“I shouldn’t be keeping you from your dorm again…” Wade muttered hotly against Justin’s lips, “But you’ve swayed me again my sweet angel. How do you do this to me?” even when he had been a young impressionable youth himself with his momentary fancies no one had captured him mind, body and soul the way he had. Justin was just… Justin was just special.

“Because you love me,” Justin muttered back, lips pressing into the hollow of Wade’s throat and inhaling the scent of his cologne.

“I do,” Wade murmured, and he felt awful that he had made Justin doubt that even for a moment. Vince was a cunning old bastard though he’d give him that; he made no accusations or claims but the way he had spoken made Wade feel selfish, as though he was keeping Justin from experiencing other things, from growing and maturing, to become cultured and to become a father and… other things.

“Love me, Wade,” Justin pushed away from the door then, beginning to strip Wade of his clothing as they staggered towards the bed in a tangle of arms and legs. He’d make Wade forget this ridiculous notion of marriage. Justin would never be with another, he didn’t _want_ anyone but his Headmaster, his Wade.

There was little preparation, the need for one another all consuming. Their clothes were everywhere, from Wade’s office to his bedroom, but they didn’t care. They needed each other. Wade pushed into Justin, whose legs and arms were wrapped around the older man, never wanting to let go, embracing the pain that came along with the initial entrance because it was with the man he loved more than life itself.

It was over far too quickly as they moved together, thrusting and rocking with such passion and desire. Their lips didn’t once part save for quick breaths, but they were right back to one another as soon as the air filled their lungs.

With Justin’s cum on his stomach and his cock still in the young man, Wade opened his eyes and saw straight into Justin’s. “Can you honestly tell me those things after that?” Justin asked, his hands still wrapped over Wade’s shoulders, his grip on his own wrist practically cutting off blood flow to his hands it was so tight he was so nervous.

Shaking his head side to side, Wade answered, “No.” Even if he had told Justin that he _could_ give this up, he knew that Justin would know he was lying. They were so close, seeing into one another’s souls in that moment.

“Then don’t you _ever_ do this to me again. Please, Wade, I don’t care about getting married or starting a family. You’re my family. I don’t care if Queen Victoria herself came to you and told you to get married. It would do no one any good. You and I would be miserable apart, therefore your wife would be miserable and your children would be miserable. I just want to keep things the way they are. I just want you to keep loving me.”

“I’ll love you until the day I draw my last breath, angel,” and Wade knew that wasn’t some fanciful declaration designed to appease his young lover; he really meant it. He would love Justin no matter what transpired between them because Justin was the only person he’d ever encountered on earth who made him wake up in the morning pleased to be alive, and feeling that his life had more purpose past his job.

Obviously his job meant a lot to him, and other lovers had come and gone, but the fact that Justin was so dedicated to him probably proved that everyone else had just been filling the gap until God fated he and Justin to meet that day on that cold London street. Even now Wade hated to think of what may have happened to Justin had he not happened upon him… it didn’t bear thinking about. Only bad things came to Wade’s mind, arrogant, perhaps.

When he had saved Justin he had saved himself, and he felt terrible that he had made his beautiful, trusting lover cry. Pressing his lips to Justin’s chest over his slowing heart Wade murmured, “I love you. I forsake all others for you.”

Although moisture gathered in his dark eyes once more Justin managed to refrain from sobbing anew. Instead he merely threaded his fingers into Wade’s hair and coaxed his head down so that their lips could meet in a sweet kiss.

The sudden feeling of Justin clenching and easing around him made Wade groan, “Justin…” the look his lover sent him immediately had him under no illusions as to what Justin had intended with the action. “I don’t want to sleep tonight,” the dark-skinned boy announced, nibbling Wade’s earlobe, “I want you to love me until I beg you to stop.”

“When have you ever begged me to stop?” Wade asked as his hand moved gently up and down Justin’s leg and side.

“ _Never_ ,” Justin answered, clenching his ass again around Wade, feeling how hard the older man was for him. “And I don’t intend to start doing so anytime soon.” He couldn’t say he enjoyed the reasoning for him being here in the first place, but he was most certainly going to enjoy what came out of those circumstances. 

With a swift movement, Wade had rolled onto his back, Justin now atop him. “Then let’s keep going,” he said before pulling Justin down into another deep kiss. 

Moaning into the kiss, Justin began rocking his hips, trying to keep his movements slow and steady. He hoped that with the passion they displayed earlier, he _would_ be able to keep it at a slow pace that seemed to go for ages. That hope didn’t last for long, though, not when Wade grabbed his hips and began to roll his own hips upwards.

Their pace began to quicken, thrusts became deeper and moans became louder. But neither cared; they had all night to try and take things slowly.

It was not too far from dawn according to Wade’s pocket-watch when their bodies finally demanded that they slow down and rest.

“I was too vigorous on you,” Wade murmured in concern, easing his finally spent cock from Justin’s still twitching, reddened entrance. And yet already he knew the next time he buried himself inside that beautiful, perfect body, Justin would be as tight as he ever had been. He always was, no matter how often or energetically Wade took him.

“I liked it. I wanted it,” Justin yawned softly, feeling Wade’s hands running over his back, “If I wasn’t so sleepy I’d tell you to do it again,” he chuckled.

Pressing a kiss to Justin’s shoulder Wade drew the younger man so that Justin was laid against his chest, sort of straddling his thigh, draping the sheets over the pair of them. “I think we’ve done enough for one night angel… do you forgive me for earlier?” Justin dropped a kiss to Wade’s slowing heart-beat through his chest before yawning again.

“I can forgive you everything but you leaving me Wade,” Justin murmured, and he meant it. Not too long later the two lovers fell asleep twined together closely. 

 

~~~  
Ted’s cheeks coloured and he looked away from him, “I’m not like that Cody.”

“But you are!” Cody shot back immediately as he all but stomped over to Ted and gave the surprised boy a push that sent him sprawling backwards from his desk chair and against the nearest bed, which was of course his own. Something sparked in his eyes a moment before vanishing again. “You _are_ like that, Ted!”

“And how do you know that?” Ted asked, tone slightly tart thanks to the way Cody had manhandled him, though there was an uncertain lilt in his voice as Cody paced up and down beside the bed before suddenly straddling him.

“Your sport, and your lessons. You’re passionate about those but it’s not the _real_ passion you’ve shown me.”

“You can’t expect me to just… do _that_ anywhere anytime!”

“Why not?” Cody asked glibly, “You’re a healthy young boy and despite the fact that you act all reticent you have quite the sexual appetite,” and then, as though to prove his point, Cody ground himself downwards against Ted and almost immediately felt the other’s hardness growing inside of his school pants.

“Cody!” Ted gasped, “Don’t think this is going to distract me!” he started.

“I’m doing what you always tell me to do,” Cody responded cheekily, “I am using _evidence_ ,” he ground down again, “To- Prove- My- _Point_. Do you understand now?”

Unable to really speak, but still not wanting to give in, Ted shook his head side to side.

“You are a stubborn thing, aren’t you?” Cody asked, more to himself than Ted. “It’s _ok_ to give in. Honestly, I can’t for the life of me figure out why you’re so… pent up. We’ve already had sex multiple times, and I can tell you that those were the single most pleasurable experiences of my life. And I believe you enjoyed them, as well. So now that we’re finished with all that homework, could you _please_ just _fuck me_?” He didn’t give Ted any time to respond, though, before his lips were meeting Ted’s. 

With Cody’s tongue pushing into his mouth, Ted couldn’t help but give in, allowing Cody access, moaning as their tongues brushed. Pushing on Ted’s shoulders, Cody got the blonde lying on his back over his bed. Briefly, he broke the kiss and asked, “Now isn’t this better than doing homework?” Once again, he didn’t actually want a response from Ted, just going back to kissing him, only now he was beginning to undress him.

Ted found his own hands beginning to work on undoing Cody’s buttons and clasps. There was no use in even trying to hold out anymore. Their kissing and Cody’s touches had gotten him hard as a rock and his body was begging for relief.

“Much better,” Cody muttered, fastening his teeth around Ted’s sensitive earlobe rather firmly. The sensation made Ted buck and shudder, and Cody all but mewled at the hardness he could still feel contained within the pants Ted wore.

Not for long though, because Cody had Ted naked in record time, he undressed soon after.

“Teddy…” Cody moaned, arching his hips upright and pushing into Ted who automatically thrust back against him. The ragged moan that burst forth from Ted’s throat made Cody shudder; it was unfair that one boy could be so sweetly wholesome and yet so ridiculously sexy all at once. Cody supposed on some level he was lucky Ted wasn’t interested in the theatre the way he was; he would have to beat fans away from his Teddy with a stick. _He got enough of that from the other’s sporting prowess anyway._

“Co-Cody—“ Ted stammered, finding it impossible to draw breath; each one was thin and heady, filled with Cody’s scent and the growing musk of their combined arousals. Moaning lowly Cody panted into Ted’s ear, “I have a position I want to try,” one he’d wanted to try ever since seeing Cena fucking Orton like it across Cole’s desk. “I want you to take me from behind.” He’d sacrifice watching Ted’s lusting face this one time at least.

“Do what now?” Ted asked, completely shocked by Cody’s request. While they’d only been together a handful of times, it was always face to face, even when it had been quick and rough in the dressing room.

“I need to know what it feels like. Maybe we’ll both end up enjoying it… and that would make quick fucks in the bathroom easier, too.”

“Cody!” He didn’t know why things like that still got to him the way they did, but Cody never failed to make him flustered.

“Please, Teddy? I want it from behind this one time.” The whole time he was pleading with Ted for this change in position, he was rubbing his hard cock against Ted’s, knowing just how interested the other boy was, even when he was so reluctant to say so out loud. 

“Ok,” he gave in. He always gave in.

“Thank you, Teddy.” He gave him a kiss before then sliding out of the warm bed.

“Where are you going?” Ted asked, confused. His question was answered, however, when Cody leaned himself over Ted’s desk, ass sticking out just waiting for him to come over.

“Cena and Orton seemed to enjoy it over a desk.”

“Cody—“ Ok, he was still embarrassed about their accidental (and then not so accidental) peeping episode on _those two_.

“Teddy~” Cody mewled and Ted found himself responding as though invisible threads had wrapped around his limbs and someone was manipulating him like a street-theatre marionette. When he reached Cody he found himself kneeling, spreading the taut cheeks before him.

The sound Cody made was positively sinful and Ted shuddered before taking a breath. He’d heard tell this was enjoyable, they’d dabbled vaguely before… Cody almost came when Ted’s flexible tongue thrust inside of him.

“Oh God!” Cody rutted against the desk, spreading his legs wider and offering himself to Ted’s preparation, the blonde’s own cock throbbing with each noise of approval Cody made.

About three minutes passed before Cody’s temper won out, particularly since Ted now had a finger inside of him alongside his tongue, “Now!”

Now, Ted wasn’t sure Cody was really prepared enough… but he didn’t think he could wait either.

Spitting into his hand subtly he slickened himself up and then started to ease into Cody.

Sliding home balls-deep Ted found himself unsure why he offered such protest about getting to this point.

When Ted pushed into him, Cody felt his eyes roll back and his mouth fell open in a look of sheer pleasure. Just like always, there was some accompanying pain, but Ted was finally inside of him again and that was what mattered. “Were you just planning on standing there, Teddy?” he asked, his lover having not moved at all. “Because I wasn’t,” he added, pushing himself back. There was something about the added leverage he had that he already enjoyed about this positioning, even if he couldn’t see Ted’s face.

Whimpering slightly at Cody’s actions, Ted let out a rather shaky, “No,” in response. His hands gripped tightly around Cody’s hips as he drew his own hips back. When he thrust back in, he felt Cody pushing back, as well. No, he really didn’t know why he had to protest so much… though now that their homework _was_ finished, they didn’t have to worry about stopping for much of anything else that night.

“You can fuck me harder than this, I know you can,” Cody said, reaching behind him, to grab Ted’s ass to try and pull him in deeper.

Again, Ted let out a little whimper, Cody’s words and actions sending him up the wall. It never failed.

“You’re always so impatient—“ he managed when he got his voice working again, “Always in such a rush to get to the end, aren’t you?”

Arching his hips Cody tried to push back on Ted again even though the feeling of Ted nestled balls-deep inside of him was most enjoyable.

“That’s because you always make the end so good for me Teddy. And why can’t we rush? We have all night together,” since it seemed abundantly clear that their room-mate would not be returning. “Do you think you can do that Teddy?” he asked, relieved when the blonde started to ease out of him before thrusting back in, still not as hard as he would have liked, which meant he needed to keep talking to get what he wanted.

“Do you think you can fuck me all night? It would mean I’d have to go to breakfast still full of your cum, limping and feeling your hands gripping my hips. I love the way you hold me so tight Teddy, as though you want to just pull me into you and never let me go.” And he didn’t just mean that in the sexual way. Still, it achieved what he wanted, because just as he finished speaking Ted thrust into him so hard the desk thumped into the wall. “Anh!” Cody mewled, gripping tighter at the polished wooden surface, “Yes!”

The noise of the desk hitting the wall registered only slightly with Ted, but right then, he really didn’t care if anyone else could hear it. He was more concerned about the pleasured sounds Cody was making when he thrust inside him. With every thrust, the desk hit the wall, sure to leave a mark behind. Cody’s body was bent over, head now against the desk as Ted continued to fuck him hard. His eyes were shut, but his mouth was wide open, spilling words he couldn’t even comprehend as he was saying them.

Keeping one hand on Cody’s hip, Ted let the other move up to the wide expanse of Cody’s back. His hand roamed over the skin, letting his nails scrape thin lines down his lover’s back. That caused Cody to arch up slightly, a moan falling from his lips.

In a sudden need to be even closer, Ted moved his hand back to Cody’s hip and leaned his entire body over Cody’s, his chest now pressed against the younger teen’s sweat slickened back. His own hips kept moving, though now he couldn’t thrust as deep or as hard as be could before. “Kiss me,” he spoke into Cody’s ear.

Cody was happy to oblige. He turned his head and let his mouth meet Ted’s, the blonde’s tongue plundering forward as he took charge of their kiss. To that, Cody readily gave in. He knew that once they got going, Ted would lose himself to the pleasure, and that was just what was happening. 

~~~

“Are you saying that you hadn’t learned enough in your time with me?” John asked, knowing that if he’d ever heard or seen his parents in the midst of intercourse he’d have been scarred for life.

“Not at all, but there’s really only so much a thirteen year old mind can think of doing.”

“And that’s why we went to those older boys. I’d like to know as little as possible about my parents’ sex life,” John told him.

“What can I say? I’ve always been the curious type,” Randy replied.

“I still don’t know how you went for all this time, living under the same roof as me, and not telling me about John,” Evan said.

Randy looked guilty, knowing that if he’d come clean about John then Evan probably wouldn’t have felt anywhere near as bad as he did when he started his own relationship with Chris. But he also didn’t think Evan would take the news well that he’d lost his virginity long before marriage, and to another male, at that. “I know, Ev, and I am sorry, but we didn’t tell anyone. The only reason Phil knows is because we all shared the same room and he could hear us fucking every night. And Wade only found out because he saw us once.”

“ _Headmaster Barrett_?! He saw you two? And he didn’t expel you, or suspend you?” Evan was in complete shock over hearing that. Shocked and still a little hurt that he wasn’t the first to know that the cousin he thought was more like a brother to him had taken a lover. 

Recognising the look on Evan’s face Randy smirked subtly and then launched himself across at the smaller boy, enveloping him easily underneath his small form, starting to tickle the younger.

This had been his fail-safe method of making Evan forgive him since they had been children.

“S-Stop!” Evan shrieked, immediately collapsing into fits of laughter, writhing and trying to push Randy away desperately, “Stop it!”

“Say you forgive me and I’ll stop!” Randy said, laughing a bit himself as the cousins continued to roll around together, almost coming off of the bed. John and Chris exchanged looks, both of them fighting back laughter themselves at the sight of the composed Head Boy and composed Staff Assistant Representative acting like two children. “I’m almost jealous,” Chris mused and John chuckled, “I know… I didn’t know Ev was ticklish though. Did you know Chris?” the blonde nodded his head, still watching his boyfriend laughing.

_It had been in jest when he’d said it but there was something about the closeness between the cousins that really did have him feeling a little jealous._

When Randy finally let up from Evan the boy was still shaking with laughter, tears rolling down his cheeks as he struggled to catch his breath. Randy was grinning like a fiend and still chuckling a bit himself, “Do you forgive me now?” he asked, fingers wiggling menacingly.

“I forgive you! Just stay away from me,” Evan said with a grin.

“Good.” Randy returned his smile, then added, “There were things we both could have done differently, that’s for certain, but we’re all on the same page now, right?”

Evan nodded, along with John.

“The Headmaster really saw you guys?” Chris asked. When the pair nodded, he shook his head in amusement. “And yet he still made you Head Boy?”

“He knew I was perfect for the job. Besides, I’m sure we’re not the only students he’s seen fucking one another in all his years here. The cleaning staff probably has to clean up more cum in their own broom closets than they clean anywhere else in the school.”

Evan could feel himself blushing as he thought of the number of times he and Chris had ended up in a broom closet during some break or another. “With my luck the janitor would open the door while I was in there,” he muttered.

“Hasn’t stopped you before,” Chris replied without thinking about present company.

“Ev! You’ve had sex in the broom closets and never told me?” Randy asked, sounding almost hurt.

“No! We didn’t have sex!” he exclaimed, realizing after he said it that he was still implying use of the closets. When Randy made an obscene gesture with his hand and mouth, Evan turned an even brighter red and he knew he’d given himself away.

John looked amused as he glanced at Randy, “Remember the first time I blew you in the broom-cupboard?” he asked with a nostalgic air about him.

Randy looked almost shy, “I knocked over a mop bucket,” he mused dryly, “You were so wet from your trousers you left watery footprints all the way to your dorm room!”

“Good job we’d snuck out in the middle of the night to try it really.”

“It is more daring during the day though.”

Cursing his reflexive big-mouth Evan then went even redder as John turned towards Chris, “If he gives head half as good as Randy I bet you don’t want to leave the cupboard after just one go ‘round huh?” he winked conspiratorially.

In a way Evan hoped that Chris wouldn’t answer, but then at the same time he was curious as to what the answer was.

As though sensing Evan’s uncertainty the blonde glanced at him, winked and then smiled that seductive, playful smile that never failed to make Evan’s stomach tie up in knots even worse than it had been when he’d been to his first extended social dinner-party with auntie.

“I certainly have no complaints,” Chris said smoothly, answering and yet not in one. 

Randy smirked proudly, “I knew he had it in him. Now, if we can only get you to stop being such a prude otherwise…” he placed an almost paternally reassuring hand on Evan’s shoulder, “If you ever need any advice then come straight to me, alright?”

Evan found himself blushing more. “I could never go to you for advice! Not… not for that!” he said, rather embarrassed.

Randy smirked and turned to John. “It is fun discovering things on your own, but there were things even we learned from others that have been quite a nice addition to our bedroom activities.”

“Randy! I don’t want to know about _all_ your bedroom activities! It’s bad enough I know what I do.”

“Well, the offer still stands if you’re ever interested,” Randy insisted. “And I’m always here to talk about anything, not just sex.”

“I know,” Evan replied, giving his cousin a little smile. Though there was certainly a part of him that was mortified at the thought of his cousin knowing that he was sleeping with someone, and not an anonymous someone, either, so at least Randy couldn’t put a face to them, but someone that was sitting in the room with them, there was another part of him that was relieved that he now had someone to talk to about his relationship in general.

“He’s actually got quite a good brain in his head when he uses it,” John said with a playful yet proud smile; Randy might not seem like an overly academic boy but his grades weren’t to be sneezed at.

“Why do I have the sudden urge to make some sort of inappropriate joke about that?” Chris asked with a light snicker.

“Because you’re spending too much time around these two,” Evan said with a reluctant smile of his own.

Randy pretended to level John with a confused and innocent look, “Why does everyone say that as though it’s a bad thing to be around us so much?” John pretended to tap his chin in thought, “I guess it’s because we’re just far too influential for some people to handle,” he nodded. “Yeah,” Randy nodded too, leaning against John, “That must be it.” And although they were making light of it the truth was that they weren’t actually too far off the truth.

“I eagerly await further wisdom from you o great deities of the student body,” the Canadian drawled, reaching for Evan’s hand.

“Well, Randy will be happy share his wisdom, even if you don’t ask to hear it,” John told Chris. “Trust me, I’ve been hearing it for years.”

“I am very wise for my years,” Randy said with a nod. “Just another reason why I was made Head Boy. People just want my advice.”

“Please, people are too scared to approach you for advice,” John said.

“You’d be surprised,” Randy replied. “I have had quite a number of people come to me for advice this year alone.” He looked quite pleased with himself. “Once they got past the intimidation they initially felt around me, they were able to talk to me.”

“Does everyone feel intimidated around you?” Evan asked. He had grown up with Randy, so he never saw him in the same light as everyone else. 

“Not everyone. But most do. Though by the end of our chats, most of them are also asking if they can suck me off.” John raised an eyebrow at Randy, knowing he was one to rarely turn down a blowjob. Randy shrugged and added, “And, I suppose most of the time I didn’t say no. I did just give them great advice, after all. Who’s to say I shouldn’t get something in return?”

“You really are a pig,” Evan muttered. 

John just looked amused. “I can’t say I’m much better. When I made the announcement for the rugby tryouts, I had several boys come up to me asking if they could get on the team. I told them I couldn’t make any promises, but that didn’t stop them from getting on their knees for me. And knowing that next year, we’re going to start being exclusive to one another, I imagine this will continue for the rest of the year?”

“Of course,” Randy said. He loved John through and through, but he did enjoy mixing this up now and again, and he knew John did, too, as long as those people didn’t try and overstep their boundaries. Before they became exclusive at university, he was going to take advantage of the rest of the school year here as much as possible.


	62. Chapter 62

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation ~ Oscar Wilde

It seemed like no time at all before Ted felt the familiar tingling tightness seeming to spread from his lover-stomach and out to every little nuisance of his being, fingertips and toes, even the tip of his hair it felt like. What could he say? Being with Cody made him experience things to a greater magnitude than he had ever felt possible before. It made sense in a way, since they had been all but exclusively joined at the hip since they had been born, remaining together throughout life since then, and possibly beyond.

“I’m—gonna cum—“ Ted panted against Cody’s swollen lips when they parted, the younger man making a sound of needy disappointment; he didn’t want them to be over yet, but with the perfect and pointed way that Ted was thrusting into his prostate he knew it wouldn’t be long before he too was done, “A-Almost there, Teddy~ Almost-!”

The sound of the desk connecting with the wall began to get quicker again as Ted separated their bodies enough to grasp Cody’s hips once more, thrusts deep and hard, Cody thinking dazedly that Ted was all but riding him like some kind of prize mare.

A sharp pain started by his shoulder as Ted’s teeth fastened into it, the sudden complicated sensation of pain intermingled with his pleasure causing Cody to cry out and shudder, coming all over the desk without having even touched himself. Moments later Ted released a muffled grunt against Cody’s flesh, spilling himself deep into the other.

Still bent over the desk, now with Ted’s full body weight on top of him, Cody simply smirked. “Isn’t that much better, Teddy?” he asked. He had no idea _how_ the other allowed himself to be so sexually oppressed.

“Yeah,” Ted breathed out, finally realizing that he was all dead weight atop Cody. He raised his torso up before then pulling himself out.

With Ted now off him and out of him, Cody turned around and looked at him, looking quite satisfied, but still turned on. He slung his arms over Ted’s shoulders and let their nude bodies press together. “You know, nothing would make me happier than if _you_ were the one to instigate things between us.”

“Me?” Ted asked.

“Who else? Of course, you.” He leaned in closer, so his mouth was next to Ted’s ear. “I dream of the day when we come back to the room and you just grab me and _fuck me_ , even before we get to our homework.”

“What? But anyone could walk in and see us!”

Cody rolled his eyes. “You just had your tongue up my backside and _now_ you’re worried about people walking in? Teddy, you need to stop holding everything back and just let go with your feelings. Obviously you’re far more calm and relaxed once you’ve done just that. Stop denying yourself all these good feelings.” When Ted gave a little shrug, Cody sighed and then suggested that they go back to one of their beds and make the most of the rest of their night together.

~~~

“I bet after all this you won’t be able to cope with being exclusive,” Evan muttered; as far as he could see it would be too much of a shock to their systems.

“We have been exclusive before,” Randy commented with amusement, and then paused before amending, “Well, kind of exclusive anyway.”

“What do you mean _kind of_? You either are or you aren’t,” Evan stated.

Sometimes his dear little cousin really didn’t get the whole picture with this tendency to see everything in black and white… surely he realised grey areas existed too?

“Well, technically speaking John and I didn’t really know what to do sexually until we were shown it by other people… we fooled around with those seniors for a bit, then settled down together, and then started playing the field a bit more. That’s about right John?”

“Pretty much,” John nodded his head, “By the way I had heard from Shawn recently,” he chuckled. Randy looked mildly interested, if even maybe the briefest bit jealous, “He’s _still_ writing to you?” they fell into a little conversation apparently forgetting Evan and Chris, the former sighing and leaning his head against his Canadian lover’s shoulder, “They give me headaches.”

Chris chuckled, rubbing Evan’s back gently.

Evan then lifted his head as Chris said, “That reminds me… I’ve heard there’s some French bloke going around bad-mouthing you Randy,” he didn’t exactly consider himself someone who stirred up trouble but he did enjoy watching when fireworks went off. Randy’s face was impassive but a muscle ticked in his jaw, John sighing and rubbing a hand over his short hair. “Why would a French student be saying bad things about you Randy?”

“Because he’s a stupid Frog who tried overstepping his boundaries,” Randy said snootily, “And unless I give you permission briefly no one encroaches my territory.” John rolled his eyes slightly but there was a faint smile playing around his lips, “Would you like me to get a collar with Property of RKO engraved into the tag to symbolise that?” he asked dryly.

“You know, that might not be such a bad idea,” Randy said, and John thought he actually sounded like he could be somewhat serious.

“If I wore that, then no one would come anywhere near me,” John replied.

“Wouldn’t that be the point?” Randy asked.

John laughed slightly. “Like hell I’d sit around and do nothing while you go mess around with God knows who.”

Evan threw his hands up into the air and said, “You two are absolutely ridiculous!”

“I think you need to give up trying to understand them,” Chris muttered to him, though it was loud enough for John and Randy to hear.

“That would probably be best,” Randy agreed with Chris. “We have a… unique relationship, John and I.”

“Clearly. You don’t want other people touching each other, yet you’ll watch one another have sex with other people. I just… it doesn’t make any sense.”

“That was only the one time that I’ve slept with another person,” Randy said.

“But you’d only just met him! And… aren’t there others you’re after, as well?” Evan asked them.

Randy and John looked to one another, then back at Evan. “Well, yes. But they’re going to take a lot more effort to bed than Mark.” Randy then looked back to John and added, “Who, by the way, we need to see again about a repeat performance. I’d like to observe myself sometime.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to be practicing with him,” Evan said. “I just won’t be able to look at him without thinking of…” Evan just shook his head. 

“Evan, he’s a grown man who can make choices for himself. Besides, it’s not as though we coerced him. He _did_ approach me about it.”

“I love the way you justify your twisted logic.”

“Thank you darling,” Randy jokingly fluttered his lashes at the other and then grinned.

“When you’ve both finished having a laugh at my expense?” Evan started dryly.

“Dear sweet cousin who is almost like another brother to me _that_ day will _never_ come,” Randy winked at him.

“Seriously though,” John shrugged as he met Evan’s eyes, “Most boys here have messed around, be it serious or not serious, and you don’t treat them different.”

A furrow started down Evan’s brow which Chris thought was positively adorable, “Well, I don’t know that they’ve fooled around with my cousin do I?”

“Technically now though you do, considering what we’ve told you and all that.”

“You don’t get it!” Evan groaned as he dropped his head to Chris’ shoulder who smiled at him indulgently.”

“Don’t try to understand, it’s simpler that way,” he reminded him and Evan sighed heavily, groaning.

“Speaking of the other two we have an interest in,” Randy dropped his voice slightly so that Evan and Chris couldn’t hear, although for the moment they seemed too interested in one another to be paying attention to them, “Are you still up for it? I already told you about Runnels’ interest right?”

A slight frown touched John’s lips, “I just don’t know about this… I mean, I want to—“ no sense in lying to Randy, “But what if DiBiase doesn’t say yes?"

“You two are up to something,” Evan said when he saw them whispering. “You know, before you two give me anymore of a headache, I think I’m going to leave.” He looked to Chris, hoping that he’d join him.

“If you insist,” Randy replied. “Although I’m sure that’s code word for you want to go fuck Chris now, isn’t it?”

“Randy!” John and Evan said at the same time. “You are so crude,” Evan muttered. “And what Chris and I may or may not do is none of your business.”

Randy turned to John and whispered loud enough so Evan could hear, “He’s definitely fucking Chris tonight.”

“I’m leaving, Randy.”

“Ok, ok. I’ll see you two later,” Randy said, going to get the door for them.

They all said their goodbyes and heard Chris saying to Evan before the door closed, “Really, you should stop trying to understand them. They just really like getting you all riled up.”

Randy chuckled at that. Then he saw the serious look once more on John’s face. “You never answered me,” John said. “What if DiBiase says no? I really don’t want to put any sort of strain on their relationship because one will happily bend over for us while the other wants nothing to do with us.”

Sighing slightly, Randy took a seat back on his bed. “Then we have neither of them. If one of them doesn’t want it, then they’re both off limits.”

“That’s very mature of you, Randy.” Normally, Randy was the type that would go after whomever he wanted, no matter what. “And I will agree to that. With those two, it’s all or nothing.”

Randy nodded, then asked aloud, “Do you think DiBiase could be persuaded by a good sucking off?”

“Who by?” John asked.

Randy looked at him as though he were simple-minded and John rolled his eyes back at him, “I know one of us you idiot! I just meant _which_ one of us.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind doing him,” Randy responded, although Runnels was the definite target that he _had_ to have if given the choice of the pair, “I could do that though, and you can work on Runnels a little more.”

John still looked uncertain and so Randy easily straddled his lap, but instead of starting anything he merely wrapped his long arms around John’s shoulders and embraced him, his hypnotic eyes filling John’s vision and taking up all of his attention almost immediately, “Maybe he just needs reassuring.”

“How do you mean?” John asked quietly, and Randy hid a smirk; he was so cute sometimes it was downright unbearable.

“Well, everyone all but knows you and I are together, right?” when John nodded in confirmation he continued, “So maybe, aside from Runnels saying yes, he needs to know I’m OK.”

Well, John couldn’t deny that that made sense. “I dunno if you may come on too strong though,” he added with the mildest of frowns growing.

“Au contraire my love,” Randy smirked and tipped John a wink, “I think coming on strong is exactly what that boy needs.”

A wan chuckle left John and he shrugged, “Well, I can already see that you have made up your mind about it.”

“Damn right,” Randy nodded and then glanced at his clock, “It’s getting late. No you’re not going back to your own room. Nosey bastard Danielson skulks around I’ll deal with him. And tomorrow we’ll deal with Runnels and DiBiase.”

And honestly? Randy couldn’t remember a time, bar John, he’d _ever_ been _this_ eager for a game.

“Ok,” John agreed. He had all kinds of thoughts running through his mind, about just _how_ this whole thing was going to work, because he’d heard of how religious _and_ protective DiBiase was and that would be a big obstacle for even them to overcome.

“I can see you thinking,” Randy said, finally sliding off John’s lap. “Stop it. We’ll figure this out tomorrow and have our dicks in their asses by the end of the week.”

John chuckled, standing up himself to go join Randy in his bathroom. “You sound pretty confident about that.”

“Of course I am. And you should be, too.” He stood behind John in the mirror, wrapping his arms over John’s shoulders. “Look at us. Who the hell could resist? If I were in their shoes and I was pursuing me, I’d be bent over in a second, no hesitation whatsoever.”

John shook his head, then kissed Randy’s cheek. “You are such a self centered bastard.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Randy replied, turning his head to press his lips to John’s forehead. “Now, come on, hurry up and do your teeth so I can get you into bed.”

“Anything to get me into bed huh?” John teased as he caught the hand Randy had started to lift from his shoulder and pressed his lips affectionately to the palm before ducking into the bathroom. Washing his face he brushed his teeth and then said, “OK, it’s all yours.”

Randy affectionately patted John’s backside and winked, “It always has been,” as he ducked by him to do his own routine in the bathroom. Once he had finished he joined John in bed and the pair went to sleep after lying together talking about anything and nothing.

“Randy… Randy… Shut the alarm off,” John mumbled the next morning when the incessant ringing sound broke through the pleasant darkness of sleep, most unwelcome.

“That alarm is signaling breakfast my dearest John,” Randy muttered, lifting his head from where it was cushioned between John’s broad shoulders where John lay on his front.

Sleep was pretty well-loved by John but… Food came first. “OK, I’m up…” he yawned and stretched, giving Randy a brief kiss.

“You should talk to DiBiase at breakfast, lay the groundwork a little,” Randy grinned slowly.

~~~

 

“You look like hell Justin.”

Laughing without humour Justin drained his drink, pushing his virtually untouched breakfast around his plate, “Thanks a lot Ted, really.”

The blonde looked to the other who had joined them late for breakfast and looked as though he’d been told the world was ending, but at the same time that regardless there was another part of him that wanted to believe it was somehow avoidable. There was really something wrong and he wanted to help if he could.

“I didn’t mean it horribly… I mean, you just look as though you haven’t had much sleep,” and since the reaction was not the same as when he usually spent the night with Wade he had to guess there was more to it than _that_.

“I guess I’m just coming down with something.”

“You know you can talk to me about anything right? I mean, you can talk to any of us but…” he didn’t say anything more but Justin could sense the unspoken comment that he was the one most likely to _listen_ to his needs.

“Thank you… I don’t want to overload you with my problems since I know you have your own“ what with the high maintenance lover demanding more and more of his time, and dealing with sports and academics and occasional letters from family as the others seemed to do, “But I may have to take you up on this offer, but later. Much later.” When they could be alone and he could ask Ted whether Wade would really heed what he had said to him regarding marriage and a wife.

“Ok,” Ted replied. “I’m here for you, remember.”

“I know,” Justin said. “But right now I just want to have my breakfast and then focus on my classes.”

“You really don’t… seem like yourself, though,” Ted told him. “Are you sure you don’t need to go back to the room, or anything?”

“No. Believe me, I need something to focus my mind on, otherwise I’ll go crazy thinking about… other things.” Upon seeing Ted’s look, which let him know that he really would listen to him and do his best to give him advice, Justin sighed, “I promise, I’ll tell you later. When we’re alone. Where’s Cody, anyway?” he then asked, knowing the other wasn’t there when he showed up, but also knowing that he could show up at any second, along with their other three friends.

“He saw, um, what’s his name?” He pointed in the direction of where Cody had gone, and then the man’s name came back to him. “Mr. Matthews. So he went to go talk to him about something.”

Suddenly, three other people were sitting down, their trays hitting the table rather loudly. “Where’s Cody?” Heath asked, clearly having missed the conversation Ted was having three seconds prior. 

“Talking to his theatre director,” he said, once again, pointing over to them.  
“What’re they talking about?” Windham asked lightly.

“How should I know?” Ted returned with only a touch of edginess; he was still a little sore on the idea of theatre and Cody’s intentions for it in his future. Their friends exchanged grins, bar Justin who didn’t really seem to be paying attention. “Well,” Joe started in that light-hearted way that told Ted he was going to be having his patience tested in mere moments, “Considering how much he talks your ear off about it we just thought you’d know all of the ins and outs of his.”

Something about _that_ particular phrasing had something in Ted’s stomach stirring and a slight heat coming to his cheeks swiftly, “Don’t you have anything better to do then let your mind wallow in the gutter all day?”

Joe pretended to look scandalised, “I never said _anything_ like _that_! Did you hear me?” he asked Heath and Windham who shook their heads.

Snorting, Ted responded, “Oh go boil your heads. By the way, did you get that homework done last night?”

Innocently, Heath then said, “Oh, I think we got our homework done in good time last night. I mean, we were so early that we even came to find you and Cody—“ the realisation he was alluding to hit Ted like a cricket bat.

_Had they really heard he and Cody making love together the night before?_

Even in the single syllable, Ted could hear his voice wavering. “Oh?”

Heath didn’t even _look_ embarrassed when he said, “Maybe you two should consider keeping it down a little. And was that your _headboard_?” he added, just to see how dark Ted’s blush could get. That, and he was genuinely curious as to what the steady thumping noise was. Whatever it was, though, they seemed pretty into it.

It only took Ted a second or two to realize that they’d even heard the desk hitting the wall. He heard it the night before, but he’d been so lost in Cody’s body that he didn’t even _think_ about others. He dropped his head to the table and then did something he almost never did: swore in public. “Fuck.”

“Well, clearly you did last night,” Joe said.

“But, really, was it your headboard? If you don’t tell me, I’m sure Cody will, along with all the other juicy details of last night,” Heath went on.

Ted sighed, knowing that, despite his best efforts telling Cody to _not_ tell anyone that asks details of their sexual activities, he would do it anyway. “No,” he answered, head still buried in his arms.

“What’s going on here?” Cody asked, finally getting back from his discussion with his teacher.  
“Cody,” Heath immediately piped up, ignoring the black look Ted sent him, “What was that thumping sound last night? Was it the headboard? Because Teddy here, as per, is being reluctant to answer any questions that we have.” Cody arched a brow and leveled Ted with a look which demanded to know just _why_ he felt that necessary.

“You heard us last night?” Cody then asked, sounding pleased about it.

“I think everyone on our level of the school heard you,” said Joe.

“So,” Heath piped, looking manically eager for the answers that Ted would not provide, “What was the banging sound if it wasn’t the headboard?”

However, just as Cody was intending to answer, Ted stood up, reached over and clapped a hand over the younger man’s mouth with a firm, “Do _not_ tell them anything,” being ground at him. And, Cody wasn’t going to lie, having Ted muffle his mouth and talk to him in a tone like that made him want him all the more.

Not that there was a time he _ever didn’t_ want Ted, but you know, it reminded him of the passion Ted kept so tightly restricted that he had gotten a little taste of last night and that he wanted more than anything.

“So,” Windham said conversationally, “We know it wasn’t the desk… What else is in their room?”

“Who’s to say it wasn’t the desk?” Heath asked.

“Because this is Ted we’re talking about,” Windham replied.

“I love how you’re talking about me as though I’m not sitting right here.” His hand was still clamped over Cody’s mouth, but when he realized that Cody was actively nodding his head as though he was agreeing with them, Ted stood them both up, picked up his tray and took them both out of the dining hall before anymore damage could be done.

~~~

After washing up some and dressing, John and Randy made their way down to the dining hall, where they saw Ted and Cody leaving. Randy gave John a little nudge and John whispered, “What am I telling him exactly?”

“Just think of something.”

Suddenly, the two younger students noticed that they weren’t alone in the hallway and Cody found himself stopping his struggle, coming to a complete stop.

Upon realizing that they’d been spotted, they both gave their best smiles, John’s dimples coming out in full force. “DiBiase, just who I wanted to see this morning.”

Ted suddenly found himself scared shitless. What happened? Had he done something wrong? Was he getting kicked off the team? “Oh?”

“Yeah! Don’t worry, though, it’s nothing bad,” he added upon seeing Ted’s expression. The blonde seemed to relax some at that. He had no idea what he was supposed to say to him when he finally did have him alone… tell him that Randy wanted to blow him to get him to loosen up? Or maybe he should just blow Ted for lack of any better thing to do. 

Cody kept looking between the three other teens, but mostly he found himself thinking of what happened the last time (the only time, honestly) he and Randy were alone together and that kiss they had shared. And how he really wanted more.

“So,” the dimples were still out full-force and Ted couldn’t help but think, as he knew many others did, that those dimples really did look good on John, “Can I borrow you for a little bit Ted? Just for a little, honestly.”

“S-Sure thing, just—just for a bit.”

Privately Randy thought that just a little bit was all that John would need to get Ted onside if he wasn’t so frightened about pushing the boy too far too fast.

“I’ll meet you in a bit Teddy,” Cody said instantly, smiling reassuringly (and, if Randy wasn’t mistaken, most interestedly) at the blonde, “We’ll head to class afterwards.”

“Actually, this works nicely, because I was wondering if I could have a word with you Cody? I could use a hand with some errands, and since John has some sporting business to talk about with Ted… would you mind giving me your help for a bit?”

“OK,” Cody said, swallowing thickly as he felt his heart skip a beat. Maybe, unless he was totally wrong about the Head Boy and his boyfriend, he was going to be getting that kiss sooner than he thought he would be. He sincerely prayed that Ted wouldn’t freak out too much if John’s intentions weren’t _just_ to talk to the other about whatever sport it was.

Casting a last (mildly suspicious look) at Randy and Cody, Ted then leveled a shy smile at John and then followed him around the corner.

John led Ted into an empty classroom, sitting him down as he took the seat right next to him. 

Before John could begin talking, though, Ted had some questions running though his mind that he wanted to get out. “I know you said this wasn’t a bad thing, but were you just saying that because Cody was out there, too? Did I do something wrong?”

John grinned. “Has anyone ever told you that you worry too much?”

Ted gave a little sheepish, slightly embarrassed smile before saying, “All the time.”

“Well, you’re doing it right now. I told you, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Is it about the other day? I mean, when Cody was crying?” he asked.

“No. Well, not exactly. If you’d just take a breath for a second and let me talk…” John trailed off, hoping that Ted would give him a moment to say his piece.

~~~

After Ted walked off with John, Cody began following along with Randy. “What, um, what kind of things did you need assistance with?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing much, really,” Randy replied casually. “Just my usual routine morning checks. It’s nothing too exciting.”

“Oh…” Cody wasn’t really sure what he had expected when Randy asked for his help. Well, no, he did know what he expected, and it involved Randy’s lips on his, preferably with their tongues in one another’s mouths. That was a selfish thought, though, now that he realized maybe Randy did want his help and that maybe John really _was_ just talking about sports with Ted… if he and Randy ended up kissing while Ted and John sat and chatted rugby strategy, he would feel horrible.

“How have you been?” Randy asked him as he continued leading Cody along the hallways, opening a few storage doors here and there to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary. “It’s been a little while since we’ve talked. Things are ok with you and DiBiase now?”

“Yeah… that was just one of our stupid arguments,” Cody replied, still slightly embarrassed that Randy had seen him crying… but it ended in a kiss so it wasn’t too bad. “Things are good now.”

“That’s good.” Randy then stopped outside another door. “C’mon, we need to check in the bathrooms, too.”

“The bathrooms? Do people really hide out in there?” Cody never ducked into the toilets to avoid lessons… that was what the smoker area was for.

“You’d be amazed at where people hide to avoid class,” places Randy would go to if his absence wouldn’t be so noticed.

The bathroom was quite spacious and contained several stalls but it was easy to see there was no one around.

“Looks like everyone’s being good today,” Cody started, still feeling somewhat nervous, in that scary crush-liking way, around the elder boy. When he turned and found Randy looking directly at him though his heart started to pound anew one more time, but harder.

“You’ve been really helpful to me Cody,” Randy flashed a perfectly straight, white smile, hypnotic eyes seeming to darken as he stepped closer. Cody automatically backed-up although running away was the furthest part of his mind. He went back again, Randy stepped forward, until finally his back connected with the wall and Randy leaned over him. A hand braced on the wall besides Cody’s head, “I hate performing checks on my own… it may be part of the job but it’s so boring alone.”

“W-What happens when you’re not alone?” Cody asked, though he had a feeling he knew the answer. This kiss was much less tentative than the first, although still careful to keep him involved in what was happening.

 _God_ , could Randy kiss. Cody was quick to respond, to start kissing Randy back, and his hands went out to grab the blazer Randy had on. The second that Cody felt Randy’s tongue, his lips parted willingly for the older teen.

The kiss continued for a little while, but they both needed air eventually. When they pulled back, Cody was leaning heavily against the wall. “Was that better than the first one?” Randy asked, a little out of breath himself.

“I enjoyed both very much… but this one was…” he trailed off, looking downwards to see Randy palming his crotch before looking back up into Randy’s eyes, a brow raised.

“I can tell.”

With Randy touching him, he figured that gave him all the permission he needed to do the same. He reached his own hand out, finding that Randy was actually getting slightly hard himself. “I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Cody said, though he still had a handful of dick.

“Why not?”

“Ted. I don’t even know how I’ll explain this kiss to him…”

Randy rubbed Cody’s cock a few times through his trousers as he said, “I doubt we’re doing anything they’re not doing.” 

“W-What?” Cody gasped though the sound tapered into a moan.

“Yes, I sent John to try and convince Ted that a little thing between the four of us shouldn’t be such a serious thing,” he winked and kissed Cody again before then coaxing him so that their hands started to move together.

Cody did his best to follow Randy’s motion although his youthful eagerness made it hard not to just throw himself headlong into chasing a release and focusing on himself for the moment and then tending to Randy’s needs afterwards.

“But,” Randy said with exasperated fondness as he nipped Cody’s ear, “John talks too much and chances are he’s trying verbal persuasion, which he isn’t _quite_ as good at.”

“Mhm—“ Cody whimpered as pleasure continued to build.

Randy looked as though he wasn’t as affected, but Cody could feel the tremors racking the older boy’s body, feel his quick breath.

“I—I want to, tried to tell him—”

“It’s adorable he’s so loyal to you, but at the same time we’re not trying to break anything up… We just want to have a little fun, and to show you both a good time,” he started to quicken his hand; they didn’t have much longer.

~~~

“But it’s also Cody,” Heath pointed out, carrying on as though nothing happened. “And it seems like Cody can persuade Ted to do just about anything. He got the man to actually fuck him, after all.”

“Well, if you’re ruling out the desk,” Joe began, “and saying that Ted wouldn’t fuck anywhere but on a bed, then it _had_ to be the headboard.”

“Unless it was Justin’s bed,” Heath said, looking over to the unusually quiet teen.

At that comment, Justin stood up and left without any further word to them. He really wanted to talk to Ted. Alone.

“Could have been a dresser,” Windham mused.

“You’re saying they’d fuck against a dresser but not on a desk?” Heath asked. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, then it was the headboard,” Joe concluded. “A headboard. Whose do you think?”

“His own bed, or Cody’s… I doubt they’d do it in Justin’s bed.”

“Speaking of Justin… Do you think he’s alright?”

The three remaining boys exchanged looks right then and uncertainty flickered across their faces; although making fun of their friends’ sex-lives in a good-natured manner was fun they really did care about their friends and something was wrong with the other. Still… it seemed that, as per usual, Windham and Joe just couldn’t let the matter go without ending thought.

“I’d put money on it being Justin’s bed,” Joe said with that usual confidence he had.

“Nah,” Heath shook his head and touched his chin lightly in thought, “I can’t help but think that maybe it was the desk or a dresser, because of how embarrassed Ted looked… Remind me to get Cody alone later and ask.”

“If Ted’ll let him go anytime soon, he’ll probably be expecting us to go and look for him,” Windham said with amusement.

“Unless you want to try and crash one of his rehearsals and get to him before Ted can do.”

“No,” Heath responded immediately, “I have enough patience to sit through the actual performance but I can’t watch him practice being a diva.”

“Supportive, gentlemen, that is very supportive indeed.”

“Let’s go and find Justin,” Windham said before the others could get into one of their playful bickering matches.

The other two nodded. Justin _really_ looked down, and definitely wasn’t his normal self. Maybe they could lend an ear, if Justin was willing to talk to them about whatever had him down. They had no idea where he could have gone, since Wade was out dining with the professors and they did have class to think about getting to eventually.

Their first collective thought was the dorm room, but after a search there, it proved to be unsuccessful. “Where the fuck could he be?” Joe asked.

“He could be in the library,” Heath suggested. “Or waiting outside his first classroom.” Though classes didn’t start for a while yet, there was that possibility.

“Well, let’s see if we can find him. Somewhere,” Windham said.

As they were leaving their dorm room from their quick trip up, Joe then asked, “Where did Ted and Cody get to? They weren’t in here, either.”

Heath shrugged, “They’re probably fucking in a bathroom.”

“Alright, since library is away from the first class we may as well head down to where we have class and pass towards the library afterwards,” Windham said after a moment’s consideration of the fact that Cody and Ted were probably doing unspeakable deeds in yet another room of their school. Their parents would be so damned proud.

“So, library after the classroom,” Joe murmured and then opened his mouth to continue but Windham merely leveled him with another pointed look.

“Don’t even think of asking if we could go to the smoking area.”

“You are so mean to me,” Joe muttered, sticking his lip out.

“Don’t say that to him in the bedroom,” Heath grinned conversationally as though he wasn’t saying something wholly uncalled for, “Or he’ll make you sorry.”

He started on ahead before the others could comment, process of elimination soon yielding that Justin was in neither place the thought, “So where the hell is he?”

“I have no idea,” Joe said, looking utterly confused.

“Do you think we missed him?” Windham suggested. “Maybe he was walking back one way while we were going the other.”

“Maybe he went to Wade’s,” Heath said.

“But Wade isn’t even _there_. That wouldn’t make sense. I know you shot my idea down earlier but—”

“Justin _hates_ smoking, Joe. He’s not going to be out there.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Heath said. “Once I saw… well, I didn’t see it happen, but I heard it… Ted actually had some of Cody’s ciggy. You could tell he had done it from the coughing fit he fell into right after, but he did.”

“No way,” Windham replied.

“I swear, hand to God!”

“Ok, but even if Ted did bum one of Cody’s cigarettes, Justin doesn’t have any of his own.”

“That doesn’t mean he can’t snag one off someone else,” Joe said, now really wanting to go out to the shed real quick and get a puff in before class.  
“Wade would have a fit if he was smoking, wouldn’t he?”  
“How could he?” Joe tried not to seem too eager as he led them down to the ground floor so that they could head outside, “He smokes cigars!”  
“I’ve never seen him smoke them,” Windham frowned.  
“I have once or twice, recreational.”  
“Maybe you should learn to smoke that way?”  
“You’re so funny Heath, have you ever thought about the circus as a profession perhaps? Resident clown?”  
“Stop bickering the pair of you,” Windham scolded, “We have more pressing matters to tend to at the moment,” he frowned and they went quiet immediately.  
As they hit the corner they heard a carefully muted set of coughing.  
The three boys exchanged looks, unable to believe if they had heard that for real or not.  
Rounding the corner Heath and Windham’s jaws dropped Joe taking the moment of shock to slip out a cigarette and light up, exhaling a happy sigh before leveling Justin a concerned look, “Maybe you should stop trying now?” 

Justin couldn’t believe he’d been caught, didn’t think in a hundred years they would look for him at the sheds. He shrugged a little, then muttered, “It always seems to relax Wade some.”

At that comment, the three collectively looked down to see that Justin was smoking a cigar. “Did you actually lift one of Wade’s cigars?” Joe asked, impressed.

Justin shrugged again. Wasn’t that rather obvious? “Did you really need to follow me here?”

“We didn’t,” Joe said before taking a puff. “We looked all over for you first.”

“It was actually Joe’s own itch to have a smoke that brought us out here,” Heath told Justin. “I didn’t think we’d find you here, honestly.”

“What’s going on with you?” Windham asked. “You hate smoking, yet you took one of Wade’s cigars to come out here and _smoke_?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it.” He looked at the cigar, knowing he’d never be able to finish the whole thing. Hell, he couldn’t even get a couple puffs without coughing.

“If you’re not gonna… I’ll take it off your hands…” Joe said. When Windham shot him a look, he added, “It’d be a shame to let it go to waste. And I’ve always wanted to smoke a cigar. My dad keeps count of his, so I’ve never been able to have one.”

~~~

“Sorry…” Ted mumbled, ducking his head, and John thought (not for the first time) that he was not only a very promising sportsman that he was also very cute.

“It’s alright,” the elder boy chuckled before then tilting his head, “Ted… You’re going out with Cody right?”

“W-Well, define going out…” Ted mumbled, cheeks flaming; ah to be so young and naïve.

John hesitated, wondering how he was supposed to play this out with the other. He would be the first to admit that when it came to outside seduction Randy was admittedly a little more subtle and au fait than he was; he was much too straightforward sometimes.

“John—“Ted looked up again, still clearly nervous, and John made his decision.

“It’s really nothing major,” John stepped closer to him, “I just want you to know something.”  
“Wha—“Ted cut off as gentle, but firm and determined lips pressed against his own.

Ted’s entire world froze. He was trying to register what was happening, because his mind was completely blank he was in such shock. Then it truly hit him. John Cena was _kissing him_. When realization hit, he took a step back, away from the kiss. “What are you doing?” he asked, though the question seemed really stupid as soon as he’d asked it.

It was even more stupid on Ted’s part when John came back with the most obvious answer, “Kissing you.”

“But… but you were just asking if I was with Cody. And I _am_. I love him,” he told John in a slightly hushed voice.

“And I love Randy,” John told Ted. “However, we wanted you to know that we also really like the two of you.”

“Oh.” He barely admitted to himself that he found John Cena to be incredibly good looking, hell, he’d only just told Cody recently about his true feelings for him, so to actually hear John say that to him… he was oddly pleased yet highly embarrassed at the same time.

“Can I kiss you again?” John asked, wanting permission this time. He didn’t have to wait long before Ted gave a little nod. This time, though, he placed his hands on Ted’s hips as their lips met and his tongue eased Ted’s lips apart.

The younger man still tasted vaguely of something sweet at breakfast and John smiled to himself as Ted’s tongue made a tentative attempt to engage his own; that was good progress and although Ted was why there was nothing wrong with his technique. If he could just get his confidence going he’d drive Runnels wild, that much he was sure of in entirety.

Pulling back when they needed to breathe John smiled, “Neither Randy nor I want you and Cody to break up,” he repeated firmly to ensure Ted knew that, “We just… like to indulge in other company now and again, and we were wondering if you’d be interested.”

Ted still looked as though he couldn’t believe another person, let alone Cody, had found him attractive, which was laughable.

“I… What would we do with you?” he asked uncertainly and John found himself wanting to hug him, to reassure him.

“If you don’t want me to top you, that’s fine, I’ll be willing to let you top me—“ Ted’s jaw dropped and John chuckled, “I’m a little more versatile than you. But, if full sex doesn’t interest you that’s not an issue either, really Ted.”

Ted bit his lip, suddenly wishing Cody was there; he was a lot more au fait about these things than he was.

“I, uh, I’ve never done anything with anyone other than Cody,” Ted admitted. “I mean, until just now…”

John’s eyes grew wide in surprise at that comment. “You’re joking.”

Ted shook his head. “Cody was my first kiss… my first _everything_.”

“Well, Randy was my first _everything_ , too, but he’s not the only one I’ve been with.” At Ted’s uncertain look, he then added, “But I’ve only ever slept with two people.”

That got Ted’s attention. He heard of John and Randy’s reputation, and that included them sleeping with anything that moved. “I thought… I thought there’d be a lot more,” he said, to which John shook his head. “So, if you’ve only slept with two people—”

“One of them was a one off with a girl,” John interrupted, which surprised Ted even further.

“So… aside from the one time with a girl, you’ve only ever been with Randy… then why do you want to sleep with me?” Ted asked.

“Because you and Cody are some very attractive young men, and Randy and I collectively decided that we want you two. But if you don’t want to, it’s ok. We’re not going to force you to do something that you’re not comfortable with. And if you’re not ok with it, then both you and Cody are out of the equation.”


	63. Chapter 63

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong ~ Oscar Wilde

As Randy’s hand sped up, so did Cody’s. “I’m always up for a good time,” Cody said.

“Clearly,” Randy murmured before lowering his head so he could kiss Cody again. 

Randy’s hand felt so damn good, and feeling that on top of Randy’s lips on his had Cody approaching his orgasm pretty quickly. Normally, that wouldn’t be an issue, but his dick was still in his pants and it was nearly time for class to begin. He didn’t know if he’d have time to go back to change if he came in his pants. “Randy, stop,” he said, pulling back.

It was obvious that Randy wasn’t used to hearing those words, especially when he was close to his own completion.

“I’m gonna ruin my pants,” Cody said in a breathy tone.

“We can fix that.” Quickly, but carefully, Randy undid Cody’s pants, nodding to allow Cody to do the same to him, and pulled them down around their knees. 

Cody moaned when Randy’s hand met his now bare cock, and being able to feel Randy’s sent shivers down his spine. 

“You gonna cum Cody?” Randy murmured into the younger boy’s ear, reveling in his sweet moans; they were different than John’s, obviously, but not displeasing.

“Yes—“ the boy gripped Randy’s other shoulder because his knees were wobbling warningly the same way they always did.

“How easy is it going to be to convince Ted that John and I aren’t threats?” he murmured, “That we just want to have some fun with you both?”

“He—he does want John,” Cody moaned, feeling himself close to the peak, “I think he’ll be OK with it as long as we’re together!” he knew, Ted being the way he was, he couldn’t commit infidelity, albeit with permission or not, if Cody wasn’t there with him so he could see what his lover was doing and to also have some moral support in exploring new territory.

“If you can convince him we’ll have a good time…” Randy murmured, “You may get to top me.”

That thought was enough to have Cody crying out breathlessly, coming over Randy’s hand.

Randy was swift to follow, soiling his hand in turn.

“I take it you like that idea?” Randy asked, tucking himself away before moving to wash his hands.

Cody joined him by the sinks, also needing to wash up quickly. He hesitated before answering, “I don’t know.” He saw Randy glancing at him, so he went on, “Don’t get me wrong, I would top you in a heartbeat if you were truly offering… but, as it stands, I haven’t…”

“Wait, you _have_ had sex, right?” Now Randy wasn’t so sure about those rumours he’d heard about Cody and Ted and how they’ve been fucking for years.

“Yeah, but… I’ve only ever been on the bottom,” he elaborated.

“I see. Well, things between the four of us don’t need to jump right ahead to the sex. John and I have a few months left here, and if you’re open to the idea, it doesn’t have to be a one time arrangement. Maybe by the end of the year, you’ll have gotten your turn on top with Ted.”

“I sure hope so,” Cody muttered.

“Then we can see what happens from there,” Randy finished with a smirk.  
~~~

“Really?” Ted repeated incredulously as he looked up at the elder boy.

John’s smiled slipped then and he looked almost hurt, “Are you trying to insinuate that I’m going to force you?”

“No!” Ted’s face bloomed as he realised how it sounded, “No! Not that!”

“Oh,” John laughed and he blushed slightly himself now, “Thanks but, um, really, Randy and I are serious about leaving you both be if you’re not interested,” the brunette nodded.

“I—“Ted hesitated; he wasn’t sure whether it was right to make this decision by himself. But, then, even as he was thinking that he realised something and he felt as though he could kick himself for missing something that was really so very obvious given certain events that had happened recently. He laughed wanly.

“Is Cody having a conversation like this with Randy right now?” was that why the Head Boy had spirited him away the way he had?

“Most likely,” John looked vaguely apologetic but then sighed and spread his hands in an open gesture, “We don’t have much longer until we graduate so we knew we had to see with you both about this sooner rather than later. To be more direct, you know?”

“I don’t feel right speaking for both Cody and I,” he found himself saying, “But I think that—” 

John raised an eyebrow expectantly, awaiting Ted’s answer.

“I wouldn’t… I mean, I don’t think I’d object to doing that again,” he finally said. And, god, was he really saying that he would be willing to do things with someone other than Cody?

“Really?” John asked. “You’re sure?”

“Um, well… I’d need to talk to Cody,” Ted then muttered.

“Of course,” John said. He wouldn’t expect anything else. “You talk to him tonight and let me know, ok?”

“Ok,” Ted replied.

John grinned, then closed the distance between them for another kiss, letting his hand run through Ted’s hair. “Now, I’m going to go get some breakfast really quick because I’m starving,” John said once their last kiss broke off.

“There were some good selections this morning… get a strawberry Danish,” Ted recommended.

“That must have been what I was tasting on you,” John told him, leaving Ted standing alone, a look of surprised embarrassment on his face, as he walked out of the room.

Dazed for several long moments Ted then forced himself out of the room and headed out of the room John had lead him into and supposed he should head to his next class since he had no idea where Cody had been lead to by Randy.

He scrubbed a hand over his face and then headed towards his classroom, relieved when he saw that Cody was already seated inside of the class in his usual seat, though he looked pensive.

Anxiety welled in Ted; what happened to make him look like that?

_No offence to Cody but when he was thinking hard it usually never ended well… not for Ted, anyway, if he thought about it._

Cody waved him over quickly and Ted sat down, catching Justin’s eye as he did and nodding to let the other know they could talk once class had ended and they could get alone.

Justin flashed a brief, weak smile and then turned away from them.

“What happened with you?” Cody whispered.

“W-What do you mean?” Ted mumbled back quietly, though he could feel himself blushing hard.

_Yeah, Cody knew something had happened._

Thankfully, Ted was saved from further immediate embarrassment by the ringing of the bell. Class got underway, and he thought that Cody would drop the subject until a time when they were at least not in public. He should have known better.

“Come on, Teddy, spill,” Cody whispered when their teacher wasn’t looking.

Ted remained mute. He didn’t want to say a word about it, not yet, not while it was all still processing.

“Well… fine, just nod. Did you talk to John?” Cody asked. Ted nodded. Cody then elaborated, “I mean… about… things?”

This time, Ted blushed again, giving his head a small nod. How was he ever going to tell Cody about what happened? He never thought in his life he’d be kissing someone other than Cody and whomever he married.

A wash of guilt suddenly hit Cody. What if all Ted and John really did do was _talk_. He and Randy were practically fucking each other’s hands. That was going to be fun explaining to Ted. And then, what if Ted had flat out refused the offer, while he was all but offering his ass to Randy? That could make things awkward. 

As soon as class ended, Cody muttered to Ted, “We really need to talk.”

“Can’t right now,” Ted replied. “Next class… and you don’t want to be late to Mr. Hennig’s.” It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to Cody, because they certainly needed to, but Justin needed him, too, and this was a good chance to start, at least, since Ted and Justin had class together, while Cody’s class was the opposite direction.

~~~

“Can you imagine what he’ll do to you if you do take it and he finds out? He’ll be taking all of your pocket-money once more and giving it to Wade as repayment.”

“There’s a thought,” Joe murmured although he didn’t look too contrite, “Paying my own headmaster to be able to smoke,” he grimaced.

“He’ll skin you alive even more than he will for fighting and you know it,” Windham said.

Rolling his eyes Joe then stuck his tongue out, “I’m sorry if I want to take my chances on a rarely presented opportunity _mother dearest_.”

“Justin… What’s the matter?” for once Heath was the calm and logical one, making his point because Windham was too busy getting Joe told on the one habit that he hated of his most.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he repeated and then took another puff of the cigarette, burst into a fit of coughing and then handing the cigar out to Joe who looked as gleeful as though Christmas had come early, puffing deeply, “It’s like five cigs at once!”

Coughing still Justin then scowled as Heath tilted his head, frowning, “Do we need to set Cody on you?”

“If I don’t want to talk about it then I’d like to think that you would take my word for it and just let the matter pass,” he started, but knew that he wouldn’t buy that too deeply.

“You know, you should be able to talk to any of us about anything at any time,” Heath said.

“It’s just… too soon,” Justin replied. 

Joe actually stopped mid puff and dropped his hand to his side. “Justin, are you and Wade over?” he asked. That was the only thing he could think that statement could mean.

“No,” Justin answered after a moment’s pause and a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. “It’s just a complicated situation and I need some time to think. Alone. By myself.” At the collective concerned looks he added, “That doesn’t mean I won’t talk about it eventually, just, please, not now?” He didn’t say he’d rather talk to Ted first before any of them, because that was rather rude, but Ted was a really good listener and was very reasonable and rational when it came to things that didn’t involve Cody.

They all looked concerned. They were all Justin’s friends, but Wade was Justin’s family in a sense, was the most like family he’d ever known. If things were going on between them, none of them knew what Justin would do.

“Alright…” Windham started before turning to the others, “I suppose we should head to class.”

“Yeah… you two go ahead,” Joe waved to the other two, “I’ll just stay here and finish this,” concerned he may be, wasting a fancy cigar like this he was not going to end up doing.

“Oh Joe,” Windham sighed irritably.

“It’s alright,” Justin sighed and slumped down onto the grass, uncaring that it was still slightly damp and that his trousers were going to end up being wet throughout the rest of the day. It’d match his mood, so he supposed it fit.

“Alright… Just don’t take too long,” Heath wagged a finger at them both before then wrapping an arm around Windham’s jokingly and tugging the other away from the scene even though he hesitated still. Silence descended between them both and Justin found himself strangely glad of the company although more than relieved that he didn’t need to make an effort to uphold conversation. Afterwards they headed back to class and Justin sought out Ted, surprised when he came in almost late.

~~~

“Oh, yeah…” Cody sighed; sometimes being Joe’s friend was more of a liability than it was worth when it came to his dad teaching them.

“We’ll talk later,” Ted said with only mild hesitation before then catching Cody’s hand and squeezing briefly before releasing it; there were still people around them and by Ted’s standards that had been quite the bold move he’d just done.

It made Cody smile at least which made Ted feel a little better, and then Cody was heading off to class and Ted met up with Justin.

“You don’t look like you’re having a good day either,” Justin said by way of greeting.

“Probably because I’m not… kind of. But we’re not here to talk about me,” Ted started firmly as he and Justin headed towards the library; it was the best place for privacy and they were unlikely to be disturbed unless they suddenly became too loud and the unforgiving librarian chucked them out, “We’re here to talk about you.”

“You probably won’t believe me, and when I tell you… I’m not so sure the library will be the best place to discuss it,” Justin pushed the door open and they headed towards a secluded table near the back of some dusty shelves.

When Justin finally told him what had occurred the night before Justin had to clap a hand quickly over his friend’s mouth to forestall the surprised exclamation that he had just _known_ was going to happen even though he’d warned the other about it. Once he was sure the moment had passed he pulled away, looking despondent again, “I know.”

“Oh my God…” Ted said softly, using the Lord’s name in vain, something he rarely ever did.

“Yeah.” Justin slumped back against the chair, looking lower than low.

“So, what’s going to happen now?” Ted asked.

Ted had never seen Justin look so lost as he answered, “I have no idea. I don’t want things to change, Ted. Since I was little, it’s always been just me and him. I never imagined my life with another person involved. Even when I was a kid and I thought about my future, it was always with Wade. There was never a Mrs. Barrett in my mind… and there certainly wasn’t a Mrs. Gabriel.”

“I’m so sorry Justin,” Ted whispered, not knowing what he could possibly say to make him feel any better. Normally, he was the one people came to for advice. This time, though, he didn’t think there was anything he could do or say. The fact that the highly influential Vincent McMahon was what spurned this on certainly didn’t help the situation. 

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I don’t want to live without him, Ted.” 

“No,” Ted sighed, “I can imagine that you wouldn’t,” he knew in his position he would feel the same, since the mere idea of being without Cody was ridiculous. Even if the other did drive him to the point where he thought he’d be booking a stay in asylum, Ted knew that he would rather suffer a thousand fits of madness then be without his loved one.

“Have you told Wade how you feel about it all?”

Justin snorted, looking even more downcast, “He didn’t listen to me one jot.”

“How’d you mean?” Ted asked, puzzled; he couldn’t imagine Justin not being able to talk to Wade about matters.

“Well, when I did try to tell him how I felt he got on this damnable pity party about how being with him has somehow restricted me, and how maybe because it’s all I’ve ever known I won’t know that I want anything else until I try it,” which was preposterous and he was actually offended by the fact that Wade would think so. “So I don’t know what to do with myself… I didn’t expect you would either to be honest.”

“Do you think he’s…” he paused for a moment, trying to think of the best way to put things without upsetting Justin further, “going to follow through on anything?”

“I have no idea. Last night after he told me,” Justin began, dropping his voice even lower as he continued, “we made love for _hours_ and he swore that he loves me and, like me, doesn’t want to change a thing.” That should have been the end of it, but when he woke up, Wade wasn’t there in bed beside him, which then planted seeds of doubt in his mind. “But then this morning, it hit me like a wave all over again. I don’t know if he’s thinking about marrying, or not.” His head fell forward onto his arms which were crossed over the table. 

“Maybe you need to keep talking to him.”

“This isn’t the first time he’s told me he’s worried about me being disillusioned about relationships,” he said. “Before I always laughed him off… but last night was something completely different. Vince McMahon needs to keep his fucking mouth shut on matters that don’t concern him. Who’s he to _threaten_ Wade with his job for not marrying? So what if he’s head of the Board, he’s got no right to involve himself in anyone’s personal like.”

Suddenly, Ted wished they were back in their dorm room, because if they kept on talking like this, there was every chance Justin would start screaming and potentially punch something or someone. Plus, this was a really touchy subject matter and things were suddenly getting much deeper than he initially realized.

“Maybe we should continue this elsewhere?” god forbid someone overhear them and go around spreading rumours; gossip could harm people more than an illness or injury.

“You think we have more to talk about?” Justin mumbled.

“I think that leaving the conversation here isn’t going to do you any good,” said Ted firmly with that infallible logic that even Cody couldn’t often argue with; he was so level-headed and clear, that when he wasn’t flustered by his own matters his help was invaluable. “You obviously need someone to talk to and as your friend I am here to do whatever I cam to help… even if that is just providing you with an understanding ear for your complaints.” Because aside from doing as he had already suggested and talking to Wade he was stumped.

“If you were in my position,” Justin started, getting up from the desk and heading to the door, “And Cody was in Wade’s for example, or vice versa, whatever way works best in your mind, what would you do?” he knew it would be difficult for Ted to imagine but maybe if he tried he could think of an answer.

Sighing slightly Ted quirked a smile in his direction, “I think I’d be doing exactly the same thing you’re thinking of doing. I don’t think I could let him go without a fight whether he thought it was what was best for us or not.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and exhaled, “But I guess that’s like we said and easier said than done, hm? I do agree that McMahon is overstepping bounds a little…” Wade being married wouldn’t change anything in their school anyway would it? And that was apparently the crux of the issue: how Wade ran the school as a confirmed bachelor.

“A little? He has no right to force marriage upon someone!” Justin said. “Wade has been a bachelor his entire life and has clearly done a fine job of running the school. Whether or not he’s married doesn’t affect his abilities. And no one should tell him otherwise.”

“I don’t see why this needs to be brought up now. As you said, he’s never been married, and he’s been Headmaster for a long time, so why now?” Ted asked. 

“I think it’s because of me,” Justin answered. “Because when McMahon talked to Wade about marriage, he brought me up, too, saying that I should considering looking for someone. I’m only seventeen!” He was older than most boys in his school year, though considering the circumstances around his background, it was rather impressive that he’d been able to catch up to and surpass everyone in his year.

Ted could see that Justin was holding something back, though he didn’t know why. He was here to listen to the other vent. “There’s something else, though. Come on, out with it.”

Justin didn’t even know why he was thinking it, but the thought couldn’t be helped. “What if… what if Wade does get married, then… then I get married… and…” he took a deep breath before finally asking, “what if he’s right? What if I find someone I love more than Wade? What if I just _think_ I love him because there’s never been anyone else?” 

Ted cocked his head and his eyes narrowed slightly. “I’m pretty sure that’s the biggest load of bullshit I’ve _ever_ heard. And I deal with Cody constantly.”

“… I’m still adjusting to the fact that you swear,” Justin muttered when he had recovered, but then he bit his lip, still looking perplexed. It appeared somewhere down the line all of the whispers had manifested in Justin’s psyche even if he’d never acknowledged it before.

“And I wouldn’t swear if I didn’t find it entirely necessary,” Ted nodded his head and then exhaled a breath, “Justin, look me in the eyes and tell me honestly: do you really think that you could feel something even remotely to what you feel for Wade for some woman whom you’ll probably be unlikely to be alone with until they’re ready to marry you, whom you find you have absolutely nothing in common with?”

“Well, anything sounds bad when you put it like that,” Justin mumbled before he dropped his head into his hands, massaging his temples as he fell quiet, thinking.

After a few moments Ted cleared his throat to prompt the other; he knew full well that Justin wasn’t _really_ thinking. He already knew his answer; just like Ted already knew the answer deep in his heart whenever someone confronted him over Cody, even if the other did drive him insane and make him feel like he’d die much too young with the stress.

“No,” Justin responded lowly, “I can’t imagine feeling for anyone the way I feel for Wade,” and that wasn’t something he was saying because he didn’t know better.

“Exactly… but maybe it’s not me that you need to convince,” it seemed as though Wade and Justin needed one another to reassure the other that nothing had to change for them to be happy.

“But I _tried_ ,” Justin insisted. “Last night I told him over and over that there’s no one else out there for me, and I thought I _showed him_ , as well.”

“Maybe you need to talk to him again. I think he’s just scared,” Ted told him.

“Of what? I’d never leave him for anyone.”

“I don’t know, that you’ve grown out of needing him,” Ted suggested. “I think he’s worried of the day when you’re a little older and tell him thank you and that you appreciate all the things you did, then leave him for bigger and better things.”

“But that will never happen. I owe him my life, Ted. He’s done so much for me and… I’m worried that he’s gotten sick of having me, not the other way around.”

Ted’s jaw dropped he was so shocked by Justin’s words. “You and I both know that’s as far from the truth as you could possibly get.”

“It sure seems like he’s pushing me away,” Justin mumbled.

“Because he’s scared of losing you. He doesn’t want the day to come when you no longer want him around, so he’s trying to drive you away now so he can tell himself that he’ll be able to accept it.”

“Now that sounds like a load of bullshit to me,” Justin said. “Do you really think that’s what he’s thinking? That he should get rid of me now before I decide to do it myself?” When Ted nodded, Justin then went on to say, “I really need to talk to Wade again.”

“You’re right…” Ted then trailed off before piping up lightly, “If you’re not feeling well then maybe you should miss the classes we have left for this afternoon to rest?”

Justin sent Ted a look that suggested that he had suddenly sprouted a second head, “What on earth are you babbling on about man?” he asked.

Looking his friend firmly in the eyes Ted then enunciated slowly, “If you are feeling ill then maybe you should go to bed and get some rest for this afternoon.”

When the meaning of his words struck Justin the other male’s eyes widened; he would never have suspected that Ted would ever offer an alibi for him to miss class, let alone actively encourage him to miss class to deal with personal matters.

“Ted—“ he started, expression becoming one of gratitude, “I think I’ll do that, yes.”

“Good,” Ted smiled briefly and reassuringly, “Just be honest.”

“Right,” it was a terrifying prospect once more because of how much was at stake if Wade didn’t believe him but Ted knew the other was right. He needed to go to Wade and tell him how he felt outright and openly… “I’ll be getting along then. Can I loan your notes?”

“Of course,” Ted responded, preparing to head to class.

“Ted, for this,” Justin whispered into his friend’s ear as they parted ways, “I’ll forgive you if you ever succumb to Cody wanting to be fucked/fuck you on my bed, but only the once, OK?” he then ran to Wade’s office.

~~~

Randy, unconcerned about being a little late for class, grinned at John when he approached and boldly kissed him in the hallway. He licked his lips thoughtfully when they parted and tilted his head in amusement, “You taste like something sweet… is that DiBiase?”

“DiBiase and the breakfast he had,” John nodded before then tilting his head, “Something happened?”

“Runnels is all for it,” Randy reported without preamble as they started heading towards their next class, “So what’s the word on our Minister’s son?” he asked pointedly.

John rubbed a hand over his head, “Well, he hasn’t completely turned around and said no to us, he’s just concerned that things may affect stuff with Runnels. I told him it wouldn’t, that we just want to have a little fun… but I said we can build into it, huh?” the man cocked his head, “I think he’s close.”

“Maybe I should have a word with him?” Randy mused to the other.

“I’m not sure surprising him with a blowjob will work on someone like him.”

“It’s never hurt when it comes to you before babe,” Randy smirked.

“Well, it may work on me, but I don’t think DiBiase’s like that.”

Randy quirked a brow and asked, “Do you know of any male anywhere in the world at any time that would ever turn down a blowjob? From me, specifically?”

“I just don’t know if DiBiase would say no. Frankly, he does seem like the type who could potentially push you away because you were being too forward and he is terribly loyal to Runnels and wouldn’t want anything to come between the two of them.”

“Then hopefully Runnels doesn’t mention to him what happened in the bathroom.”

This time it was John who raised an eyebrow. “ _What did you do_?” John asked. 

Randy whispered into John’s ear, because they were always honest when they had fooled around with others, “We touched each other, jerked each other off.”

Before John could say anything further, they really did need to get into their classroom, because even Head Boy couldn’t skip out for too long. It was finally after class, in which John was thinking of Randy with Runnels the entire time, that he asked Randy to elaborate further on what was said and done between them.

“What elaboration do you need?” Randy teased his lover sweetly.

“You know what I want to know,” John was amused by the other’s play, “Don’t act coy, it doesn’t suit you,” he kissed Randy’s cheek daringly in the emptying hall.

“Everything suits me,” Randy retorted but then glanced at his pocket-watch before then taking John’s arm, “Care to accompany me to the smoker’s for a breath of fresh air?” he grinned and John rolled his eyes; he’d only ever smoked once, and hated it, and hadn’t had an interest in it since even though Randy had tried.

“Alright fine, come on then; we don’t have a lot of time and you need to tell me everything,” the mental images had been driving him insane, and added into the mix the prospect of seeing DiBiase amongst the two and then with himself… his concentration was shot.

Randy grinned, cat looking like he’d got the cream as they walked along together.

The area was shockingly deserted as they approached… although chances are some latent smokers could have run if they saw the Head Boy and Captain coming.

“First off,” Randy started as he lit one of his cigarettes and took a drag, “Runnels has an _enormous_ dick.”

John rolled his eyes and sighed. “How exactly do you know this?” he asked.

Randy’s smirk grew. “I learned first hand,” he said, wiggling the fingers on his free hand.

“I should have known you’d do something like that. You never could just keep things simple, could you?”

“To be fair,” Randy began, taking a drag, “I didn’t go in with the intention of jerking him off. But then I kissed him and felt his cock growing against my leg and I couldn’t help myself. I bet his ass feels amazing.” He shut his eyes as he took another drag, exhaling before asking, “What’d you say to DiBiase, anyway?”

“That we were interested in him and Runnels and that it’s up to the two of them to decide if they want to take things further… and did you know that DiBiase had never even kissed anyone aside from Runnels?”

“You’re saying you’re DiBiase’s second kiss?” Randy asked, grateful he hadn’t been smoking at the time because he probably would have choked on the smoke. “I thought the kid was repressed, but _fuck_ , I didn’t think he’d be that bad.”

“Yeah,” John said with a nod. “I felt sort of bad kissing him out of the blue and finding out after…”

Randy let out a huff of laughter. “Don’t worry about it; he needed a little bit of variety in his life. How was it, then?”

John looked uncomfortable and Randy’s wicked smirk of amusement only seemed to grow.

“You _liked_ it,” he said confidently, and then pretended to pout, “Does that mean he kisses better than me?”

“No one kisses better than you,” John responded with automatic fervency and Randy smiled.

“But he’s an acceptable second?” he prompted as he watched John apparently stewing through his own thoughts, attempting to make sense of it all. It was amusing and adorable in its own way, which was John all over.

“His lips are really soft,” John finally said, voicing aloud, and Randy just listened and let him continue since it was often easier than trying to demand everything from him at once, “I mean, they look really full and everything when you really take notice but damn, they were a lot softer than I thought they would be.”

“Mhm… How did he respond when you kissed him?” Randy asked, especially interested in their progression since John knew his.

“He was kind of shy, but then when I got him responding back to me… He was, well, there’s definitely fire underneath that straight-laced exterior Rand. And,” John sighed heavily, “Damn, but I want to experience all of that fire for without barriers.”

“I knew he was too good,” Randy said wisely, “Anyone _that_ sweet has to be hiding a devilish side.”

“I think he’s only just learning about that side of himself,” John said.

“Oh, just think of all the things we could teach him,” Randy sighed, seeming hopeful and wistful all at once. “Though, I have heard things about Runnels getting around quite a bit, so perhaps he’s already been teaching him a thing or two.”

“Well, I’m sure without Runnels, DiBiase would still not even know about the fire and passion inside himself. Which, as I said, I believe he’s just beginning to tap into.”

Randy smirked, but that smirk fell as soon as he heard the bell ringing. Reluctantly he stamped out his cigarette and they began walking back into the building. “It seems like you’re far more willing about this than you were before.”

“Now that I’ve had a little taste and he at least seemed open to the idea… yes, I’m far more willing.”

The grin on Randy’s face didn’t leave for quite some time after that. He made his usual excuses for himself and John before they found their usual seats in class. When the teacher wasn’t paying attention, Mark leaned back to ask Randy, “What’s got you so happy?”

“Bit nosey aren’t you?” Randy asked although the grin didn’t waver even a little.

“You hadn’t noticed that about me already?” Mark grinned winningly before sending John a little nod.

Returning the gesture with a brief smile John then sighed as Randy all but bounced in his chair in anticipation; sometimes the other just got too over-eager. It was adorable, if somewhat tiring… and that was saying a lot coming for a man of seemingly boundless energy.

“Let’s just say,” Randy said, attempting and failing to sound mysterious, “That a game might be afoot sometime very soon… and I can’t wait to begin playing.” Tilting his head curiously Mark waited until they were in the clear again before asking, “A game like I played?”

“Except with maybe another person on top of that number,” Randy said innocently and Mark whistled just audibly, “Care to share the name of those involved, Randal?”

“Mhm, they’re probably not people you know,” Randy waved him off before winking, “But if it all goes well I can assure you that I will be more than happy to provide details.” John’s firm nudge interrupted him; the teacher was coming.

“Mr. Orton,” their teacher said as he approached, “how about you lead our chapter discussion on last night’s reading as you seem to be in such a chatty mood this morning.”

“I’d be happy to,” Randy replied, flashing his best grin. While teachers loved him, he knew that his mouth could sometimes get him into a bit of trouble, as he liked to not keep it shut in class. However, he always did his work and always kept up on things such as specific chapter readings, so he was able to lead a discussion with ease. 

The book discussion took them through the remainder of the class, with Randy arguing points with everyone, even if those points went against ones he made earlier; he did enjoy playing Devil’s advocate. 

When the bell finally rang, John was straight up out of his seat, where as Randy hadn’t even realized class was so close to finishing, as he was still in the middle of proving his point. He was quick to pack up his things, though, heading out with John and Mark.

“You’re sure it’s no one I know?” Mark asked, picking up where they’d left off. He may be new, but he had gotten to know most of the boys in his class and even the year under his. Plus, he recognized several names and faces from the sports teams he’d played against while at his old school.

“One is on the rugby team with you, but I don’t know if you’d remember him by name. He was at tryouts with you. DiBiase,” Randy told him.

Mark shrugged. The name sounded familiar, but unless he saw the face, it really meant nothing. “I do hope you have a good time with them.”

“You know, I’m still hoping for even more good times with you,” Randy muttered under his breath to Mark, grinning. 

“I’ll always be ready, willing and able should the Head Boy require my services…” Mark murmured back with a grin, “That is, if the Captain doesn’t mind my presence of course.”

He might not seem like the brightest light bulb in the school, but even Mark had registered that John had seemed somewhat reticent about having him involved with them the first time. For a brief moment John appeared to smile and Mark felt he had been granted permission. Randy, however, just appeared even more amused by that.

“Do you have a kink for titles? You seem to like using mine and John’s whenever we’re around,” Randy arched a brow, though he was pleased Mark didn’t act too coy at being questioned about it.

“Maybe I do,” Mark conceded with a graceful nod of his head, “Maybe I also have a kink for you in your formal uniform and John in his rugby gear.”

“Well, I’m sure we can—“ Randy started, being cut off when John shook his head and then lifted his hand to indicate his wrist-watch. “I can’t remember?” he prompted and Randy immediately started to pout. “You’re ditching me to plan your next practice?”

“Ditching wouldn’t be the word I’d use but yes, you’ll have to find some way to occupy your time later until I can come to your room once classes are over and I’m finished. Nice to know you won’t be too bored without me,” he sent Mark a pointed look, “Don’t think I’ll go easy on you if you’re tired though.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Mark responded immediately, even sounding thrilled by the challenge and the chance to be alone with Randy.

“Maybe you can just join in when you get back,” Randy mused and then winked at Mark, “Be prepared; it’s takes a lot to keep me entertained during the night.”

“Please, if it’s good enough, it only takes one fuck to have you out for the night. And he sleeps like a baby,” John added to Mark. 

“Well, _before_ the fucking, it takes a lot to keep me entertained,” Randy amended, just loud enough for the two next to him to hear. 

Mark couldn’t help but chuckle. He’d never done the whole relationship thing, and the only person he’d been with for any amount of time was the neighbour that moved away, who John and Randy swore he’d end up marrying. Simply watching and listening to those two showed that they had been together for a long time, the way they knew each other so well.

“Just out of curiosity,” Randy then said, addressing Mark, “have you found anyone else to keep you entertained for the night?”

“Perhaps,” Mark answered. “It hasn’t been all that long since I’ve been here, though, so I haven’t had too much time to really explore my surroundings, you know?”

“Understandable,” Randy said with a little nod. 

“Morning, Randy,” Evan greeted from behind him, actually causing the usually highly aware man to jump slightly. 

“When did you get back there?” he asked, with a quick glance behind him.

“Just a little bit ago,” he answered.

A snicker sounded from John, which he turned into a cough when Randy glowered lightly at him although his smile hadn’t dimmed at all.

“Morning,” Mark grinned at Evan, the smaller man flushing; after all he knew what this boy had engaged in with both his cousin and cousin’s lover.

“Good morning Mark,” still, he responded politely.

“Evan, I was wondering—“ Mark started, but Randy’s hand covered his mouth before he could even get a sentence out. Mark’s eyes widened slightly with surprise and amusement, although his brows furrowed in apparent acknowledgement and understanding as Randy murmured, “Don’t even think about it. He’s off limits,” just loud enough for the brunette to hear.

“What was that in aid of?” Evan frowned at his cousin when Randy released Mark, “He was asking me something.”

“It doesn’t matter, he’s forgotten now, right Mark?” Randy arched a brow and Mark obediently nodded his head in confirmation of the comment.

“Well,” John started, “This is fun but I do have another class before I have things to tend to so I’ll be going now.” He pecked Randy’s lips, squeezed Evan’s shoulder, then left.

“Randy—“ Evan repeated, drawing Randy’s attention from watching John walk away.

“Where’s Chris?” Randy instead asked.


	64. Chapter 64

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world ~ Oscar Wilde

Justin slowed down when he approached Mrs. Wilson’s desk, trying to calm down his breathing so he could speak with her. He flashed her a smile before asking, “Is Headmaster Barrett available?”

She smiled back at him, Justin was such a sweet young man. She wouldn’t allow just any student into Wade’s office at any time, but she knew that the circumstances between those two were different. It would be like not allowing Joe Hennig to speak with his father. Flipping through his appointment log to double check, she then told him, “Yes, he’s free.”

“Thank you.” He had to resist the urge to pound his fists upon the door, screaming at Wade to let him in. Instead, he knocked calmly, three raps upon the large door, though he was bouncing on the balls of his feet as he was anxious to get inside. 

Hearing the knocks, Wade looked up from his paperwork, wondering who that could be. He knew he didn’t have any appointments booked the entire day, so perhaps it was Torrie wanting a word. “Come in,” he said, keeping his eyes up as he watched the doors open. He was _not_ expecting Justin to come through.

Justin shut the doors and locked them, heading into the room further. “I love you, Wade. I don’t want you to push me away simply because you feel like I might leave you, or that I might not need you anymore. I’ll never leave you. Never. Don’t be scared of losing me, because there’s no place I’d rather be.”

For a moment Wade couldn’t even move; the shock of Justin’s sudden arrival and then the impassioned speech had thrown Wade for the loop, and it took some time for his mind to catch up with it all.

However, it seemed as though his silence had been somewhat misconstrued because Justin was chewing his lip hard enough to draw blood (a habit Wade had scolded him over more than once, and that he thought the other had since stopped) as he shifted from foot to foot. “Now would be a good time for you to say something… preferably in a positive light.”

Setting his pen down Wade swallowed and licked his lips; seeing Justin standing there, so open and honest and vulnerable, was making him feel a million conflicting emotions at once. On one hand he wanted to throw himself on his knees before Justin and swear to his young ward that they could never be separated, but another...

Another part of him couldn’t deny that there might be some truth in Vince’s words; the old man had played on insecurities Wade believed he had long since buried in his heart, and now they had resurfaced he had no idea how he was supposed to act anymore.

“Justin—“ he started, getting up from his chair and moving around his desk, “You—“ whatever he had been about to say was cut off in one easy moment as Justin brought his arms up around Wade’s neck, burying them into his carefully styled curls and kissing his mentor and lover sweetly, passionately, trying to implore him without words.

Wade returned the kiss with the passion he felt for the younger man. His arms wrapped around Justin’s middle, hoisting him up so he could feel his weight in his arms and his legs wrapped around him. Now face to face, Justin pulled back just enough to break their kiss, for the moment, anyway. “Wade…” he paused for a moment, thinking of the best words to say. “The thought of losing you scares me just as much as it does you. For as long as I can remember, I’ve imagined what my life would be like, and you’ve _always_ been there. There’s not one dream I’ve had of my future where you’re not involved.”

“But you’re older now, more mature… and you have grown to be a fine young man… haven’t your dreams changed?” Wade asked.

“Of course they’ve changed as I’ve gotten older. But there’s always been one constant, and that’s you. You and me together.” Justin moved his head so he was now totally flush with Wade, head tucked into his neck. “You’ve always been there with me.

“But you—”

“There are no _buts_ , Wade. I know you’ve been with others before me, so can you tell me that any of them meant more to you than me?” Wade gave his head a small shake and a whispered, “No,” to which Justin replied, “Then why question me? I don’t need to be with anyone else to know that you’re the one for me.”

“But, that’s the thing Justin,” Wade murmured, still cradling Justin against himself without any apparent effort and as though he was the most precious thing in his possession, “I _have had_ the experience of being with someone else, whereas you haven’t…” and there was a part of him that felt as though he somehow owed Justin at least the opportunity to experience being with someone else. The thought made his heart burn with jealousy but at the same time he was struggling to shake it. “It’s not a question of loving you,” Wade repeated quietly, “My life has truly had no meaning until the day I came across you in the street.”

A wan smile touched Justin’s lips, “Anyone who isn’t aware of our situation would probably think badly of me if they overheard that.”

“It’s impossible to think badly of you.”

“You would say that,” Justin gently nibbled at the protruding swell of Wade’s Adam’s-Apple, causing a soft moan to rise from within his lover’s throat. “You can punish me for skipping out on my afternoon classes later, but right now I want to just make sure you understand me. If you try to drive me away I’m just going to come back.”

He kissed Wade again and felt a tremor of excitement and fluctuating emotions flooding him as he felt Wade hardening just underneath his backside where he clung to the other; Wade might be significantly older than him, but you couldn’t tell by his stamina.

“One moment,” Wade mumbled into Justin’s ear, before setting the now highly confused young man down. Brushing his fingers through his hair to try and tame some of what Justin had done, he then adjusted his suit coat and headed to his door. Sticking his head out just enough he said, “Mrs. Wilson, please assure my schedule stays clear for the remainder of the day. I have some pressing matters to discuss with my ward and I do terribly need to catch up on my paperwork.”

She smiled warmly at him and replied, “Of course, Mr. Barrett.”

Giving his secretary a smile and nod of thanks, he then shut and locked his door, assuring no one would enter, before returning all his attention to Justin. “That’s better. Now, where were we?”

With a twinkle in his eye, Justin turned towards Wade’s bedroom, shedding the coat of his school uniform along the way, letting it drop to the floor. He made sure Wade could see him unbuttoning his shirt as he slipped through the bedroom door.

A slightly strangled (but carefully muted) sound left the depth of Wade’s throat as he watched Justin walk away, long legs easily covering the distance that separated them, Wade toeing off his shoes near the entrance to his bed-chamber before stilling. Justin was naked, gloriously naked, and reclining back on his bed in a motion that could only be described as ‘come hither’. The image was made all the sweeter by the slight blush that still lingered despite his seemingly confident actions.

~~~

Ted walked down to his own class, a rather dazed look on his face. Cody was quick to pick up on the odd expression when he met up with him in the hall on the walk to his next class. “What’s wrong?”

“I think… I just… I believe Justin gave us permission to make use of his bed,” Ted told him.

“Are you being serious right now?” Cody asked. He wasn’t sure if Ted looked ill, so perhaps he was delirious. 

“Yes,” Ted answered, still in a daze. 

“Then what exactly are we waiting for?” Cody then asked him, suddenly aroused at the thought of himself and Ted naked on someone else’s bed. 

“For classes to end for the day, that’s what,” Ted answered.

“Wait. Does that mean I’m not even going to have to fight with you over this one? You’re actually going to go through with it without complaint? I won’t have to tempt you and tease you until you’re too turned on to even care? You’re just going to agree to it, so long as it’s done once classes are over?” He cocked his head, looking at Ted’s profile, noticing how red he’d turned. “I don’t know what you’ve done to my Teddy, but I think I like this.”

~~~

“He’s going to a different class,” Evan answered. “What was he going to ask me about?”

“Nothing important. Right, Mark?” Randy asked, looking to the amused looking teen, who certainly liked to push people’s buttons. 

“I was only going to ask where your blonde friend was,” Mark said, smirking. 

Randy rolled his eyes. He didn’t think that was what Mark was actually intending to ask, but it could have been… he swore that he’d told Mark before that Evan was off limits in that regard. Not that he’d have to worry about Evan actually agreeing to such a thing; even if he wasn’t a virgin anymore, it didn’t mean that he was going to go around sleeping with everyone now. 

Evan really wasn’t sure what to make of what just happened, but he decided it was probably best to just shrug it off as something he probably didn’t want to know about, anyway. 

As they were nearing their class, they passed by a few younger students, who Randy made sure to greet. “Good morning Ted, Cody,” he said, winking at them both.

The retort Ted had on his lips died when he noticed Randy walk past, cheeks pinkening slightly as he nodded his head, voice dead in his throat. Cody managed to act much more casually, but there was no mistaking the shadowing of his eyes; his interest was obvious when you knew what you were looking for. “Good morning Randy,” Cody returned boldly, other boys in their year looking awed that they were being singled out by the Head Boy himself.

Slightly giddy with the prospect of what was going to happen after classes that day, and oddly emboldened by the fact Randy had addressed them both in the open, Cody then turned to Ted and tilted his head.

“What did you say to Justin to make him agree?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Ted said, which wasn’t a whole lie; but it wasn’t his story to tell was it?

“Well, try and remember… we could make this a regular thing.”

“No,” Ted started firmly and Cody couldn’t help a small shiver; something about that tone just got to him, “This is going to be a one-off thing and that is it.”

A little disappointed Cody sighed, but then nodded, “OK.” Since Ted was being so cooperative he didn’t want him to take it back.

“That’s it? You’re not arguing with me?” Ted asked. He wasn’t used to saying something like that to Cody and have him let it lie. 

“You’re going to fuck me on someone else’s bed. I’m not going to argue with that,” Cody told him. 

Ted could feel his face burning as they walked through their classroom door. “No Justin?” Windham asked, seeing the two come in alone, when they usually head in as a group. 

“He’s not feeling well,” Ted answered, not saying anymore than he felt he needed to. 

“You know, he wasn’t looking too good at breakfast,” Windham said. “He’s sleeping off whatever he’s got then?”

“Yeah, he’s in bed.” Again, he didn’t think he was lying. He wasn’t completely sure where Justin was, but if things went the way Justin wanted them to go, then he would likely be in a bed sometime soon. Just not necessarily his own. 

“Good… it’s not like him to be sick, and even more uncharacteristic of him to be so melancholy,” Joe said with surprising insight.

“Oh Joseph,” Cody crooned with a grin, “You’re so sweet to be so worried about him!” he pinched his cheek.

Joe flushed and scowled, batting Cody’s hand away, “Don’t call me Joseph.” He hated that.

“What’s got you so happy anyway?” Heath asked from Joe’s other side as they took their seats, “You seem very perky.”

“I’m always perky darling,” Cody dismissed in a theatrical drawl to the amusement of their friends, and Ted found himself pleased that for once Cody was keeping his mouth shut as opposed to blabbing every small detail to their friends.

Still, he hoped that Justin didn’t get mad at him for taking him up on his offer. If Cody ever found out they’d had the chance and Ted had denied it… he’d never hear the end of it.

He had considered not telling Cody about Justin’s one time offer, but, really, as soon as the words were out of Justin’s mouth, he knew something had to be said. Still, he was somewhat unsure about taking Justin up on said offer. He knew that he would have to at this point, now that something had been said and Cody was clearly looking forward to it, but the matter of invasion of privacy was something he couldn’t quite get over completely.

Even as he thought about how things would work out with them in Justin’s bed, he was scribbling down notes, trying to pay attention to the professor. Trying being the operative word. Between his thoughts and the teacher, he could hear Heath and Joe continuing to ask Cody questions here and there about his particularly good mood. He then added small prayers to his own thoughts, prayers that Cody wouldn’t just out and tell them _everything_. The last thing he needed or wanted was to be overheard yet again, and if Cody told them that after class they would be making use of Justin’s bed, he was sure that those three would be at the door listening, if not cracking the door open to try and get a look to see if it was true.

When he glanced down at his notes, he saw that he really _had_ been scribbling. His normally legible writing was nowhere near what it should be, and he could barely read his own notes. He wished that Justin was there simply so he could borrow his notes, but, then again, if Justin were in class, there would be no such issue to begin with.

Sometimes, he really couldn’t stand his friends.

“Teddy, do you want to copy my notes later?”

The question as they exited their classroom startled the heck out of Ted, his head whipping around to where Cody was standing just off to the side waiting for him, expression innocent. “What did you just say?” he asked, wondering if his mind overworking as it had been had meant that his ears had suddenly lost their ability to function as well as they had. Cody wasn’t sure whether he should be amused or annoyed as he arched a brow.

“I asked if you’d like to borrow my notes,” he repeated to the other and then shrugged. Ted shook his head, unsure whether he wanted to laugh or not, “You don’t take notes.” At least not ones that Ted could usually copy. Cody huffed momentarily, puffing his cheeks out, “I’ll take back my offer if you don’t start being nicer to me about it,” he scowled.

Shaking his head slightly Ted said, “Sorry… Yes, I think I could do with borrowing your notes.” Cody seemed to forgive him, although Ted could see that he wasn’t the only one surprised by the idea of Cody actually putting proactive effort into his classes for a change. And, even stranger, Cody continued to be on his best behaviour in classes, even those where Ted wasn’t present. “What on earth have you said to him?” Windham inquired as they headed down to dinner, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him work so hard.” Hoping the dull flush he could feel building wasn’t showing Ted shrugged as casually as he could manage, “I don’t think I’ve said anything to him out of the ordinary…” only that he wouldn’t fight his extensive sexual interests for the first time since… ever.

“Hey, maybe it was something that Professor Matthews said to him,” Heath suggested.

“You mean like how my father tells me I need to keep my grades up or I can’t be on the sports team?” Joe asked.

“Yeah, like that. Maybe he doesn’t want Cody slacking in his classes or else he can’t be in anymore shows,” Heath said.

“That’s probably what it is,” Ted agreed, unable to actually look at any of them when he said it. He didn’t enjoy lying, but sometimes, such as this case, it was more of a necessity than anything else. Their friends already knew far too much about their personal lives, they did _not_ need to know every little detail.

“I didn’t think he was doing bad, though,” Joe then said. Sure, Cody was taking some easier classes than Justin and Ted, but that only helped to keep his grades up. 

“Then maybe he just wanted to make sure that Cody kept up his grades,” Windham added. “He knows how much Cody enjoys the theatre and perhaps he just wanted to tell him how he could keep doing the productions.”

Ted gave a small sigh of relief at his friends seeming to latch onto that topic of conversation for the time being. Just as long as Cody didn’t say anything about it… he’d actually kept his mouth shut about their future use of Justin’s bed earlier, so Ted did have hope.

“Why the long face?” Cody asked Ted once they were reunited in a later class of the day, cocking his head curiously.

“What?” Ted asked, blinking slightly as he brought himself back to the moment again.

“Are you alright?” for once there was no theatrics in Cody’s expression, he was just genuinely asking. Since Cody had been in the theatre so long Ted did sometimes think that he didn’t intend to be as over the top as he was, he was just so used to it that he struggled to separate himself for the appropriate moments.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine… I was just thinking about try-outs, that’s all—“ he then realised he’d made a bit of a slip there; that could be interpreted as meaning he was somehow thinking about Cena and what they had done earlier on together.

“You’ll do fine,” Cody said immediately, “You’re good at sports and you know the game, plus, our friends will be there with you.”

“But there is a lot of pressure,” Ted suddenly voiced something that had been bothering him a while. Whilst John had been nice enough, for more than one reason, there was still one unavoidable knowledge: “It’s Cena’s last year, and he’ll want to bring home the cup again.”

“So help him bring home the cup,” Cody said with a shrug as they entered their last class, speaking as though it was that simple. And maybe, deep down, it just was.

“That’s… a lot of pressure,” Ted muttered. Everyone knew John had been the youngest player on every team in years as he was that athletically talented, and then he’d been made captain when he still had three years left of school. Ever since John had been captain, he’d led the rugby team to victory twice, and once for the cricket and football teams. This year, he wanted to go for a clean sweep and bring home victories for each major sport. 

“It may be, but he also put you all through rigorous tryouts and picked who he saw to be the best for the team. And that includes _you_. He picked you, didn’t he? Yes, he did,” Cody went on before Ted could even register the question. “And I know you. You’re dedicated and determined. If you want that victory, you’ll do everything you can to get it. So I have no doubt that you’ll be vital in getting us the trophy. Again.”

“I… you think?”

“Yes! I wouldn’t lie. Besides, you haven’t even had your first practice yet, I think you’re worrying a little too prematurely. Or… is it more that you’re worried about working side by side with Cena?”

“No, it’s not that at all, I swear,” Ted replied, though it _was_ a little thought in the back of his mind. “I just don’t know how I’ll stack up to the rest of the team,” he said, hanging his head a little. “So many of them are in their final year and have been on the team for years now.”

“And you’ve probably played with most of them in cricket! Ted, just wait until the first practice when you’re running circles around them and you’ll stop worrying altogether.”

“You… may be right.”

“Of course I am,” Cody responded as they continued on their way down towards dinner. The hallways were becoming fuller now, and although most people were too involved in their own conversations to take notice of theirs Ted found himself starting to quieten; if someone overheard particular parts of their conversation then they would attract lots of unwanted attention. Cody didn’t even seem to notice what he was fretting over now.

“Let’s get you something to eat,” the younger man was saying now, “You always feel better when you’ve had something to eat,” he then smiled in a manner that made him look both angelic and seductively devilish all at once, showcasing why so many people constantly had their eyes on him, “And I want to make sure that you have enough energy for what you promised me later…” he was giddy as a bride-to-be over it.

“Food… Sounds great,” even though there were a few butterflies still flitting around that made Ted wonder whether he’d even be able to manage, regardless of whether or not it was his favourite roast on offer.

As they headed to a table Ted noticed that their friends were already seated, but Justin was conspicuously absent. Ted hoped that that was a good sign that he and Wade had managed to work something out… Justin was sensible until it came to Wade, so he was worried what he’d do if he got too upset.

“You look serious… Are you _still_ worrying about the sports teams?” Cody asked as they picked up their trays and headed towards their companions, apparently keen for once to have his own dinner sooner rather than later.

“Yeah, and… just… things,” Ted answered, shrugging as he sat. He had a lot on his mind that day. He sat down next to Joe, while Cody sat across from him, next to Windham.

“Things?” Cody asked. 

“What are you two going on about?” Joe then asked, looking between the pair.

“Ted’s just worried that he’s not good enough to have made the rugby team. Even though Cena hand picked him during the tryouts,” Cody answered for him.

“Are you kidding me?” Windham raised an eyebrow at Ted. “He picked you, along with us, over how many others that tried out? That should be a sign there that you’ll be just fine. Plus, you do great in cricket and he’s worked with you on that team before. So, I don’t know how you can be worried.”

“That’s exactly what I told him!” Cody said. “I said to just wait and see how the first real practice goes and then he’ll get his head out of his arse and realize that he’s a highly talented athlete.”

Ted glared at Cody, who glared right back at him. “I just don’t want to fuck things up for the team.”

“God, usually Cody’s the over dramatic one,” Joe said. “If Cena knew you were such a little girl, he never would have picked you for the team.”

Ted turned his glare to Joe, who also didn’t back down. Sighing, Ted hunched his shoulders some; he wasn’t very good at glaring. “I guess.”

~~~

“You’re not going to be missing anything too crucial in class are you?” Wade asked as he removed his own shirt, tossing his clothing onto the nearby chair in an attempt to forestall any wrinkling.

“No sir,” Justin responded softly, eyes drinking in the sight of Wade’s growing nakedness.

“Good,” Wade moved to the bed in a quick movement, spreading his naked body over Justin’s and shivering at the way they fit together; he never got tired of that. “Because I don’t plan to let you leave my bed anytime soon; I hope you’re ready for this.”

“That sounds like a really, _really_ good plan,” Justin said, in hardly more than a whisper. This was something that they both needed to reassure them that this was so right. This was where they were meant to be. He let out a sigh as Wade’s body settled comfortably atop his. 

Their lips met and both men could feel that same rush they felt in their very first kiss that Christmas Eve. It wasn’t that that same passion had gone missing, more like it needed a slight dusting off to remind them of how good things were between them. 

Wade gently maneuvered Justin until he was on his hands and knees, kissing a trail down his back. His hands roamed over the wide expanse of skin before gripping Justin’s ass, spreading him apart so his tongue could set to work preparing his young lover for his cock.

Justin let out a low moan from deep in his throat as he felt Wade’s tongue first touch his asshole. While he loved Wade’s cock, there was part of him that thought he enjoyed this act more than he did the actual sex. 

Since his mouth was otherwise occupied he allowed himself a smug smirk internally; anyone could do the things he and Justin did together to the younger, but no one would be able to emulate the _knowledge_ that he had of his lover’s body, of his likes and dislikes, his desires.

A lot of the time they didn’t even need to verbalise what they wanted from one another because they were just that close. Wade altered the rigidity of his tongue and thrust it inside of Justin’s still-tight pucker rhythmically, stretching him our further still.

Momentarily Wade debated on moving their preparation along, but since they had no need to rush he merely contented himself to bring Justin his first orgasm of the proceedings by his tongue alone. He’d done it before and wondered if he could manage it once more.

“W-Wade!” Justin’s voice was ragged, shattered with desire as he arched his back and canted his hips against the air, as though wanting to coax the tongue inside of him and then keep it there permanently. Which was likely.

With a final cry, back arching impossibly futher in a primal urge to get Wade in even deeper, he came all over Wade’s sheets without so much as a brush over his cock. He didn’t need to be with other people to know that _no one_ could ever get such a fierce reaction out of him. His body dropped to the bed, not caring about the cooling wet spot under him. 

However, Wade seemed to have other ideas. The older man grabbed Justin’s hips with both hands and yanked upwards, not giving Justin a moment’s rest before he began pushing his thick cock inside. 

Justin let out a long, low growl of, “Fuuuuuck,” as he was filled by his lover. The word he could best use to describe that moment was complete. When Wade’s cock was completely inside him, able to feel skin pressed against his ass, he was _complete_. “Please, Wade,” he begged. 

Wade’s hands slid up and down Justin’s slim thighs and waist, eyes roaming over the skin of his back. “Please what, Angel?”

He turned his head to the side, just able to see Wade’s face. “Love me. _Fuck me_.”

Ducking his head to enable their lips to meet Wade murmured, “If that is what my Angel commands, that is what he shall get.”

Easing his hips back Wade then snapped them forward, Justin mewling in the back of his throat as the action, barely even started already nudged against his prostate like a teasing cluster of fingers. Oh, _lord_ it always felt so intense like this, probably more so because Justin couldn’t really do anything but _take_ what Wade gave him. And take happily.

Rhythm was established quickly enough between the two lovers, knowing one another as they did.

When Wade’s hand spanned over his back, between his shoulder blades and _pushed_ just so, Justin went with the motion, finding himself with a faceful of soft, down-filled pillow as Wade started to thrust harder, deeper.

“If you don’t quiet yourself down,” Wade’s voice was rough, carrying a lilt of thick accent that was usually well disguised thanks to his well-formulated manner of pronunciation, “Then Mrs. Wilson’s gonna hear what a whore you are for me Angel.” And, of course, Wade meant that in the most affectionate and respectful way.

Justin said, “Always a whore for you,” but didn’t know if Wade heard him, or if he was too absorbed in fucking Justin’s ass to hear much of anything. Justin continued to let out moan after cry after groan into that pillow, which was getting the full brunt of his passion. He couldn’t wait until he was back home, back when he could let himself go and cry his love for Wade up to the Heavens. As it was, he cried his love for Wade right into the pillow. 

Wade was fucking into him furiously, and Justin was loving every last second of it. It wasn’t often they got this rough with one another, because Wade was a believer in making love to Justin. However, they did both enjoy the rare times that Wade used his size to his advantage. He was so much bigger and stronger than Justin that the young man was unable to do anything but let Wade manhandle him.

Lifting a hand, Wade slapped at Justin’s ass. The action elicited a small gasp and a shudder from Justin, and his hole tightened around Wade’s cock. It wasn’t painful, more of a surprise, because even though he was holding Justin down and fucking him like no tomorrow, he’d never do anything to intentionally hurt him. 

He rubbed his hand over the light red mark he left behind, then grabbed a handful of Justin’s ass and squeezed. Leaning forward, his chest now pressed into Justin’s back, he muttered into Justin’s ear, “Your ass belongs to me.”

Justin smiled into the pillow, letting out a little, “Mmmm,” because it was true, and that was what he wanted Wade to realize all along. He never wanted anyone else, because he and Wade belonged to one another.

~~~

“I was just teasing,” Mark whispered into Randy’s ear after nodding to the younger students reflexively, “I know he’s seeing the blonde kid. Under other circumstances though…” he grinned wickedly and Randy reluctantly admired the cheek. He smirked though, “You’re not his type,” he returned and Mark pretended to look wounded by this assessment before laughing lightly.

“So, who were those two?” Mark asked curiously as he glanced over his shoulder at the two.

“Some younger students I know,” Randy responded evasively, “Runnels and DiBiase, you’ve probably heard of them—Ted will be your team-mate soon enough for rugby.”

“Really? Interesting… I think the names ring a bell. Is Runnels the one who acts?”

Randy nodded in the affirmative as they entered their classroom and took their seats, “He is good, you can’t deny the talent…” or how fetching he looked when he was in ladies clothes.

Randy had never thought he’d like cross-dressing before, but Runnels was just cute enough to get away with the ordinarily taboo actions.

“So, if you said that one of your targets is DiBiase, does that mean the other one…” Mark trailed off, hanging out in front of the doorway, talking quietly, Evan having already headed inside.

Randy nodded. “We’re hoping to, anyway.”

“Do you really think they’d say no to you two?” Mark knew that he was rather forward himself and would have come onto Randy eventually had things not worked out the way they had upon their first meeting, and he knew that he’d never turn down an opportunity to be with him again, which was unusual for him, as he generally didn’t do repeat partners. 

“Our young rugby player is terribly religious, and, in fact, only received a kiss from a second person yesterday.”

“You?” Mark asked.

“John,” he answered. “I had my hands full, shall we say, with Runnels. He’s not the one I’m concerned about saying no.”

“Well, he is one of those theatre types. Honestly, I think they’re into wilder things than I am, and that’s saying quite a lot.” He didn’t associate much with the theatre kids in his old school, sticking more with the athletic boys, but one night he found himself in the company of an actor and was astounded at the things he had learned form that encounter.

“So I’ve heard. People may talk about the locker rooms at sporting events, but I’ve heard stories about after show parties.” The bell rang then, and the two slipped through the door to take their seats. Randy found himself disappointed, because he did enjoy hearing stories about Mark’s old school.

Once they had the opportunity to talk again as they were set into pairs to work, Mark whispered conspiratorially, “Well, this actor I knew, we happened across one another one night and one thing led to another… the things he could do with his _tongue_ ,” Mike sighed almost wistfully but Randy understood that nostalgic thrill from a new encounter that had passed.

“What did he do?” Randy whispered back to him.

“That was the first time someone had ever used their tongue in my arse, and I must say—I was reluctant at first but his tongue soon had me convinced otherwise. He had no qualms, was so confident—”

And that had made him even more appealing.

Shifting slightly to try and forestall a tightening in his trousers, and cursing the fact they were in class and couldn’t really converse properly Randy prompted Mark with a nod of the head to keep talking. Mark hesitantly glanced around (all hell would break loose if they were overheard) and then he smirked.

“Well, he was certainly a flexible fellow; he was more than happy to let me have my way with him,” he’d fucked the actor first against the dresser, and then across the floor, and then they rounded off the night with the actor riding him as though his life depended on it. Needless to say Mark had overslept the following day and missed his classes until after lunch.

“Very nice,” Randy commented, reflecting on nights when he and John had gotten particularly wild—though they were never bland.

“He’s the one who told me those after parties are essentially free for alls; take all you want but give back what you take, so to speak.”

“So it was a theatre boy who introduced you to that sort of party?” Randy asked, to which Mark nodded. “I assumed it’d been a sporting event.”

“Oh, no. Those theatre boys _really_ know how to have a good time. I was sixteen at the time, I think I told you that.” This time, Randy was the one that nodded, he did recall Mark saying that. “Well, the theatre boy was in his final year at the time, but the parties allowed me to become friendly with some of the other boys my own age, which therefore allowed me to attend further parties. Do you know if there are such events here?” Mark asked after glancing around the classroom to make sure there was still no one paying them any attention.

“I’ve never been as involved in the theatre as perhaps I should have been,” Randy answered. “Next time I see Runnels I could ask him. Why, are you interested in attending?”

Mark shrugged. “We’ll see.”

“Now, there were no drugs at these parties, were there?”

“I took nothing,” Mark assured him. He may be loose when it came to sexual matters, but he wanted his mind clear. Even when it came to alcohol, he never drank too much because he didn’t like to have a foggy mind or clouded judgment. That and the one time he _did_ drink too much he became incredibly violent and nearly ended up with a broken arm, which would have ended his sports career on the spot. 

“Good,” Randy suddenly looked almost uneasy, “John hates them.”

“A lot of people do,” Mark nodded.

“No,” Randy arched a brow, “I mean John _really_ hates drugs of any kind. He even abhors smoking,” something they had rare fallings-out over because Randy liked to have one occasionally.

“Does he really get mad?” somehow Mark couldn’t think of the laid-back captain getting mad. “How badly does he dislike drugs?” and was there a reason?

Hesitating Randy merely said, “Let’s just say that if he finds out you’ve done any serious drugs he’ll kick you off the team without so much as a by-your-leave, and although he doesn’t like his teams smoking he’ll let it pass as long as you can still perform… and don’t do it in front of him.” John’s hatred of drugs wasn’t unfounded though; one of his younger brothers had become addicted to opium, and that had been through supposedly controlled medical use by a doctor, and though he was better now… it had left its claw-marks behind in the younger.

“Anything else I should know about John?” Mark asked lightly to try and ease the atmosphere and Randy latched onto the attempted change immediately; he could be serious when the occasion called for it but that didn’t mean he liked it. “He’s partial to sweets. You’ve seen he has a healthy appetite but there’s a certain toffee confection… He adores it,” and Randy had used that to his advantage once or twice as necessary.

“Hmm, that’s good to know,” Mark said. “Maybe I could actually get onto his good side if I got him some.”

Randy smiled and shook his head. “You’re not on his bad side, you know.”

“Well, he doesn’t appear to actually like me very much.”

“Trust me, if he didn’t like you, we’d never have been able to do what we did. I might do some things just to simply irk him, but I’d never do something that he’s completely against. If he said he wasn’t comfortable with the two of us, it wouldn’t have happened at all.” Mark then gave him a little kick under the desk, looking just beyond Randy.

Slightly confused, Randy turned his head and saw that the teacher had been making his rounds to check up on the groups and was nearing then. He then gave a little nod of thanks to Mark. He really didn’t need to have their teacher overhearing them talk about their bedroom activities.

As soon as the teacher had moved along, after asking them a few questions about the work they were doing, they got back to chatting in low tones.

Mark seemed somewhat reassured by the end of class that John didn’t dislike him; he was just that kind of person until he got to know someone more. Randy was confident they would be firm friends as soon as the rugby got underway, and of course that would be a good thing for him as well.

“So, when will I get to see you on the pitch again?” Mark asked as they headed to dinner after classes ended.

“Our training starts up not long after yours, if the captain has things arranged.”

“You don’t sound overly convinced,” Mark commented, curious.

Randy shrugged, “He’s an excellent player but let’s just say the more managerial aspects of things he struggles with,” skills, but not so much by the brains.

“We still on for tonight?” Mark asked the Head Boy as they reached dinner, Randy nodding immediately and then chuckling. When Mark asked him what was funny Randy mused that he hoped John had had the chance to come and get an early dinner, because they had his favourite roast and he’d all but cry if he’d find out he missed it.

“I doubt his reaction would be _that_ bad,” Mark said, grinning a little as they slid into seats across from one another.

“I don’t know. Sometimes I have to question my relationship with John simply because of his relationship with food. He has… a longstanding relationship with food. I believe he loves it more than he does me, which he tells me every so often. Once I informed him that he couldn’t fuck a pot roast, to which he disagreed, but said a pot roast wouldn’t be as responsive as I was.”

Mark actually snorted laughter at that, turning that into a cough when a few people nearby turned their heads. “Well, hopefully if he did come to get some of this roast, he didn’t do anything but eat it.”

Randy chuckled. “We can only hope.” They ate a little, falling quite for a time before Randy asked, “So, what are the plans for tonight?”

“I believe I mentioned that my room has three beds and only one occupant?” Mark asked, to which Randy nodded. “Would you be ok with coming to my room?”

“Of course,” he replied, pleased that, once again, things weren’t happening in his own bed that he more often than not shared with John. “I have some work I need to finish for tomorrow after dinner, but it shouldn’t take long.”

“That’s not a problem,” Mark responded smoothly, although Randy had honestly doubted that he would say anything to the contrary, “Just come over when you’re ready.”

“I trust you’ll be occupying your time until then in an appropriate manner?” Randy asked, a smirk flitting around his lips then.

Mark fluttered his lashes at him and gave what he assumed was supposed to be an innocent face, “Of course! I’ll even do my own homework.”

“How academic of you,” Randy laughed as he finished off the last of his roast and then his pudding. Admittedly he lingered for a while to see if he could catch a glimpse of John, but when it became apparent that he wasn’t there he headed out with Mark, the pair heading their separate ways for the moment until their meeting arranged for once he had finished his necessary work.

As he sat at his desk Randy found himself being almost philosophical (and he hadn’t even been drinking) about his and John’s relationship. It was funny, perhaps stupidly sentimental, but… he loved John, would marry him and tell the world if he could.

Of course he _wouldn’t_ tell anyone. Well, not that last part anyway, not that the first was anyone’s business but his and John’s either. But they told one another that enough, both felt it, and that was what counted.

Randy finished up the school work he needed to do, then headed down the hall. He had been planning on going straight to Mark’s room, but passed by John’s on his way there. Instead of walking by, he stopped and stood before the door for a little bit. He’d just been thinking about him and how much he loved him. 

“Randy?” John asked when he opened the door and nearly ran into him. 

“Hey.” He hadn’t been expecting to actually run into John at all. “How’s the planning going?”

John shook his head. “You’d think I’d know the best plays to run in practice by now, don’t you?” It was different when he was on the field and actually playing the game, able to judge how the other team played. He was so much better in the moment. But trying to plan out a practice, especially one filled with brand new players, was becoming a pain in the ass. “I’m stopping by to see Mr. Hennig tomorrow so we can talk strategy together. Anyway, I needed a piss break,” he said, pointing towards the bathroom. “Then it’s back to the grind.”

Randy began walking with John towards the bathroom, not needing to explain to John where he was going. He followed John into the bathroom, checking that it was empty before pushing John against the wall, kissing him. “I love you,” he said when he pulled back. “And I’m sure it’s not too late to join me tonight, if you want.”


	65. Chapter 65

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers ~ Oscar Wilde

“Say it, Justin,” Wade gave a purring growl into the back of his ear, continuing to squeeze the downy flesh of his arse as he pounded into him with a firm, even movement that sent Justin rocking up against the bed, striking his prostate with each stroke; whenever he missed it Justin knew that that was a deliberate move by the elder man. “Tell me who this arse—" another slap and Justin whined in the back of his throat, shuddering once more.

“Belongs to,” Wade finished, bringing a hand up and tweaking Justin’s nipples until they stiffened into taut peaks, the sensation almost painful for the younger man, but it only fuelled his ardour and spurred him on.

“You, it’s all yours Wade,” Justin panted out desperately, gripping at the pillow underneath him as though it could support him as Wade suddenly lifted his hips higher, bringing Justin’s arse up and sending his lower-body flatter against the bed. Now he was well and truly pinioned against the bed with Wade riding him as though nothing could have ever brought him such pleasure ever again. It was primal, and perfect.

“I’m coming—" Justin moaned, cheek pressed against the rumpled bedding. Wade didn’t respond but a hand wrapped around his aching cock, the man’s large, strong hand jerking him in time with the thrusts inside of him. It didn’t take long to send Justin into an orgasm that made him feel momentarily light-headed, screaming out.

But still Wade didn’t stop; he was still thrusting, still hitting that spot inside of Justin that made him see stars, the satiated teen feeling his cock growing hard again at an almost impossible rate, almost, almost hurting.

“Oh, God, Wade,” Justin cried into the pillow as he continued to get fucked. His hardening, aching cock rubbed against the sheets with each thrust and the friction felt so good. 

Wade gripped hard at Justin’s hips, holding himself in place as he came deep inside Justin’s body. His eyes fell shut as his body convulsed and twitched from the powerful orgasm. Pulling out after a few moments, he laid his spent body down next to Justin, large, muscled arm draping over the teen’s middle.

Only, Justin didn’t want Wade’s hand there. He pushed himself back up tight against Wade and took his hand, lowering it to his cock. “You got me hard again,” Justin said to him. “That’s what you do to me, Wade. You fuck me until I’m exhausted, but my body just wants more of you.” He wrapped his hand around Wade’s and slowly the both of them start stroking his cock. “I can’t fathom doing this with anyone else. I’ve no interest in doing this with anyone else.” He turned his head as much as he could to look at Wade. “So, please, don’t try and push me away again. It’ll do nothing but hurt us both.”

They continued to stroke Justin’s cock as Wade kissed his cheek. “I think I’ve learned my lesson.”

“Good,” Justin sighed slightly, breath catching as he felt himself approaching his next orgasm, quicker than before due to already being satiated and stimulated, “Because I’d be angry otherwise.” He was only kidding though and they both knew it: he had never been able to sustain a temper against Wade long.

Maybe it was because he didn’t feel he ever had the right to be angry with him, or more accurately, it was just a mark of how much he loved him that prevented such feeling.

“I’m sorry angel, you needn’t be angry with me,” Wade nuzzled the underside of Justin’s jaw, still stroking him.

Thoroughly exhausted when he did topple over the peak again, Justin gasped into Wade’s ear and shuddered, coating their hands in his seed. Wade kissed him softly and laid him back with a soft but firm word that he should stay laid down before he fetched a towel from his ensuite to clean them both up with, placing it into the hamper afterwards. “Wade?” Justin mumbled sleepily through still kiss-swollen lips, “Can I stay here tonight?” he knew he was running risks but well, soon he would have less chance to do this with him; his schedule would be more demanding, future planning and all that.

“Do you have anymore classes for the day?” Wade asked.

Justin ducked his head into the soft pillow, biting his bottom lip in amusement. He turned to face Wade properly after a moment. “I believe classes are done for the day and that we fucked our way through the afternoon.”

“I see,” Wade said with a little smile. “As long as you complete your homework for tomorrow and _stop_ skipping out on future classes, then yes, you may stay the night.”

“Thank you,” Justin said, kissing Wade lightly. “I just… I kept thinking about the things you said earlier and I couldn’t focus on anything else. I had to tell you how much you mean to me and that I couldn’t ever imagine anyone else in my life. But now that’s been resolved, right?” Wade nods. “Good. Now I’ll actually be able to do some work. Umm, Ted knows that I’m here. He let people know that I wasn’t feeling well and was laid up in bed.”

“Interesting wording,” Wade replied.

“Well, he wouldn’t be lying, now would he?”

They fell into a comfortable silence for a bit before Justin sighed and stood. As he was about to pull his pants on, though, Wade stopped him and told him to join him in bed to do his work.

Borrowing a hardback book to lean on, Justin soon settled with his work and did his best to concentrate on the work he had left to do from that day’s lessons. Not an easy thing since he’d hardly been paying attention due to the issues between he and his lover, but also because having Wade laid out next to him, nakedness beautifully present to him save for the thin white sheet covering his hips, was another distraction all on its own without all that.

_And to think, interfering busybodies wanted him to share that._

“You’re not thinking about your homework, are you?”

“What?” Justin blinked, coming back to himself, “Of course I am!” he protested faintly, then following Wad’s amused look downwards to his book… He had been writing from a straight line down into several lines underneath.

“Oh,” he said faintly, cheeks growing warm.

“If you’re going to be so distracted then maybe I should put some clothes on, or even leave you be-“Wade started, starting to laugh when Justin leveled a pout at him, “OK, I won’t.”

“I didn’t mean to, I just let my mind wander,” finding a rubber in his pencil-case he then soon was back to work, sitting up cross-legged, this time too focused to notice that Wade was admiring him as he did so. 

Even though Justin had been in his care since a young age, it still amazed him just how naturally bright he was. He came from nothing, had no idea what happened to his parents, never knew how to read and yet as soon as he started school, he quickly rose to the top of his class. And stayed there. Wade was certain that there was even more untapped potential in Justin’s brain.

It wasn’t until finishing that assignment that Justin realized Wade was looking at him. “What?” he asked, suddenly embarrassed knowing that Wade had been watching.

“Nothing,” Wade said with a smile on his face.

“Have you been watching me? That whole time?”

“It’s not as though I’ve got anything better to do. Not when you’re around.”

“But watching me do homework? Surely there’s something better you could spend your time doing.”

“Not at all. I love seeing how much you’ve grown and watching you work makes me feel good. And proud. I’m so proud of how far you’ve come.”

“That’s all because of you, Wade,” Justin insisted.

“No, not at all. You’re the one doing all the work. You’ve got a brilliant mind.”

“You didn’t know that when you took me in, you were just being kind.”

“It didn’t take me long to figure out just how smart you really were, _are_. Now everyone gets to see it. You’re going to do great things in your life, Justin.”

At that, Justin turned bright red, well and truly embarrassed by the praise.

~~~

“Exactly, so stop moping.”

“I don’t know if you can quite call it _moping_ compared to what you do when your father takes your cigarettes from you when he hears you’ve been smoking again.”

“And that’s any worse to you when Ted refuses to act out kissing scenes with you because?” he retorted.

Cody stuck his tongue out and then turned his attention to Ted, “Just stop worrying. If none of you had been any good then Cena wouldn’t have picked you.” He was notorious for not picking favourites like other captains did; John just wanted the best team and if you were good that was all there was to it.

Gifts and bribery never worked for him, and not only because he could hold his own—but also because everyone knew how connected he was to the most influential member of the student body alongside himself.

“Hey, Runnels,” Mike sauntered over and casually helped himself to a piece of toast on Cody’s plate, shifting slightly away from Ted’s reach across the table as he did but otherwise unmoving.

“Urgh, I thought I could smell something bad in the air…” Cody said with a dry sneer.

“Please, you just can’t handle how awesome I am. Anyway, Josh asked me to tell you that we have another full rehearsal scheduled today… enjoy wearing your undergarments.”

“I won’t enjoy wearing them as much as I know you’ve enjoyed seeing me in them,” Cody threw back as Mike started walking away from him.

That got Mike to stop. “Oh, you didn’t look _that_ good in them,” he called back.

Cody smirked. “Go on, keep lying to yourself. Maybe you’ll actually start believing it. But, don’t worry, I know the truth.” He added a little wink for effect.

“You wish,” Mike replied with a roll of his eyes. “I’ll see you at rehearsal, Charlotte.” With that, he finally walked away.

“That guy is such a prick,” Joe bristled. “How can you even stand working so close with him? God, I’d want to tear my lips off if I ever had to kiss him.”

“I know, I know. Sometimes you don’t like the person you’re acting against. But he’s a talented actor, like him or not. And when you’re acting you can’t think of them as themselves, you have to think of them as their character. Otherwise, this should would be nothing more than us bitching one another out.”

“That could be very interesting, though. I’m sure you two could come up with some highly creative insults,” Joe said.

“I’m sure they’d be nothing we haven’t called one another before. Michael and I probably spend a majority of our time backstage bickering, because he’s a dick hole who loves the sound of his own voice, and I can’t help but egg people on,” Cody told them with a shrug. He then turned his attention to Ted. “I shouldn’t be too late at the rehearsal. You can help with my homework when I get back, so wait up for me.” The last thing he needed was to go back to his room, finally able to fuck freely on Justin’s bed, only to have Ted asleep.

“You mean you’re really actually going to do your homework?” Joe asked, lips curling.

A woeful expression crossed Cody’s face, “You really think that just because we’re fucking now that Teddy will let me off of my homework? Be realistic, Joe.”

Ted went pink and jutted his chin out defiantly, “Just because you want to be an actor is no excuse for having a brain that’s as useful as cotton-fluff, Cody.”

“Notice how he avoids the mention of the fact that you’re sleeping with each other?” Joe snickered, punching Ted’s arm.

“Like you’re in any position to be commenting about people talking about bedding people,” Cody snickered slightly and then possessively pulled Ted from Joe’s side and to his own. “I won’t be long,” he repeated, looking deep into Ted’s eyes and Ted knew that he was done. He was well and truly done that night.

Cody would do his homework, but only if he was 100% sure that he was getting exactly what he wanted once it was done.

As Cody walked off Joe turned to look at Ted with some amusement, “Maybe you’re lucky you can’t get married to Cody… Because being stuck with that high-maintenance madam all of your life is likely to turn you prematurely grey!” Ted did laugh a little at that but was also saddened by the notion that no one, save their close friends, would ever know about them. Well, in the technical sense—he did rather hate that he couldn’t tell his family how much he cared for Cody. When Joe asked what he was thinking he deadpanned that he was considering taking up smoking.

Cody stepped into the dressing room, finding the other theatre students in various states of undress. Once he located his costume, he had to wait for some assistance, unable to lace up his corset by himself. Unfortunately, Mike was the first one to offer assistance. “Need a little help there, Runnels?”

Rolling his eyes, Cody turned to face him. “You just want to see me with my shirt off again, don’t you?” He still handed his corset over to the other actor, though. After that night they’d spent reading lines, Cody realized that Mike wasn’t all that bad. They bickered because they enjoyed it, and to keep up appearances.

“You think quite highly of yourself, don’t you?” Mike said as Cody removed his shirt and turned around so Mike could begin to do up the lacing.

“You just wish you had my physique, don’t you?” Cody returned. He turned his head around towards Mike smirking as he whispered, “You know how I got this body? All the constant _fucking_ Ted and I have been doing.”

It was Mike’s turn to roll his eyes as he pulled the lacing on the corset extra tight. “Just because I haven’t been caught in the middle of it doesn’t mean I’m not fucking anyone.”

“Your right hand doesn’t count, Mizanin.” 

“Believe me, my right hand isn’t the only action I’m getting. I’m left handed,” he added, whispering into Cody’s ear. 

Cody actually snorted in laughter. “Stop it, you’re making it look like we’re friends, or something.”

“There, done,” he said, though he was still grinning. He’d also realized that Cody wasn’t that bad when he wasn’t surrounded by his little gang, who happened to hate everything about him.

Once he had finished adjusting his corset Cody then slid into the dress for the scene and then paused, wondering who it was that Mike was sleeping with. He could hazard a few guesses but he would bet that the boy in the year below them, _(Alexander something)_ , was the one most likely to be it.

He’d had a severe crush on Mike from day one, and rumours had been flying all over as to whether it was reciprocated or whether he was just being used as some kind of personal slave. But then, who was he to say? Maybe Alex-whatever-his-name-was liked that kind of thing. Whatever floated the fellow’s boat and all that.

Heading over to the vanity mirror Cody sat down and began to apply some of the powder, eye-shadow and rouge that he had in a make-up bag specifically for performances. What? He had to look good underneath the stage-lights.

_Those things were damned unflattering, and made you sweat terrible. He might look hot in a corset and lingerie but he didn’t envy women wearing them._

“Hey, Runnels,” came a voice to his left and Cody turned, smiling across at Evan, surprised to find the non-theatre-performer there, “Have you seen Mr. Matthews about?” he asked him.

“I think he’s out on the stage. What are you doing here?” he asked the elder with interest. He might not be quite as rugged and have as strong a sexual aura as his cousin, but you could see a resemblance to Randy.

“He asked me to come down to help out with rehearsal if I had some free time, and I thought why not; you always put on a good show.”

“Have you ever considered acting yourself?”

Evan grinned ruefully, starting to walk away, “I don’t think I would pull off a dress quite as well as you.” 

Cody rolled his eyes, finishing up his look. He wondered how Evan had gotten on friendly terms with Josh and would have to ask him at some point. Or, perhaps he just had an interest in the workings of the theatre. There were always people involved with shows who were never onstage, but loved all the backstage work. 

The practice began not long afterwards. There was a brief pep talk from Josh, telling them that he wasn’t expecting perfection, that the point of rehearsals was to work out all the bugs. Plus, things going wrong in dress rehearsals meant the show would go off without a hitch, once it was time for the show to go on, anyway. 

As the rehearsal went on, there were adjustments made here and there. Josh would sit up close to the stage, then move to the back of the room to watch things unfold from a different perspective. He would made some changes in the floor markings and stage directions once a scene was over, then have them pick up for the next scene. 

Upon reaching the intermission, Josh let them all take a break. Cody hopped down off the stage, a rather unladylike movement coming from someone in a dress, and sat down uncomfortably next to Evan. “So, does this make you consider an acting gig?”

“Not at all,” Evan answered with a chuckle. “I love what all you boys do, though. I’ve never missed a show. And from what I saw today, it’s going to be another great showing. I could never do it justice.”

“It’s not for everyone. Have you been learning a lot from Josh, at least?”

After a moment’s consideration Evan nodded, “I get on really well with Josh and you can’t deny his passion for what he does,” he smiled and Cody smiled back. He’d considered Evan a bit of a goody-goody by reputation but there was something oddly engaging about him even so by way of a new conversation partner.

“So you’re taking onboard other parts of theatre life?” Cody adjusted himself in his seat once, twice, and then a third time. There was the strongest urge to try and pop the lacing of the corset but he knew their wardrobe manager would likely pin him to the wall with sewing needles should he pull a stunt like that, especially during dress-rehearsal time.

“You alright there?” Evan asked, wrinkling his nose, “That looks mighty uncomfortable.” And he pitied that women had to wear them day-in-day-out. Sure, certain underwear might be uncomfortable for them but at least theirs didn’t change their very body-shape over time. That was a point: Cody would need to watch his own long-term use.

“You can barely breathe in the bloody thing,” Cody wrinkled his nose before sighing, “Still, needs must for a genuine character.” He leant back in the chair and smiled slowly, “Besides, people seem to appreciate the way I look in female apparel,” he added with a wink.

Evan chuckled, almost coyly scratching his cheek, “Well, there’s not many boys that could say that they could pull off a dress better.” One had to give Cody that. Despite being very male it seemed to work for him.

“I bet you’d look good in one, Evan,” Cody said. He was smaller, svelte in build. 

“What?! No, no, I don’t think so,” Evan replied with a shake of his head. He can understand why Cody had to wear the dress, but for a boy to wear a dress outside the theatre? There was no way.

“I bet you would. If you ever want to try one on, you’re welcome to my dressing room.” He added a wink, which brought out a lovely red color on Evan’s cheeks. He leaned over, then whispered, “When my lover saw me in my corset, it drove him up the wall… so much so that he fucked me against the wall. I imagine other boys would have similar reactions.”

Evan’s face was burning. “What… what makes you think I have a lover? Particularly a male one?”

“Most boys do,” Cody answered. “Even if it’s not a permanent thing. Besides, it’s not like there are actually girls around, so it’s really not even an option. If you’re sleeping with someone, it’s probably a boy. Or, you could not be sleeping with anyone, in which case, I’m sorry.” He really didn’t think that was the case, though, especially with Randy being his cousin.

Evan had no idea what to say. He tried for so long to keep him and Chris a secret, and he thought the only ones that knew were Randy and John and now Mark. Did Cody actually know, or at least suspect? 

~~~

“Much as I would love to,” John caressed Randy’s cheek with the backs of his fingers, Randy’s eyes hooding at the gentle touch and smiling softly. “—I’m afraid I do still have some things to cover before I call it quits,” when John got started there was nothing that could get him to stop until he felt completely satisfied with his progress.

Randy pouted, whining softly, “But John-John…” he rubbed their hips together.

John lightly caught those wicked hips in his hands and chuckled softly, “You’re having company tonight anyway aren’t you? You won’t be lonely even if I can’t join you.” He kissed the Head Boy’s lips again, Randy continuing the touch before then pulling back and moving to a nearby stall; he _did_ actually need to pee.

Reclining back against the wall Randy still continued to pout, “I’d _like_ you to join me anyway.”

“If I don’t finish up too late I’ll come on by, OK?” John tucked himself back into his trousers, fastened them and then made his way over to the sink and washed his hands. Randy sighed, draping his arms around John’s middle, “If you’re sure I can’t distract you…” he then pressed a kiss to the back of John’s neck, “You will come over when you’re done anyway right?” even if they didn’t get up to anything, as it were, he still wanted John’s presence. “What about Danielson?” John asked and Randy snorted, giving him a pointed look as if to say he’d deal with him should the need arise.

“Danielson just better hope he doesn’t start giving us trouble again,” Randy said. “I’m sick of it.”

“Me, too. Now, I’ve got to go finish up. Will you be in your room tonight, or…?”

“Well, I’m headed to Mark’s room now. I don’t know how long I’ll be there, but you showing up would be a nice treat. I want to watch you two fuck so bad.”

Chuckling, John replied, “Maybe someday. I doubt it’ll happen tonight, though.”

“Well, it should happen someday. It’d be hot,” Randy said. “Now, you go finish off what you’re working on. I’ll see you later.” Just before leaving the bathroom, Randy bent to kiss John on the lips. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Have fun.”

“I intend to.”

John laughed and rolled his eyes before heading back to his own room, wondering how long things will take before he can go see Randy.

Randy made it to Mark’s room, knocking three times before the door opened for him. “Took you long enough.”

“Had an impromptu run in with John,” Randy explained. “But I’m here now.”

“Hate to break it to you, darling,” Randy smirked, “But however much fun I have with you, John will always come first.”

“I wouldn’t have thought that would be something to smile about,” said Mark in an innocent tone.

Snorting when he realised what the other was getting at Randy then leered at him playfully, “Oh, I don’t think you’ll have any complaints when you experience his technique for yourself,” he let the sentiment hang.

“You think he will?”

“No, I know that he will. He told me so.”

Mark laughed slightly and shook his head, “I’ve never known a couple like you two before.”

“And you likely never will again,” Randy took the liberty of stretching out across the other’s bed. “So enjoy it whilst it lasts,” because soon this would be over.

He and John would be leaving, and with their new educational chapter came monogamy. Anyone else and he would have dreaded the prospect.

Lips against his own interrupted Randy from his musings, and he gave a purring growl as Mark’s lips moved along his jaw and then down the long line of his throat.

Randy ran a hand through Mark’s hair, tilting his head to the side as Mark nibbled on the skin. The bed shifted as Mark joined Randy, straddling his long, lean body. “What did you want to do tonight?” Randy asked.

“Doesn’t matter. I’m always up for anything.”

“I’m sure you are,” Randy said. “What if I said I wanted to fuck you?”

“I think I could work with that,” Mark replied. “Though you’d have to be patient with me, I’ve only let a few people fuck me before.”

“So you’ve said. Though, just because you’ve only let two people fuck you before, it doesn’t mean they didn’t fuck you _often_.”

“They each only topped me once.”

Randy pushed back on Mark’s shoulders, looking up at him with his mouth wide open. “You’ve only ever bottomed two times? In all those parties you’ve been to and with the two boys you did let top? That’s all?”

“Is that really that hard to believe?”

“Well, it’s just that bottoming can feel so good.”

“I’ve always preferred to top,” Mark said. “It seemed more natural.”

“It never hurts to switch things up from time to time, though. Believe me, if you let John and me top you, we’ll make it feel so good.”

“You just still sound so sure that John would be up for that kind of thing.”

“Because he is,” Randy reminded as Mark kissed his throat again, a hand sliding up and down the other’s leg and thigh almost subconsciously.

“But how do you know that?” Mark was clearly just teasing now, and probably just curious; he had always expressed that the dynamic the two of them had was rarer than anything he had ever seen from another couple before.

“You mean aside from the fact that John would do anything for me?” Randy asked him with an arch of the brow at Mark pulled back.

“Oh, of course, I forgot he was wrapped around your finger.”

“And keep playing your cards right and he could be buried in your arse,” Randy said and Mark arched a brow in return then before smiling crookedly; he’d be lying if he said it didn’t interest him, but that was probably obvious.

“I’m not sure I could take you both in one night.”

“I wasn’t suggesting one night but I agree—hell, I can’t take more than John on any one night,” Randy chuckled with good lusting humour.

“What’s he like, in bed? Because he seems such a goody-goody generally.”

“Oh, he’s not like that in bed- but he is still quite gentlemanly though.”

“More gentleman with a dash of animal thrown in?”

~~~

The reaction made Wade smile in turn and he leant in and pressed a soft kiss to the young man’s cheek, “Every day I become prouder of you,” he hadn’t thought such a thing possible.

“It’s really nothing I could do without you,” he repeated meekly.

Wade brushed some of Justin’s hair back, “Does my praise embarrass you?”

“I don’t feel like I deserve it,” because getting genuine praise from Wade was a rarity, when he really meant it.

“Nonsense; you deserve it and more, and I mean every word.”

Considering a moment Justin then asked, “So, would you give me your permission if I wanted to return here for a post?” teaching, or even being an assistant teacher. Or perhaps just even one of the library staff or a general administrator. He wouldn’t even ask too much of a wage because he’d be benefiting both ways now that Wade had given up on this idea of them parting from one another.

_He’d be getting a little spending money, whilst still living with Wade, and he’d also still get to at least see Wade during the working day alongside that._

For a moment Wade looked like he might protest and then he sighed softly with a wan smile, “I think you could reach much higher, but if that is really what you’d like-“

“It is,” he insisted, flicking through to his next assignment before looking back to him.

“Then we shall talk about it more once you’ve graduated.”

He had time yet and might also change his mind in the meantime. But, at the be-all and end-all he would support whatever path Justin took that made him happy. 

“It’s really all I’ve ever considered doing, you know,” he said.

“I know, but there are more options for you out there. You just don’t know it yet,” Wade replied. They’d talked about Justin becoming a teacher before, and while of course approved of the career, he didn’t want Justin to settle just because he was the headmaster of the school.

“Like what?”

“You could become a scientist, maybe discover a new element,” Wade answered. “Or perhaps a great mathematician. Or an author of a book sold world wide.”

“Aren’t you thinking on far too large of a scale?”

“Not at all.” He moved his hand and rested it atop Justin’s head, giving it a small shake, earning a little chuckle from Justin. “With a mind like yours, you could do anything. While teaching is certainly an admirable goal, don’t sell yourself short. Maybe consider becoming a professor at a university. It’s a lot of work, but you are perfectly capable of doing anything. You’ve been overcoming challenges your whole life, proving people wrong your whole life… there’s no need to stop now.”

“Well,” Justin knew that he couldn’t argue with Wade’s logic on the matter but at the same time deep down in his heart he was pretty sure he had had his mind made up for quite some time now. The only thing left to do was to impart his goal-choice to Wade, and to then actually reach it.

“Well?” Wade repeated.

“I really think that I would like to become a teacher,” he repeated.

“Justin-“ Wade started, but then cut-off when his lover gently raised a hand and pressed a finger to his lips to hush him. It was a mark of their relationship that he actually obeyed.

“I want to be a teacher, Wade, because not only is it the career you started out with and I shall still get to spend time with you by doing so here at this school, but because I like helping others.” People were always coming to him for tutoring and advice, and when people grasped onto concepts that he was helping them with he would be lying if he said he didn’t receive some measure of satisfaction from it. “I think there’s something really rewarding about watching young minds develop.”

When he put it like that it did seem pointless to protest. 

“Well… yes, you’ve got a point. It is highly rewarding to see a young mind grow and learn. And I can promise you that if after you’ve finished school you still want to be a teacher, then this academy will always have a spot for you.”

Justin beamed over at Wade before leaning in to place a kiss on his cheek. “I knew you’d see reason eventually. I don’t know why you always want to talk me out of things I’ve already got my mind set on. You taught me to be my own person and to think for myself, and not only do I think being with you is what’s best for me, I think teaching is, too.”

“You definitely picked up on my stubbornness,” Wade replied, which earned him a light backhanded smack on the arm. “Enough of that now, finish up your work.”

After one last smile at Wade, Justin settled back into his school work. Concentrating was a whole lot easier now that he no longer had the weight of Wade leaving him on his shoulders. His mind was able to truly focus on the matter at hand. And Wade’s fingers lightly massaging his scalp was more relaxing than anything. Not that he couldn’t go again, but this touch was meant to be comforting, not sexual. If anything, he could fall asleep with Wade’s fingers in his hair.

“Come on now, none of that,” Wade said when he noticed Justin’s eyes drooping. “Finish your work, then you can think about napping.”

“Well, stop doing that then,” Justin pouted somewhat reluctantly, “It’s making me want to sleep,” though he was going to be saddened by the loss of Wade’s comforting touch even if it was just until he finished writing is next assignment.

Wade removed his hand obediently, hiding a smile when he heard the other man whine softly, but true to his word Justin immediately focused back onto what he was doing.

“Do you think you get too much homework, Justin?” he asked the other male after several long minutes of quiet, when Justin was about halfway through his current piece of work. Of course he pre-approved all lesson plans before sending them to the Board of Educators who then reviewed his reviewing, to make sure that he clearly hadn’t made any mistakes, and though he had always been careful to mediate between a decent amount of work he wondered if his students saw otherwise.

“Too much?” he repeated brow furrowing as he looked up. “No, no I wouldn’t say too much. Certainly some classes are more regular than others but mostly we get ample time,” he then hesitated and Wade knew that there was something Justin wasn’t telling him. That was confirmed when he went right back to work without saying anything more.

“Except for… Which teacher, Justin?” Wade prompted, poking his lover’s sensitive side when he refused to answer him after a few moments.

~~~

“I-“ he started, clearly flustered and Cody could feel his smile growing wider and slightly less predatory; around someone who, despite being related to Randy, reminded him more of his Teddy, he couldn’t bring himself too tease too badly too quickly. Besides, he was actually rather interested in what answer his question was going to bring forth from the other.

“You-?” Cody prompted and Evan shook his head somewhat and then cleared his throat before giving a nervous smile.

“We’ve um, not been together all that long,” not compared to some people, like Randy and John for example, “But I can’t say that I’d think that he would appreciate seeing me in such clothing anyway.”

“That’s what you think,” Cody said in an amusingly sage and wise voice, “I would never have expected the same of my dearest,” Ted would probably kill him for saying such a thing but he doubted he would accept having his name bandied around even though most people assumed, “And yet look at what happened. Maybe you should try it, just once, before you graduate.”

For a moment Evan seemed to be still, and then he laughed slightly before shaking his head, “Has anyone ever told you you’re a terrible influence?” he laughed louder, still blushing, when Cody said people called him little else. 

“You should ask Randy if he’s ever done it,” Cody then said.

“Done what?” Evan asked, because Randy had done a lot of things. Things he’d never had any desire to know about, but, through various circumstances, now knew about.

“Worn a dress, silly.”

Just then, Josh called an end to their break and had everyone get into their positions for the next act. Cody had to heave himself out of the seat, taking a deep breath when he realized just how short of air he’d gotten sitting in that tiny seat. He hiked up his dress before carefully walking up the steps onto the stage. From up there, he looked at Evan and mouthed, “Ask him,” before heading back behind the curtain.

“You know Runnels?” Josh asked, seating himself where Cody was.

“A little from here and there. He’s, uh, friendly with my cousin?” He didn’t know how else to put it, because he didn’t think Josh would like to hear that his cousin wants to put his cock in his lead actor’s backside. Evan didn’t really want to know that, either, though.

“I see. He’s a good kid, great actor. You’d probably get on with him really well.” He turned his attention to the stage and asked, “Is everyone set? Ok, let’s take this from act two!” 

“Hey, look,” Mike smirked slowly, indicating across to where Josh sat.

Following his look where he was making notes to his script to reflect what they had worked on that day Cody mimicked his smirk; it seemed Mr. Striker fancied a visit.

“How convenient that he appears after we have finished rehearsing, right?”

“Want to bet they have done it onstage?”

“Suckers bet,” Mike snorted lightly as he started unbuttoning the high-collar of his costume, feigning a huge breath of fresh air once it was loose. Cody snorted as he closed his script up, “Please, you think you can’t breathe in _that_? Try wearing _this_ ,” he plucked at the top of the corset. He wondered if Windham’s joking warning that he would get an hourglass figure if he wore them too often may come true eventually.

“Want a hand getting that off?” the other brunet asked and Cody shrugged slightly before nodding; it wasn’t Ted taking it off, but it was easier than trying to do it for himself.

Before too long they were all dressed, and as they exited the theatre Cody noticed that although Josh and Matt were still there Evan had gone. He wondered if he was going to ask Randy, or to go and see his lover. He wondered if Randy knew who that boy was.

~~~

“That’s one way to describe him… I mean, you saw him that one time, what he was like fucking me,” Randy said, grabbing at Mark’s ass.

“Watching one time, though, isn’t enough to really judge. Especially as it was a follow-up to me, and I’m sure he wanted to reclaim his territory.”

Randy laughed. “So you’re saying that you _do_ want to experience him?” He paused a moment before adding, “And for the record, I’m pretty sure my ass is still sore from the pair of you.”

“I do.” Mark ran a hand up under Randy’s shirt, over his abs. “I’ve been with a lot of people, you know, might have even found someone else here to pass the time with, but there’s really something about John, probably our similarities, and the fact that he’s such a good boy, that make me want anything he’s got on offer.”

“He’ll do that to a person,” Randy agreed. It was the reason that John had so many admirers to begin with, he was the well rounded, perfect role model. Who wouldn’t want to fuck him? “And I want to watch you two fuck. He got to watch me. I want my turn.”

“You’re rather greedy when you want to be, aren’t you Randy?” Mark grinned as he traced his nails over the other’s nipples, “But I suppose John encourages that with you?” he added as an afterthought.

Randy hissed softly, arching his chest towards the other’s hand as it slid back down to his ribs, “You suppose correctly,” he commented, smirking.

“Well, I have no opposition to the prospect of you watching,” how could he, when John had so graciously allowed Mark to fuck his lover in front of him?

Leaning in for a quick, undeniably filthy kiss, Randy then tilted his head and asked, “Who is it you’ve found to pass the time with?” was it someone he knew? Between them he and John had bedded anyone who was worth having. Or a decent enough age worth having, more accurately. Not counting their new interests.

“Ah, that’s for me to know and you to find out,” Mark chuckled and tipped Randy a wink before then starting to undo the other’s shirt buttons and dropping his mouth towards the other’s chest and started to press sucking kisses along the other’s tanned skin slowly.

 

“Mmm, not even one name?” Randy asked.

“I never thought you’d be so curious,” Mark replied, nipping, then licking at Randy’s pectorals. 

“What can I say? I like knowing the goings on in the school. I feel like it’s my right to know as Head Boy. And I can probably also tell you if you should actually stay away from them, or not.”

Looking up, Mark smirked. “I make it pretty clear from the get go that I generally don’t fuck someone twice.” He bent his head back down before going back to kissing and licking up Randy’s torso.

“Same here, but that doesn’t mean some boys don’t get clingy. They suck your dick one time and then they think you’re going to run off together,” Randy said, tugging at Mark’s hair, just enough to keep it pleasurable.

“Oh, god, I know. Sit up a bit,” he changed topic momentarily so he could remove Randy’s shirt completely, tossing it to the floor before then removing his own. “Never fuck a virgin,” he then went on, shaking his head as he looked into Randy’s eyes. “You think I would have learned after the first time I did it. Nope. And the second guy was worse. He thought we were boyfriends, or something. I’ve never made that mistake again.”

“I know what you mean; John and I have a tendency to avoid virgins too,” he wrinkled his nose slightly and shook his head. Even he could still remember where the clingy feeling came from, but when you were subject to it---

_Yes, the clingy feeling could become suffocating._

“Definitely,” Mark agreed, pressing kisses around Randy’s nipples and then letting his tongue flick out to trace around the dusky brown nubs and reveling in the way Randy purred like a big languid jungle-cat.

“Do you think that’s why you and John gravitated together?” Mark then asked curiously, pausing only a moment from his activities so that he could speak, elaborating more on his question when Randy seemed confused.

“I don’t think so,” he finally conceded, running long and steady fingers through Mark’s hair, nails scratching lightly over his scalp. He smirked a little to himself when he realised that Mark reacted with the same shiver and flutter of the lashes that John did; the pair really were alike. “I wanted him for so long beforehand, but we were genuine friends long before that.” So he supposed it was natural they had just remained together all along.

“I am a little envious,” Mark admitted with a chuckle, delving his tongue into Randy’s navel.

Randy’s hips bucked into the air as the sensitive skin around his bellybutton was stimulated. “Are you envious of how long we’ve known each other or how long we’ve been together?”

“A little of both.” Mark licked a little lower a few times. “You’ve been together so long, you must know every inch of each other and know exactly how to get the other going.”

“Of course we do. I could get John off in seconds. But I also know how to get him to last for _hours_.” He tugged harder at Mark’s hair when he got lower, licking right at the band of his pants. Mark sat up only to start unbuttoning Randy’s pants, wanting them off now. “There’s no reason you couldn’t have been in a long term relationship with someone. Like your next door neighbor.”

Mark grinned and shook his head. “You really do think that she and I are destined to be together, don’t you?”

“Well, it seems fitting. She was the only one that you really fooled around with for a long time, wasn’t she?”

“Just because my young and dumb ten year old self thought I was in love with her doesn’t mean that I was.”

Randy grinned back, raising up his hips so Mark could slide his pants off. “You didn’t sleep with her until you were fourteen. You were in love with her for years before that, even before you really knew what pussy was. That’s how I was with John. We grew up together and I always loved him, long before some older boys told us that our dicks were used for more than just taking a piss.”

“Maybe…” Mark finally conceded with a slight huff, “I mean, if I have to marry a woman I know I could do a lot worse than her.”

“Exactly,” Randy said with an apparent air of knowing, “And just because you’re married to her doesn’t mean that you can’t still have a lover of the masculine gender if you wanted to do.”

“Marriage isn’t going to come between you and John then?” Mark asked curiously, then mouthing playfully against the growing bulge in Randy’s underwear, which he had actually deigned to wear that day what with one thing and another. Randy wasn’t sure whether he should be amused or annoyed that he was expected to carry on a conversation when that was happening to him.

“Of course not,” he responded confidently as he curled a hand through Mark’s hair, a small sound of content leaving him.

Humming, Mark then slid down Randy’s cock and then pulled off with a pop, curling his tongue around the head again, “And what about when you eventually have children?”

“Our- children-“he grimaced slightly at the thought (he was far from ready to be a father and he knew that John shared the sentiment, though he had confessed before that eventually he would like to be a parent), “-will be best friends with one another.” And would not stop Randy from loving John, or seeing John and spending time with him… He knew it would just be more of a juggling act than a wife alone.

“Sounds well and truly settled,” Mark teased, before taking Randy’s cock into his mouth much more earnestly this time.


End file.
